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So for this week’s tip, we’ll be discussing the concept of shoulder walking. This can cause many problems, such as not being able to turn your head properly or not having adequate range of motion in your shoulders. These problems can also restrict the breathing pattern. Let’s take a deeper look at this problem and see how far we can lower our shoulders. We’ll talk about this from a symptomatic standpoint, not just as a driver of pain. We want to start looking at the body to find out what is going on and what is causing this tension. I’ll teach you how to lower your shoulders so you can get some movement back. This won’t eliminate pain in the long run, but it will provide relief and give your shoulders some range of motion so you can process it in a long-term event. I’ve already talked about some of these things before, but I’ve had feedback from people asking me to go into more detail. This week’s tip will serve that purpose.
The shoulder walk also pairs well with the neck pain tip I posted a few weeks ago, so check it out if you haven’t already. One of the muscles we will focus on is Levator Scapulae. When your shoulders are lifted high, your Levator Scapulae is at work, being one of the many muscles that make this happen. This muscle raises the shoulders, so when you’re stuck in a high position, the lifter asks the trapezius to do some work. This solidifies the lifting motion and keeps it there. Once it holds, that means the snare will start to work harder, and in turn, it will lower the electrical tone in one of the key muscles, the lats, which will then lower the shoulders. The lats and the scapulae are the two muscles we will focus on today. So what I’m going to show you is exactly where they are, which way they’re facing, and whether you need to do foam rolling, trigger point work, or stretching. Do you want to see these exercises?
The job of the levator scapula is to elevate the scapula by rotating the shoulder and scapula upward. This can fix everything, leaving you stuck in a tight position.
So we want to start targeting a lot of the binding sites near the base of the head, through trigger point work. Doing this across the neck will also be key to getting the Levator off the ground. When I talked about neck pain, I went into detail about the twist on the lift itself, and that will be the key point.
It extends from the bottom of the head to the tip of the scapula. You want to do a little bit of stretching in this area or work on trigger points. You can contract your muscles, take a deep breath, and let it all flow and relax. That is a common exercise that people use to relieve tension and mental stress. I want you to focus on the contraction and relaxation aspect of this muscle. You want to contract as hard as you can and then learn to really let go as you lower the muscles. That’s one of the things that will drive your shoulders up. Now we want to focus on our lat.
The main function of the latissimus dorsi is to lower the scapulae. It is also very important that you realize What bring the scapulae down. It is not just a straight movement, but a rotational movement. This muscle is going to compete with the trap. You want something to compete with the trapezius, but because it’s always so tight, it will naturally break down the defenses of the lateral muscle. Everyone thinks about contracting muscle tissue, but it just can’t do its job because it’s tied up, so you’ll want to do a good foam roller along the lats so it can do its job and compete. Once you get your lats moving better through the foam roller, you can move on to trigger point work. When you get those things moving, your shoulders will drop and you will be able to move without bringing your shoulders up and using the riser as stabilization for your head and upper body. You want your lat to keep everything down so your arms can move properly. This will create momentum that will push you forward. However, if you’re tied in that area when the shoulders are up, everything is harder to move, but as soon as they drop, everything goes into a pendulum. When you are tense, you use more energy to move, but when everything is lost, less energy is required. If you start working these two muscles simultaneously, then you have a powerful tool for getting your shoulders down.