Enhance your body-mind connection with foam roller exercises and shoulder stretches that open your shoulder muscles. You’ll ease the load of the world on you shoulders! The body-mind connection is incredibly strong and once you do these exercises, this connection may be tapped into!
Simply expressed, the shoulder is responsible for all arm movements.
The mechanical fit of this ball and socket is not what stabilizes the shoulder joint. In order to remain in a stable or in a normal position, the shoulder joint must be anchored by shoulder muscles, tendons and ligaments. Even further, the bones of the clavicle (collar bone), and scapula (shoulder bone in the upper back) are connected with ligaments. Tendons from muscles that attach to the bones and connective tissue surrounding the shoulder joint makes up the rotator cuff. This soft tissue allows for great range of motion in the shoulder, but also can easily lead to over-stretched or torn shoulder muscles and ligaments that become shoulder injuries.
Instructions:
• Any size round foam roller will work.
1st Shoulder Foam Roll Movement:
•Lay on your side on the floor. Place the foam roller under your armpit perpendicular to your body.
• Roll up and down in 2inch segments over your entire body.
• This is a cross fiber massage of for the clavicular pectoral muscle where it attaches to the shoulder at the top of the humerus.
• Be sure to spend as much time as you need on any sore spot to allow the blood to flow back in, then go back to the sore spot and apply pressure for another 10-20 seconds or more. Remember to B-r-e-a-t-h-e Deep!
2nd Shoulder Foam Roll Exercise:
Place your bod over the foam roller on a table somewhat parallel to your upper body, but at an angle to hit the top of the shoulder at the anterior deltoid muscle and the bicep tendon.
• Extend your arm almost parallel to your upper body, with your palm rotated down, and your thumb pointing toward your body.
• Roll the anterior deltoid, up and down the arm in small 2inch movements, aiming for the top of the humerus or the boney prominence in the front of the shoulder. Hold at any sore spots as described above in exercise one.
3rd shoulder foam roll
Keep the foam roller on the table in front of you.
• Place the roller under your armpit. Bend at your elbow with your hand behind your ear.
• Roll the muscles under your armpit, leaning front/back/or any movement to find the area of soreness.
• Depending how you position your body, you will hit the triceps, toward the body will hit the latissimus dorsi, the infraspinatus and the teres muscles.
4th foam roller exercise
place the foam roller on the table, parallel to your upper body.
• Now extend your arm out perpendicular and place your foam roller under the front part of your shoulder at the anterior deltoid.
• Roll in small 2inch movements along the front of the deltoid.
• For the fifth foam roller exercise lie on your side on the floor and place the foam roller under your side.
• Roll all around side, up and into the armpit, by pushing off with your feet.
• This foam roller exercise targets the latissimus dorsi mostly, but also hits the serattus muscles of the upper ribs, the infraspinatus and the teres muscles.
