Why does my shoulder hurt and how do I fix it?

CrossFit Deep Weekly Mobility

Shoulder Pain

By: Austin Braham + Lindsay Marshall

Being CrossFitters, it is easy to understand that we use our shoulders in some way every day at the gym or in every day life. Whether we are pressing weight over head or reaching into the cabinet to grab something.

As coaches, we sometimes hear an athlete say, “I had to take a week off to heal my shoulder” or “my shoulder always hurts and I can’t do that movement because it causes more pain.”

Most of us have been in this situation in one way or another and it’s not a pleasant experience. When the shoulder is in pain it causes our regular daily functions to be burdensome. In order to keep your shoulders pain free we are going to look into your daily activities for the solution instead of only blaming it on the class workout.

            For the most part, Americans tend to live in a slouched position called protraction, which over time throws your trunk all out of whack.

Protraction of the shoulder is caused by a muscle called the pectoralis minor being flexed. Protraction is the sole movement caused by the pec minor. Imagine walking around and flexing your bicep the whole entire day, yeah even thinking about that seems not fun because of how tired and tight your arm would be. We should all be living in a slightly retracted state (and no I am not talking about walking around with your shoulders awkwardly pulled so far back that you look unnatural), neither completely retracted nor protracted. When we are in this protracted state for a majority of the day and you show up for the class workout that includes a shoulder movement, your humerus is no longer sitting comfortably in your shoulder joint. yet Let’s say the metcon has 100 push press in the workout and your shoulder musculature (pressure ie. the infraspinatus, lats, teres minor +major, pec minor+major, deltoids, etc.) is going to take a lot of pressure due to the muscles on the front of your body are tight simultaneously with the muscles on the back being stretched and taken through a range of motion with weight and for a crazy amount of reps.

            So after all of that biomechanical mumbo jumbo, how do I fix this?

1.     Practice staying neutral with your shoulders.

a.      While sitting at your desk, perform retraction: clinch your shoulder blades together, hold for 5 seconds, and then do that 5 times per hour

2.     Grab a massage ball (knotty body ball on Amazon for $10 ) or lacrosse ball from Dick’s for $2

a.     Lie on the ground or lean against the wall: Place the ball where the circle is and when you find a tender spot, hold it there and try to bring your arm from down beside you to above your head and take it back and forth.

3.     Mash out your teres minor

a.  It is important when getting into the front rack position. Use the same concepts as number 2.