How To Avoid Shoulder Injuries When Working Out
When people are doing exercises to strengthen the shoulder, very often they are making mistakes in form that can lead to very painful injuries. This article discusses some things to consider during your workout that can minimize the risk of this type of injury.
The shoulder is a complicated beast. It can take years for the wrong training to manifest itself in a serious injury. The reality is that these injuries have been building up for a long time due to incorrect form and over training. If you avoid these common pitfalls you should have an injury-free shoulder.
1) Back bending. It is easy to arch your back, get more leverage and lift heavier weights. The problem with this is that it puts undue strain on your lower back which can result in a very painful injury. Also, by using your back as a lever like this you are actually taking some of the load from the very muscles you are trying to train.
2) Follow the form of the exercise. If you exaggerate the motion you will put the joint in an unnatural position thereby greatly increasing the risk of injury. Some people argue that lifting the weight further will improve the strength in the muscle. This may well be true but the truth is that any gain will be very minimal and certainly not worth the risk on injury.
3) When working out the shoulders from a standing position, lots of people lock their knees and lean backwards and then forwards while exercising. Again, this can cause injury to the lower back. You should keep your knees unlocked and focus on keeping your body vertical.
4) Behind the neck pull downs are a very efficient way of tearing you rotator cuff. You will also compress your arm bone into the shoulder socket which is never a good thing to do. You should always pull the weight down in front of your chest. This will avoid the acute anterior rotation of your arm that leads to these types of injuries.
If you follow these simple points you should not have to worry about shoulder injuries through weight training. A long period of rest and no workouts are the likely outcome of a shoulder injury. My friend tore his rotator cuff muscle while doing behind the neck pull downs. It was six months before he was able to train like he was pre-injury so please do bear this in mind when you are next working out your shoulders.
Patrick has been writing about fitness for over two years. His latest website is about storm door hardware and cabinet door hardware Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/how-to-avoid-shoulder-injuries-when-working-out-1265077.html
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