Shoulders that are stuck in internal rotation eventually wreak havoc in some way, shape or form!

Clean Up Internally Rotated Shoulders

I see this all the time! Many people are stuck in a position where their shoulders are internally rotated, they lack thoracic extension, and they don’t have even halfway decent scapular retraction and depression.

If you’ve worked with clients that move like this, you know what I’m talking about.

You can call it upper crossed syndrome, poor posture or just tight shoulders, but what you need to know is that sooner or later this shoulder position is going to negatively impact yours or your client’s shoulder(s).

So what do we do?

In a perfect world, this is what I would love to see happen to improve internally rotated shoulders!

Mobility Drill for Cranky Shoulders

1. Start off with a few minutes of diaphragmatic breathing. The goal here is to allow the diaphragm to do it’s job while getting the secondary and tertiary breathing muscles to cool down a bit and not be stuck in the “on” position.

2. Address the soft tissue! Spend some time opening up the pec, pec minor, lats, traps etched.

3. DO THIS DRILL!

Really – it will help!

  • When performing this, start with the light stretch for about :30 to :45 seconds.
  • Once you feel the shoulder start to open up do a few sets of contract and relax!
    • Essentially, you will drive the elbow behind the body and fire the lats and rhomboids while getting a nice stretch in the anterior shoulder.
    • You can contract the muscles and push into the cage for 8 to 10 seconds, relax and breathe for another 30 to 45 seconds. Do 2 to 3 sets of this!

* Make sure you are not allowing any forward translation of the glenohumeral joint. Keep the shoulder blades back at all times!

Keep your shoulder back

4. Finally, you want to cement this newfound mobility by performing an exercise such as a crooked arm bar, Turkish Get Ups, inverted rows and/or even some light pressing. The key is to slowly coerce your body into improving the shoulder position.

Remember that change takes time. Never force anything! Never move into pain and be patient!

Try performing this mobility drill 3 to 4 days a week and see how it improves your shoulder positioning and function!

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