Scapula Health

The muscles responsible for scapula movement and control (known as the rotator cuff and serratus anterior) are often overlooked in favour of the bigger, superficial muscles we see in the mirror: pectorals, deltoids and latissimus dorsi. While these large muscles are responsible for developing the power in the overall movements, the smaller muscles deep within the shoulder stabilise the head of the humerus within the glenoid fossa (shoulder socket). If these are weak it can lead to imbalances, weakness, pain and even injury.

Last summer, I thought I had injured my anterior deltoid, because of pain in my shoulder which also ran down the top of my arm. The pain became worse during pressing movements in my workouts and even began to effect my everyday life, causing extreme discomfort during driving. This went on for a few months, just thinking I'd pulled a muscle and it would fix itself eventually. However, this wasn't the case and finally enough was enough, so I got it checked out properly. It was only then, after the months of discomfort, that I (well Leah really..) discovered the true cause was that I had a weak serratus anterior. This meant that I had greatly reduced scapula control and it didn't cooperate as it should when I moved my arm, leaving my shoulder in a more vulnerable and unstable position. This resulted in my other muscles being activated to a greater extent than normal in order to compensate, causing all sorts of imbalances, and ultimately the pain I was experiencing, being referred to my shoulder and arm.  

So at least now I knew what it was, I thought I can fix it no problem, I'll be back to normal in no time. Or so I thought... but no. Healing and re-strengthening the small stabilising muscles is a long and slow process. We're talking months. I did 4 body weight exercises day in day out to build the strength back: scapula presses, scapula rows, scapula dips and scapula pulls (see video below). The idea of the exercise is to move your body using only the muscles controlling your scapula. This means the movements are very small (it almost feels like your barely moving at all), and the best way to get the feel for the movements is by trying to keep your arms completely straight at all times. I started with just the presses (on my hands and knees) and rows (using gymnastic rings) until I had built up a reasonable amount of strength before I moved on to the pulls and dips, as these require you to support your whole body weight). In addition to the body weight training, I also did internal and external rotations using a resistance band.

Now I do at least one set of 8 for each of the body weight exercises as part of every warm up to ensure I switched on my stabilising muscles. Prevention is better than cure!!! 

Josh Tuck

Kneeling Scapula Press

Scapula Pull

Scapula Row

Scapula Dip

Internal Rotations
External Rotations