Brian Schiff’s Blog

Tightness and trigger points in the infraspinatus are common and create lots of dysfunction in the shoulder. You may also see tightness in the teres minor. Problems may include a rounded shoulder, chest tightness, a rotated scapula causing fatigue in periscapular muscles, trap tightness and even anterior compression of the humerus.

It is essential that any trigger points be resolved prior to stretching to make a lasting impact on the soft tissue mobility. The video below reveals how to use a trigger point ball to reduce soft tissue restriction in the posterior shoulder that may impede proper mobility and mechanics. Tightness may predispose overhead athletes and those doing resistance training to increased risk for rotator cuff and/or labral injuries.

In the case of shoulder pain and dysfunction, the lower trapezius and serrates anterior are often implicated as part of the problem. Research has shown that these two muscles often fatigue and don’t contribute equally to the force couple between them and the upper trapezius that facilitates upward rotation of the scapula.

Building scapular stabilization and dynamic stability is a must for those doing repetitive overhead activities such as throwing, swimming, serving, or work-related tasks.  It is a given that asymmetries will exist, so optimizing the strength of the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers is paramount to prevent injury and recover from overuse syndromes.

To strengthen the lower trapezius, one of my ‘go to’ exercises is the lower trap raise. It can be done with just the weight of your arms or using light dumbbells.  The link below includes the full description for the exercise, and I also embedded the video below.

http://fit-pro.com/article-4137-Lower-trap-raise.html

In the next column, I will include a serratus anterior exercise using a kettle bell as a follow-up to this post.