The shoulder joint is the most flexible joint in the body. This might be because it’s actually made up of two different joints–the glenohumeral and acromioclavicular joints–that move in tandem to increase the range and flexibility of your shoulders and arms.
Although your shoulders are equipped with many redundancies, and strong tendons and tissues in order to protect it, the truth is that its flexibility leaves a lot of room for vulnerability to injury. That’s why shoulders are the most-commonly-injured joints in the human body. So how can you reduce your risk of shoulder injury? One of the key tips is to know the proper technique for lifting–whether that’s at work, or while you’re working out.
Preventing Shoulder Injury in the Workplace
There are a few things that you can do while setting up a workspace in order to minimize the risk of injury. For one thing, it’s important to note that 90% of the physical labor that people do in the workplace requires individuals to hold out their arms in front of them. For this reason, it’s useful to do regular stretches and exercises that will keep shoulder and back muscles limber and strong.
Secondly, one of the most common contributors to shoulder injury–especially in the workplace–is when we lift heavy things overhead. Overhead lifting should be avoided whenever possible, and objects should be placed between shoulder and waist height instead.
General Tips for Proper Lifting:
- Hold heavy items as close to your body as possible
- Always lift from the knees
- Don’t lift heavy objects above shoulder level
- Get someone to help you out–no need to be a hero
Workout Tips to Prevent Shoulder Injury
The first thing to know about preventing shoulder injuries while working out is that it’s important to have muscles in your back that can properly counter the work that you do along the front of your body. We have a tendency to concentrate a lot more on the front muscles–pecs, abs, etc.–than we do on the back. However, both sides are essential in order to maintain balance and keep the shoulder joints stable. So, remember to do pull exercises (i.e. rowing and pull ups) as often, or even more often, as you do pushing exercises (i.e. bench presses and shoulder presses.) Simply having both of these muscle groups well-balanced will minimize a lot of risk of shoulder injury.
The second thing you need to remember is to listen to your body. Even when you have the absolute perfect technique, there will be some exercises that your body just doesn’t like, no matter how highly recommended they are by that bodybuilding guru on YouTube. So if you’re starting to feel tendon strain and pain, just back off! You know the difference between a good muscle strain and a bad one.
The last thing to do is to gradually build up the muscle groups associated with each movement. Instead of throwing them straight into extreme work, use high reps at a low resistance in order to practice the movement and get your body used to working inside that motion. This link has a good guide to the exercises that will focus on the proper muscle groups.