With almost every shoulder injury or neck pain case you can safely assume that there is a weakness in the lower trapezius muscle and the serratus anterior.
This is a drill from our newly released Shoulder Pain Special Report that provides a detailed step by step program on how to assess and treat any shoulder pain with exercises and drills like this.
You will find more about this by going to our website in the link below
https://shop.noregretspt.com.au/au/Sh...
These 2 muscles play a huge role in maintaining the optimal positioning and movement of the scapula when we move our arm. Both these muscles are what keeps the scapula attached to to the thorax and in optimal alignment. These muscles are very much like the glutes in the hip region and can become quite lazy and weak, and will easily be dominated by the upper traps and pec minor muscles which serve to create more pain and dysfunction around the shoulder. Most treatments focus on trying to massage, stretch and relieve the tension in these tight areas but forget to retrain the shoulder complex how to move using these key muscles. Even when pain is no longer present faulty movement remains and inevitably the injury or problem returns again after going back to what you were doing.
We use these drills extensively in our rehabilitation programs before as part of a stability and mobility "retraining process" that sets the foundation for the client to learn how to progress to more strength orientated exercises that will hold the posture and alignment.
Failing to complete these drills and moving straight to strengthening is very risky as you could expose the shoulder joint to load without the right movement or timing.
You cannot develop strength without having mobility and stability first.
Relying only on physio treatment or massage to relieve trigger points is also risky, as the shoulder will only become weaker and more unstable the longer these muscles are left unchecked.
A strategy of improving mobility and releasing trigger points and immediately following up with drills like this is where quick results will be found.
We have found these drills to help significantly with shoulder impingement, rotator cuff tears, AC Joint separation and even neck pain related problems. For such an easy looking drill it can achieve so much.
Again make sure you check out our latest Special Report on Shoulder Pain that includes this drill and many others including all the strength exercises.
https://shop.noregretspt.com.au/au/Sh...

You will find the articles below also useful in explaining the role of the serratus anterior and lower trapezius
http://www.noregretspt.com.au/index.p...

http://www.noregretspt.com.au/index.p...

http://www.noregretspt.com.au/index.p...

And if you live in Melbourne and would like to know more about our rehabilitation program go to our website below and fill in the form to schedule a free postural and movement assessment
http://www.noregretspt.com.au/index.p...