Posting this again after the data loss on the weekend. Dont worry guys I work in the business and it happens to the best of us.
I had previously posted regarding pain in my right upper arm. It flares up most when I play golf so have not played for a couple of weeks to let it rest but I have not seen any improvement. When not playing golf the use of my arm is fairly normal and pain free but It does hurt when I move my elbow straight back behind me or when I reach behind my back, say to tuck my shirt in. The pain seems to come from just below my shoulder joint and radiates down the back of my arm toward the elbow.
Vickie had responded something along the lines of it being an aligment which was effecting my brachial plexus (I recall that thoracic vertebrae, subluxation, cervicals and shoulder girdle were mentioned ) and was going to come back with some suggestions for me.
Hi dougt, Thanks for the recap. You remembered correctly and I will add that one of the culprits is a rotator cuff muscle, specifically the subscapularis, in conjunction with the pectoralis (chest) muscle and the lattisimus dorsi (large back muslce). Since your pecs and your lats work together to keep the joint open for arm movement, as they attach similarly on the arm bone for movements across and behind the torso small alignment imbalances do not allow the rotator cuff muscles to adequately perform and impingements on the nerves insue. It's a little circumspect without doing some mind kinesthetic testing but I will be on later today and post some exercises that will let you isolate and replicate these movements under controlled conditions, yes that's the exercise segment purpose, with the goal of allowing the body to begin to renegotiate the agonist and antagonistic relationship during a golf swing. It doesn't happen immediately but within a few weeks you should begin to see some improvements. Vickie
Dougt: I am putting up two, just two movements for you to initiate and be sure your alignment is working in your best interest. These are foundational movements and I will post more soon.
Standard Form (Basic safety position for all exercises)
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, weight evenly distributed
between your hips.
Let your weight move back to your heels which will encourage you to
bend your knees slightly to keep your balance.
Your back should still be straight .
Lift your shoulders straight up toward the ceiling as high as you can trying to touch your ears.
Push your shoulders back as far as you can still keeping them raised.
Draw your neck back and up (pulling your chin under) to be even with
your shoulders.
You will feel your neck lengthen as you keep your chin down.
Note: You will feel your back and your chest stretch in this effort. Do Not let your head rock back to hyperextend (your chin would lift to the ceiling in this inappropriate position).
Deliberately bring your shoulders down allowing your chest and back to
expand to full breadth.
Key: In this position your chest will feel forward and 'soldieresque' .This does not feel natural! But we all know exercise is NOT natural, but it works.
Shoulder Stretch Deltoid / Rotator Cuff Joint
Lie on the floor on you back, with your feet flat and your knees bent,
arms byyour side with the palms down
Your shoulders should be down and your lower back will have a natural
curvature, in some cases keeping your low back off the floor.
Do not allow your back to change position through out the movement.
Lift one arm completely straight up, around, and over the shoulder to lay
it along the side of your head with the palm facing the ceiling.
Keep your arm straight through the elbow and hand and only stretch as
far as the shoulder joint will allow. Never force it or just let the hand
fall to the floor.
In the early stages (or on tense days) your arm may not go to the floor
but with time it will comfortably rotate around.
Hold for 20-45 and then engage your shoulder to lift the arm around
to the starting position.
Check to be sure your torso is flat and relaxed. Repeat on the other side.
Key. Your goal is not to lay your hand on the floor, Your goal is to create enough flexibility capability in the shoulder joint that the arm bone can smoothly complete a 180 degree rotation that results in your hand being on the floor.
Read one exercise, try to do it, then read it again to see which little piece you didn't get. Since they are not normal nor familiar they will be hard to impliment in the beginning. But you will get the feel quickly if you give yourself several tries.
Repeat the Standard Form exercise several times everyday to encourage better neck and shoulder alignment. You can do it seated also. I would encourage you to do it in the mirror initially to give yourself some reinforcement.
Repeat the Shoulder Stretch slowly and with great attention to keeping the elbow straight three times on one side before moving to the other side. Initially just do these once a day and after a couple of days try to do the in the morning and again later in the day. By then I will have more movements to incorporate the rotational aspects of your problem.
There is a second pectoralis muscle that greatly inhibits your ability to allow the shoulders to drop into a naturally relaxed position. If this tension holds itself continuously it contributes to the very conditions you are describing.
To check yourself lay down on a hard floor, carpet is ok, and see if your shoulders drop to the floor. If you can't feel it get your beloved to tell you if both shoulders are at the same relaxed lever. The lower pec can absolutely hold your shoulder forward and instigate this issue. These exercises, listed above create an ititial way to address the path to a new function. So wait a few days and I will list the next level of exercises. Do these two movements two to three times a day and then build slowly. You will create permanent changes so you don't have to keep reinventing the process.
Stick with me and I think with your feedback we can create the best exercises for your unique malfunctions. Til, appx Friday for new exercises.
Thanks Vickie. I have been experiementing with these two excerises already since I saw that they seemed to be a failry common starting ground from some of the other threads that I have read. Now that I know that I should be doing them I will be more dilligent
My Physio referal finally came through so I went along to see what what he had to say. He though it may a nerve issue as Vickie suggsted but couldn't put his finger on any specific alignment issues. After various tests he suspected that it is a Tricep strain that I may have picked up at the Gym. He gave me a good stretching out and gave me some tricep stretches to take away until my next appointment on Tuesday.
I have been combining these with the excercises that Vickie sugested and have been seeing some mild improvment.
I also asked my wife to check my shoulder level and although both shoulders seem to touch the floor ok she thought that my right side generally looked higher overall while I was led on the floor. Interestingly I tried a stretch for my lower pec and found that the arm behind the back pain eased slightly for a few seconds after the stretch and then returned.
) and was going to come back with some suggestions for me.
Hybrid Mode
