Throughout our careers, we reserve days of tribute to pay homage to a person or group of people who have positively impacted our lives. Teacher appreciation day, staff appreciation day, Veteran’s day, Mother’s day, and Father’s day. These are residing in our calendar to give thanks to our parents, veterans of the military who risked their lives for our society, and the teachers and mentors who guided us throughout our academic careers. Truly appreciating something takes into consideration the true value and impact the efforts something has impacted our existence. However, we sometimes forget to appreciate a part of our existence that has accomplished the other ninety-nine percent of the work that has brought us where we are today: our body.
The support acquired from our family, friends, co-workers, and veterans. Our body offers us significant structural support to be able to play sports, perform physical abilities for our careers, and enjoy life. There are many integral portions of our body that need attention. One that needs particular appreciation is our shoulders. Without our arms and hands, life would be quite a challenge. From brushing our teeth to holding the steering wheel in our cars. The shoulder joint offers significant value to our everyday lives.
The shoulder joints are a ball and socket joint. The head of the humerus fits into the scapula and is connected by a suction cup like ligamentous structure called the labrum. The intricate network of muscles attaching the humerus and scapula together, allow for multidimensional movements of our arms. Circular, overhead, reaching out in front and behind, and lifting objects up and down. These muscles act as primary motors creating an elite performing crane like tool to manipulate objects in our world. There aren’t many objects in this world that perform so many unique movements other than the shoulder joints. Therefore, reserving a day throughout the week to pay attention to our shoulders is immensely important. Simply performing shoulder injury prevention tactics for the integrity of the shoulder one day per week can change our world for the better.
Muscles attaching the scapula to the humerus comprise the shoulder’s rotator cuff. The supraspinatus lines the upper border of the scapula which has tendons attaching the muscles to the upper portion of the humerus. The subscapularis resides underneath the shoulder blade, tracing along the back of the body and adhering the inner part of the humerus close to the body. The teres minor, trapezius, and serratus anterior muscles all have tendons that connect the posterior aspect of the humerus to the lower portion of the ribs and bottom of the scapula. These muscles should be appreciated by implementing specific exercises to strengthen them because they are the supporting structures of the rotator cuff. If these muscles don’t receive proper attention, they can suffer from atrophy and loss of blood flow to the connective tissue adhering the humerus and scapula to each other. A loss of structural support and strength to these important muscles can lead to a collapse in the structure of the rotator cuff of the shoulder joint. The end result of these neglected muscles of scapular stabilization can lead to rotator cuff tearing, shoulder labrum impingement, pain, and suboptimal performance in our everyday lives.
To prevent such problems from occurring, is to reserve a shoulder appreciation day throughout the week. Don’t forget to appreciate the other parts of the body each week too. Examples of exercises that can be included in your shoulder appreciation day, include shoulder internal and external resistance band exercises, performing scapular protraction and retraction, and the simple yet effective plank exercises.
We take time out each year to buy cards for mom and dad, the birthday boy, or the daughter who is graduating. Those days are special. However, let’s make sure to appreciate ourselves by taking three to five minutes out once per week to a few repetitions of shoulder injury prevention tactics to appreciate what our shoulder does for our lives so we can give back to those people who support us.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
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