Unburden the Shoulders

You’ve been unconsciously taught a shoulder position for your entire life, with elbows wide and shoulder blades shrugged. It’s in a “traditional” push-up, it infects bench press, and it has become the posture of “backpack culture.” Due to evolutionary biology, chronic and acute stress instantly and semi-permanently, shrug your shoulders upward to protect your neck.

Yet, it’s the least bio-mechanically sound joint position and accounts for almost all pain and injuries to the neck and shoulders. There is a fix to it, but it won’t happen until you remain aware, focus attention on it, and develop a deliberate practice of relaxing the shoulders…

Here are three easy steps;

1 Un-Shrug your shoulders. Pull your shoulders down toward the ground, as if carrying two suitcases of equal weight. But because of chronic stress and bad posture, most people have a constant shoulder shrug.

2 Roll your shoulders backward. Most people have their shoulders rolled forward, causing their elbows to flare away from their ribs. When your shoulders are rolled back into your arms, hang effortlessly at your sides, parallel with you.

3 Pull your shoulder blades together but don’t pinch them. This is an active but not tense balance.

We will be working with the shoulders this coming week in class!

emmanuel