A BIG Key In Better Shoulders? It’s All In The Hips!

There is never ONE thing that will fix any sort of chronic pain issue. To suggest such a thing is being dishonest with you, but there are key concepts that can have a HUGE impact. One of the most important keys in building greater health of the shoulders is what is happening at the hips. For most people this seems very confusing and as though one would have to do with the other. Unfortunately, this is part of the damage that isolated muscle training does in our ability to build not just a stronger, but healthier body.

This isn’t just my opinion either, there is a LARGE body of research that demonstrates the impact that the hips have on the shoulders, especially when we are looking at throwing athletes.

In actuality, before we start doing exercises for the shoulders, we should be thinking about what is happening at the feet and hips! Since force ALWAYS starts from the ground and goes up our body, it makes sense that we would creating training that does the same! If this is so obvious, why don’t more people recommend it?

To be honest, most people don’t spend a lot of time reading research, nor do they look at research that may not already agree with what they believe. After all, if you believe that strengthening this or that muscle is good for the shoulders, there are plenty of studies to show you what exercises activate this or that muscle. The unfortunate part is that such methods are rarely actually effective in solving the problem with shoulders.

As renown physical therapist, Gary Gray has asked, “are those muscles singing or screaming?” when we see those high levels of muscle activity? After all, do we really think that our rotator cuff muscles or serratus anterior are designed to dominate a movement, or are they more likely to work in perfect synergy with the rest of the body to create efficient movement? I think you know the answer.

There are several ways that are extremely effective to build the connection of the hips and shoulders while also improving their individual function better at the same time.

 

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A post shared by Ｊｅｓｓｉｃａ Ｂｅｎｔｏ (@jessbento_physiotherapist)

Physical Therapist, Jessica Bento shows how we use strength training tools and positions to teach how to use the feet, the hips, the core, and the shoulders in the way they are meant to function in life. This increases strength, stability, and mobility of both the hips and the shoulders.

What Jessica shows above is one of the big ways we make these connections, but there is another as well. When we can really focus on movements that aren’t really possible with weights and see the spiraling movements that are so essential to joints that move like hips and shoulders, we start to get WAY more out of our training. Especially when we combine these movements with intentional breathing exercises that create core stability and relax the tension in our body that allows for better mobility.

In DVRT we try to show you that even though there isn’t one simple answer to most training goals, we can use what we know about the science of movement to create highly effective workouts. This type of training doesn’t have to take hours upon hours either, but it DOES take us being intentional and mindful of how we are using our tools and even more importantly, our body overall. That is how we create better strength, movement, and a healthier body.

Want to learn more about how use strength, stability, and mobility to create stronger and healthier shoulders? Just use code “combo” HERE to get our special combo of a deep dive into the education and training of the shoulders.