Misunderstood Rehabilitation of the Shoulder

One of the most common injuries we see here at the Dynamic Clinic is shoulders. We have seen everything from adhesive capsulities (aka Frozen Shoulder), Tendinitis, Bursitis, a humerus split in half like a piece of chopped wood, Labral Issue's, pretty much everything in our therapy school books and beyond!

In my opinion, the shoulder is one of the most complex joints in the body to rehab and can be affected by every other part of the body.

One of the major issues with the shoulder is the neighbouring anatomical structures like the Thoracic Spine, and Visceral system need to be dealt with during rehab.

Also, the shoulder is a major pivot point of all Myofascial Chains of the body. An adhesion or lesion at the shoulder can cause a ripple effect along any fascial chain, causing dysfunction at multiple different area's. If there is an adhesion or lesion present somewhere else in the body (Liver, or opposite hip most common), than this can cause dysfunction in the shoulder.

In this blog post, my goal is not to go to far in detail about everything that can affect the shoulder, but to educate on the Rotator Cuff. Everybody has heard of the infamous "rotator cuff". Most of us think that is one muscle that rotates the shoulder, or more specifically the Glenohumeral Joint.

The rotator cuff is actually comprised of 4 separate muscle, all with separate actions. Across the board, the rotator cuff primary job is to actually stabilize the shoulder, THEN rotate.

Every wants to do rotation exercise, and more specifically, External Rotation before the muscles can even do there primary job.

Prior to any shoulder rehab or workout protocol, we must first asses 4 different componants:

Prep Workout Prior to Shoulder Rehab:

1) Make sure there is No Myofascial Adhesion's, ANYWHERE!

2) Make sure there is proper Thoracic Spine Mobility, if not, fix it.

3) Make sure proper body alignment. Hips, Legs, Shoulders, and Clavicle.

4) Make Sure there is adequate mmobility at the Clavicle, if not, always check Subclavius Muscle. If the clavicle is "locked", you will be in a nasty surprise for your shoulder(s).

Once these have all been worked on and cleared up, it is now appropriate to work on Shoulder Stability.

Our rule of thumb is the make the joint stabilized, then we can go for mobility.

On Friday October we are going to release a T-Spine Warm Up and Mobility Protocol, than a week today, we are going to release the ultimate shoulder rehab protocol.


Stay Tuned to this blog!


2. My partner in business, Taylor, has finally decided to start her own blog and twitter! We have been working towards this day for 2 years now.

Taylor focus her business and practice towards working with females. You can check out her website at http://www.the1000dollarweightlosschallenge.com/

Blog: http://www.tayjarvis.blogspot.com/



3. Our BP video of Kasia Sitarz is finally up!



We will be posting videos every few weeks to show her rehab and performance progress.



On a side note, as I type this blog, there is 3 packed, high energy boot camps going full tilt right now in the Canadian Human Performance Centre. I love this atmosphere! If you are in the GTA or Burlington/Hamilton Area, come check these camps and workouts out!