Shoulder injuries are a common complaint at the physiotherapy clinic. Most of the shoulder injuries I see in the young population are occurring at the gym caused by exercises such the barbell bench press or shoulder exercises. One common theme amongst these clients is that they do not warmup the shoulder before going into their main compound lifts. The common injury I see at the clinic is related to the rotator cuff muscles (4 muscles surrounding the shoulder) or the long head of the bicep tendon which attaches within the shoulder joint and act as shoulder stabilisers. The muscles play an important role as they are deep stabilisers of the shoulder and if neglected, they can cause abnormal mechanics of the shoulder and cause a shoulder injury.
I personally when I go to the gym, spend about 10-12 minutes warming up the shoulder If I am going to be working my chest or shoulders so the tendons are warmed up and there is good amount of blood flow going into the tendons so they are ready and activated to help me lift better by providing more support and reducing my chances of having a shoulder injury. There are various rotator cuff exercises, you could probably find a dozen of them on social media, some are more effective than others and some are probably a little aggravating to your shoulder if injured so finding the right exercises can be a challenge. I have designed a rotator cuff injury rehab program for 6 weeks which you can find on the ‘Rehab Programs’ tab on the main menu which can help you restore pain free shoulder function again. Also, you can use the program even if you’re not injured and as part of your routine warm up to reduce the risk of injury.
Take home message from a physiotherapist is to spend some time to properly warm up the shoulder before rushing into your main lifts because once the shoulder is injured, it can interfere with your exercises and slow down your progress. Good luck!
