The Shoulder Joint
The shoulder joint has a wide range of motion in many different planes which causes laxity. Laxity of the shoulder joint often results in instability problems such as rotator cuff impingement, subluxations, and dislocations. The concept that the more mobile the joint the less stable it is and vice versa is applied throughout the body, but particularly the shoulder joint.
Stretching
Stretching is an important component of exercise that is often
overlooked. Many people seem to believe that stretching is a waste of
time or do not deem it as important as the work-out they are about to
begin; this belief can be no farther from the truth. Stretching can help improve flexibility. And better flexibility may
improve your performance in physical activities or decrease your risk of
injuries by helping your joints move through their full range of
motion. Stretching also increases blood flow to the muscle.
This is one of the stretch we do every day before practice. It is done by putting both hands behind your back together.; the hands are then pulled away from the body far enough to feel a stretch. To deepen the stretch some people bend over at the waist. The hands are pulled backward into extension in the saggital plane. Humans have the ability to extend their arms 40 to 60 degrees behind their body. People that stretch more often are closer to the 60 degrees. Stretching your arms this way also helps you to provide more torque when throwing without causing injury.
This is another example of the type of stretch we do prior to workout. This stretches the shoulder joint in the frontal plane. All muscles of the rotator cuff are stretch in this particular stretch. It also stretches several muscles in the back including the trapezius, latissimus Dorsi and rhomboid. This is also the go to stretch when you don't feel "loose" enough. Many times at the college level you have to stretch more than you did when you were younger. It really depends on the day and your activity from the previous, but if you are feeling more sore or tight than usually this is generally a good stretch to do.
This is my personal favorite stretch. It is used to stretch the muscles that are attached to the front of the shoulder joint. This particular stretch, stretches the muscles in the horizontal plane. These particular muscles can make the shoulder and arm abduct 45 degrees behind the body. The muscles stretched here are the Pectoralis major, Coracobrachialis, Subscapularis, Deltoid and the
Supraspinatus.
This stretch is the opposite of the stretch above. It stretches the shoulder joint on the horizontal plane, but in the opposite direction. It also stretches the back muscles that participate in the shoulder joint which includes: Deltoid, Supraspinatus, Latissimus dorsi, Teres major, Infraspinatus and the
Teres minor. This is another popular stretch with the softball players on my team.
Injury to the Rotator Cuff
The rotator cuff is composed of 4 majors muscles that include; Subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, & teres minor
muscles. They attach to
the front, top, & rear of humeral head. Inadequate warm-up
& conditioning
causes injury to this area. This is why stretching and a proper throwing warm-up routine is very important. Below is an example of the first part of our softball team's warm up routine. Usually this is done on one knee a short distance away from a partner. During this warm-up exercise we use the same mechanics we would when we throw normally, but we take time and make sure we do it correctly and really over exaggerate the movements in order to stretch our arm. The upper body is also isolated so we can pinpoint any problems or injuries easier. Pitchers also do this drill when they are first starting out pitching.
It is important to know the difference between being sore and being hurt. In a sport that uses the arm, back and shoulder muscles regularly you are sore often. It is also very common for girls playing softball to hurt their arms and not tell anyone about it. Everyone is different and each injury is also different. It is important to get adequate rest for your shoulder joint muscles and to heat and ice appropriately. Although the lower body is used mainly in fastpitch pitching the upper body is also important and should be taken care of appropriately. It isn't necessary to always throw hard in order to build that arm
strength. Every throw is exercise. You have to do some hard
throwing eventually but soft tossing does help build arm strength.
Particularly when you are doing pre-season throwing, just throw easily.
Then as the practice season draws closer throw a little harder but not
maximum strength. Then when you get into real practices, start out
slowly and build up.
In softball and in everyday activities the shoulder girdle and the shoulder joint combine motions to provide a total range of motion on the arm. The motions of the shoulder joint are listed below along with their partner shoulder girdle motion.
The Shoulder Joint
Abduction
Adduction
Flexion
Extension
Internal Rotation
External Rotation
Horizontal Abduction
Horizontal Adduction
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The Shoulder Girdle
Upward Rotation
Downward Rotation
Elevation/Upward Rotation
Depression/Downward Rotation
Abduction (protraction)
Adduction (retraction)
Adduction (retraction)
Abduction (protraction)
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