Injuries and RehabTell us where it hurts! Do a quick search before asking about your shoulder injury to make sure your question hasn't already been answered (about 50 times), and read the sticky post first.
The stick em up is a MUST for anyone with protracted shoulders. SImply sit or stand against a wall and place arms in "L" shape in contact with wall. 90% of benchers will not be able to accomplish this. Work on minimzing any excessive curve in your lower back (flexibility exercises) and trying to keep contact with the wall (10-15 second hold).
Hope this helps.
Im having some shoulder problems currently, so i tried the exercise mentioned and it hurts, left shoulder (middle deltoid),
Now im not surprised as i have had problems with this pain while o/h pressing (normal grip more than a nuetral grip) and to a lesser extent benching recently, thinking back I think there has always been a flexibility issue in the shoulder ( as there is some discomfort when holding the bar for squats)
Has the lack of flexibilty caused something more serious or will improving flexibilty fix the pain as well
I also experienced some pain when doing this. I stood against the wall and did the stretch and at one point it felt like a needle was stabbing into my right scapula. I now have some lingering pain, like a pulled muscle, but on the surface. It feels rather deep into my back.
It may not be a good exercise choice for you at this time. If you have any problems like limited upper back mobility, anterior shoulder laxity, short/stiff internal shoulder rotators, or irritation of the subacromial space (where your rotator cuff gets pinched in the shoulder), you may simply be reproducing your symptoms.
Start with exercises that keep the upper arm below 90 degrees of elevation.
Start with simply getting your elbows up against the wall ("L" shape-with arms in front of your view at 90 degrees) and simply rotate your shoulder so that the top of your forearms get closer to the wall--(sort of like a cuban press) . Just don't try to raise the arms up the wall--this is a modification of the exercise and a great mobility/stretch for the internal rotators.
Probably a better choice to go with this modification of the exercise rather than elimiinate it al together.
Start with simply getting your elbows up against the wall ("L" shape-with arms in front of your view at 90 degrees) and simply rotate your shoulder so that the top of your forearms get closer to the wall--(sort of like a cuban press) . Just don't try to raise the arms up the wall--this is a modification of the exercise and a great mobility/stretch for the external rotators.
Probably a better choice to go with this modification of the exercise rather than elimiinate it al together.
Please explain how external rotation of the shoulder stretches the external rotators.
I think going straight for 90 degrees of horizontal abduction at the shoulders is pretty damn optimistic to start, ESPECIALLY if the client has mobility issues in the chest/internal rotators. While you're at it, you have to also accept that there's a complimentary weakness in the external rotators/various muscles in the back and post.shoulder. We used an exercise similar to this at the Center of Achievement for People with Disabilities (CAPD) at Cal. State Northridge and I've used it ever since as a staple in my assesments/reassessments of clients. We always have the client in a stable-base seated position. If you're worried about what's going on in their upper body, it makes sense to me to take the lower body out of the equation for a situation like this. Whether seated on a stability ball against a wall, or a bench slid against the wall, you're able to focus on keeping the lordotic curve minimized. Then, with back flat to the wall and head retracted to the position it's supposed to be in (to counter forward head) bring the arms back so that the elbows make contact with the wall, forearms should be vertical with elbows and wrists pressed against the wall. From this position, slide the arms up, keeping the forearms vertical, and all contact points must remain until a point of discomfort. Depending on how jacked up your shoulder(s) are, you'll find you'll limitations pretty easily. We used to have stroke/TBI/cerebral palsy/spinal injury clients do it as a strengthening exercise while increasing ROM. For regular clients, or yourselves, it's an easy way to monitor ROM, muscular imbalances- for instance, your elbows pop away from the wall with tight chest muscles, wrists pop out with tight internal rotators- hold your point of discomfort for about a minute, trying to inch higher every 15 seconds or so- whatever hurts like hell is obviously weak and if you body collapses inward on itself like you got shot in the chest with a tazer, you may have tight internal rotators. When we used these as an exercise, we would usually do 3-4 holds at the point of discomfort for 8-12 seconds. We also called them "wall slides". I suppose it's not necessarily a better name than "stick-em-ups", but it's easy to remember what you do during the exercise and seated, scapular retraction, elbow flexion, wrist pronation, external shoulder rotation with cervical retraction to shoulder abduction with external rotation and pronation tends to be a little wordy, ya know? ANyways, keep your shoulders safe and good luck decreasing the pain and increasiong your ROM.
-Dustin
I'm sure I left out something important, so I'll fix iot later when someone has a problem with it
Start with simply getting your elbows up against the wall ("L" shape-with arms in front of your view at 90 degrees) and simply rotate your shoulder so that the top of your forearms get closer to the wall--(sort of like a cuban press) . Just don't try to raise the arms up the wall--this is a modification of the exercise and a great mobility/stretch for the internal rotators.
This is what I am doing in mid air at this time, sometime as a static stretch, sometimes as a dynamic stretch.
Stick-Em-Up pain
Linear Mode
