Shoulder Mobility - Can You Do This (Cow Face Arms, Pose)

daz

straw poll...

can you, or can you not, do this 'behind your back grip', known as cow face arms or cow face pose;


I can do one side, usually with a bit of help from a wall, or using a towel,

the other side is a struggle due to a dodgy right shoulder. I'm gonna keep working on it to see if i can improve.


& i've started working on these;


Reverse Prayer Pose, to hopefully increase shoulder mobility.

Reka

Good ones. I fall onto my right shoulder at jitsu twice (first time it must have torn something because there was an awful tearing sound and debilitating pain), and once on the left. They are not the same. Would be great to have this mobility back but I don't dare to push it when it hurts.

daz

The Like is for you answering Reka,

not for your pain & suffering

Good luck with it all healing

drumminangoleiro

Yep! That surprises me that you can Jason...is it something you actively maintain or are you just naturally flexible?

ACH85

I've got one side without a wall or towel. But the other side is laughable, my hands must be over a foot apart. It seems separating my A/C joint a few years ago opened up a lot of mobility - my uninjured shoulder is the one holding me back. Weird. 

daz

I've got one side without a wall or towel. But the other side is laughable, my hands must be over a foot apart. It seems separating my A/C joint a few years ago opened up a lot of mobility - my uninjured shoulder is the one holding me back. Weird.

I'm the opposite, it's my bad shoulder holding me back.

The difficulty is when it is in lower position, getting it high enough...

& I was hoping that working on the Reverse Prayer pose would help with that.

daz

Yep! That surprises me that you can Jason...is it something you actively maintain or are you just naturally flexible?

Was the Yep, for yep you can do it drummin

drumminangoleiro

Yeah. When I'm not warmed up it is mostly just fingertips though. I do more external rotation than internal.

katolotus

I can only dream of being able to do that. I like to think my shoulders are too muscly, but in reality, my shoulder mobility is a big issue and very poor. I'm working on range of motion, but it takes so long to improve. I've also found out my ankle, wrist and neck joints are also terrible, add that to my hips and lower back that I was all to aware of and I'm looking pretty poor as an example of a human being. Too much sitting at a desk every day since I was 5 I'm guessing. Found all this out playing around with some gymnastics. So much work to do!

mpanarella

Great post. 

 

This is something I see quite often in my day to day so I thought I'd share a few thoughts. 

 

- If you're struggling to gain this range, you may want to clear thoracic mobility before worrying about the shoulder. Forty five degrees of rotation bilaterally is a good place to start. 

- You may also want to check scapular mobility as well 

- You can break the pattern down into it's smaller parts and see where you are restricted ie. shoulder extension, internal rotation, adduction and flexion, ER, abduction. Work on your weakest link and everything will get better

- Don't rely simply upon stretching. The shoulder joint loves active range! Own the end ranges!

- Some will benefit from some scapular stability as well. You can see the scap winging in the second photo. Sometimes some stability allows the shoulder joint itself to open up and will give you a "cleaner" pattern

- For some anatomy will be the limiter. Can't change bone structure!

- For some the joint capsule will be the limiter (esp. in Internal Rotation) Careful with stretching for internal rotation! A quick capsule mobilization can get you IR in seconds

- Practice some breathing as well. The ribs need mobility too

 

This list goes on and on but I hope that helps!

 

Cheers

- 

daz

thx mpanarella,  two things,  

 

what do you mean by "A quick capsule mobilization can get you IR in seconds" 

&

when you say "You can see the scap winging in the second photo" is that a bad thing / not good ? 

mpanarella

thx mpanarella,  two things,  

 

what do you mean by "A quick capsule mobilization can get you IR in seconds" 

&

when you say "You can see the scap winging in the second photo" is that a bad thing / not good ? 

No problem. 

 

To clarify, a joint mobilization of the shoulder can be performed by a qualified practitioner (chiro, physio, massage, etc.) and usually helps improve shoulder internal rotation. 

 

You can see the shoulder blade "peeling" off the rib cage in the photo. Not necessarily a bad thing but usually means the range is lacking in another aspect of the motion and the scapula is required to move excessively. You can see other examples of the pose where the shoulder blades remain comfortably on the thorax. 

daz

i definitely have the 'scap winging' thing going on...

as soon as i put either arm behind my back my scapula pops out. 

mpanarella

i definitely have the 'scap winging' thing going on...

as soon as i put either arm behind my back my scapula pops out. 

Can you figure out where you are limited?

 

Do you have approx. 60 degrees of internal rotation? 60 degrees of extension?