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SHOULDER

There is a lot going on in the shoulder – be prepared to learn a little about yourself and find areas you didn’t know were sleeping and lost.   In her bestseller, “The Roll Model” author Jill Miller describes these areas as “Blind Spots.” Make your body aware of the issues, sticky spots and restrictions in your connective tissues and joints and make yourself MOVE BETTER!

 

My #1 rule for the shoulder is make sure you catch the back, the front and the side of the shoulder – you will have to get creative with positions, using the balls on the wall, floor and using your other hand to work this complex and busy area. It is NOT good enough to just roll and smash – have a plan!

 

Remember that there are 3 main points I want you doing as part of your self- treatment with the TAK balls.

  1. COMPRESSION – hit trigger points and break up point tenderness and adhesions.

  2. SHEAR – use the balls as a massage tool.  The balls roll, pry and twist along the muscles.

  3. PIN AND STRETCH – Pin a muscle down and move the joints above and below to really ‘re-learn’ how your body moves.

 

This should be intuitive, so play with it and see what works for you – don’t just mash and smash and don’t just roll back and forth. Do more, be smarter and have a plan about your treatment.

 

  1. Work the chest and pec first – make sure you use the 3 points (above) to free the front side prior to the back.

  2. For “pin and stretch” – use chest exercises like bench press motion and chest stretches (arms out wide).

 

For the back side of the shoulder

  1. Work all along the shoulder blade with one ball above the spine of the scapula and one below

  2. Don’t forget the traps and rhomboids and the entire thoracic spine – shoulders won’t improve if thoracic spine doesn’t move.   Get mobile!

  3. Use your other hand to work the muscles on the armpit side of the shoulder blade – pin and stretch

  4. Feel the difference between one ball and two and different sizes for different areas and ‘hot spots.’

  5. Use a wall in the house to get to tricky areas, not everything is done on the floor.

 

There are so many different shoulder problems and injuries that there is not one single protocol for “rehab to go”.Get inventive and pay attention to what works and what doesn’t.

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