Article image above courtesy of Men’s Fitness
The shoulder joint is one of the most mobile joints in your body and even though this has many advantages, it also makes it an easy joint to dislocate. Excessive stretching applied to the shoulder may cause a tear in the connective tissue, resulting in the upper arm bone moving out of its socket — known as a dislocated shoulder or a dislocation in the soldier. If this happens, a medical practitioner can put the ball of the joint back into the socket and then rehab exercises to improve your flexibility can begin.
One of the best exercises you can do for your shoulder health and to prevent injuries is shoulder dislocations or shoulder dislocates. They also help in strength building.
A shoulder dislocation program can be done using any stick readily available or stick you usually have access to like broomsticks, barbells and exercise sticks. A towel or an elastic band can also be used.
Why Shoulder Dislocations are Excellent for Shoulder Health
1. Shoulder dislocations develop strength in the muscles you have never heard of
Usually, when the arm is kept straight and locked, the entire range of movement is done with the scapula or the shoulder girdle.
There are tiny muscles you barely knew existed in the rotator cuff like infraspinatus, subscapularis, and other scapula muscles. With shoulder dislocation, the muscles develop to a great extent, but if you go by bent arms exercises, these small muscles undergo underdevelopment.
2. Shoulder dislocations increase shoulder flexibility
This is the main reason we are permitting shoulder dislocations and it works perfectly well.
After a week of doing shoulder dislocations, you would notice a serious and rapid improvement in your shoulder flexibility.
In improving your posture and preventing injuries in which shoulder injuries are common to lifters, shoulder flexibility is important.
3. Your body gradually learns to perform harder exercises
Usually, calisthenics moves such as planche, levers are done with straight arms. To tackle these exercises in the future, shoulder dislocation would properly prepare you and make sure your muscles and tendons can take the stress of the advanced exercises.
4. Shoulder dislocations develop tendon strength
Tendons in the elbows especially would get stronger and fast. The tendons in the wrists and shoulders are greatly strengthened to withstand more stress. In keeping the joints healthy, tendon strength in elbow and wrists is highly important.
The most common injuries like golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow can be prevented by shoulder dislocations.
Variations of Shoulder Dislocation
The way you hold the stick, band or towel will significantly change the nature and benefits of this exercise.
To perform the variation of the shoulder dislocation illustrated above, two ways are highlighted below.
Overhand Shoulder dislocations
The most common way to do shoulder dislocations exercise is by Overhand Shoulder dislocations. The stick is held in front of your body and the back sides of your hands face forward.
Underhand Shoulder Dislocations
Here, you begin the exercise with the stick behind your back.
You undergo a supinated underhand grip; this is where the back sides of the hands are facing backward. The shoulders are eternally rotated maximally, which means there is a difference in your shoulders.
3 Ways to Do Shoulder Dislocations
- Standing Shoulder Dislocations
This is without a doubt the common way to perform the shoulder dislocations exercise. Find a perfect grip; rotate the stick until it is placed behind your body. If you take the supinated grip, then the exercise starts behind your back.
It may feel a little bit tight at first, that should not be a thing to worry about because you want to improve the shoulder flexibility. Standing shoulder dislocation also develops the anterior and lateral deltoids and the long head of triceps.
Many people force their way into the exercise, which is cool, but the greatest and hidden benefits are gained when the exercise is done with absolute control and a steady flow or rhythm.
- Bent Shoulder Dislocations
With bent shoulder dislocations, the body is bent to a 90-degree angle and the exact same rotation is done with the shoulders.
The exercise has changed greatly because the entire angle of your body has changed. Besides, the angle of the Bent Shoulder Dislocations exercise is very easy to adjust by moving your body.
The bent shoulder dislocations develop the trapezius muscles to a great extent. The bent shoulder dislocations with an underhand grip also target the posterior deltoids. Though the underhand dislocation requires an immense amount of shoulder flexibility, it develops it nicely too.
- Prone Shoulder Dislocations
The angle of your upper body is similar to the bent shoulder dislocations, but this variation is slightly harder. Why?
Although it seems like the whole range of motion is cut in half when compared to the bent shoulder dislocations, prone dislocations are a little harder exercise.
Your trapezius muscles need to flex from a muscle length they are very weak at, and no momentum can be created with your front deltoids like you would with bent shoulder dislocations.
Prone shoulder dislocations are an awesome exercise in developing raw strength in the upper trapezius muscles. Like with the other shoulder dislocation variations, the shoulder flexibility is also developed.
Shoulder Dislocations Scheduling
Shoulder dislocations are recommended at the end of your workout or as a more effective way to warm-up your joints and shoulders for your workout (i.e before your workout).
It is advisable you do probably 3-5 sets and 5 to 20 repetitions per each set. You’d notice that 5 repetitions would be enough focusing more on the bent and prone shoulder dislocations.
It is highly recommended to do the variations in underhand and overhand fashion. Each variation will shape the muscles very uniquely.
For a start, you should begin with a long stick and a grip that you are most comfortable with. After you have gone through and master this phase, you can make the dislocations harder by:
Using a narrower grip: The side goal is to make your grip narrower while your shoulder flexibility gradually progress.
Start carefully: Tendons and joints take importantly longer time to recover compared to muscles. You should often do shoulder dislocations exercise as your tendon and shoulder permits. Once or twice a week would do.
Adding weight: With weights, shoulder dislocations can be a great strength building exercise too.
External sources in this article include the websites Livestrong1https://www.livestrong.com/article/556491-how-to-tape-your-shoulder-for-stability/, Reddit2https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/comments/2v5smy/the_shoulder_dislocate_a_must_read_for_all/3., Vahvafitness3https://www.vahvafitness.com/shoulder-dislocations-guide/, and Kingofthegym4http://www.kingofthegym.com/shoulder-dislocation-exercise/, as referenced below.
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