Scapular winging refers to a condition in which your shoulder blade protrudes out when in certain postures. It could be related to shoulder pain or weakness and could eventually lead to more long-term issues if left untreated.
Electrodiagnostic testing and neuromuscular ultrasound may also assist healthcare providers in making an accurate diagnosis.
Push-ups
Push-ups are an excellent exercise to strengthen and stabilize the shoulder blade in a neutral position, while helping you prevent scapular winging – an issue in which one shoulder appears cocked to one side while at rest or during movement. Although difficult to detect or treat, there are assessments you can use to detect it quickly.
One of the easiest and simplest ways to check for scapular winging is through conducting a self-test. Simply put, this involves checking whether your shoulder blade pops away from your ribcage when resting or during movement – performing this test in front of a mirror can make spotting problems much simpler.
The dual-wall pushup plus is an effective way to develop scapular stability. This exercise entails performing front wall pushups at 90deg of shoulder flexion with your scapulae protracted against the back wall for 5 seconds at 90deg shoulder flexion and with serratus anterior engaged, as this stabilizes your scapulae during both internal and external shoulder rotation. Furthermore, this practice may improve shoulder mobility for athletes who throw or swing rackets or clubs.
This exercise serves as an ideal warm-up for any workout, and especially beneficial for athletes suffering from scapular winging as it targets all of the muscles involved in its movement, helping prevent pain while simultaneously increasing performance. Exercise also serves to inhibit an overactive pec minor that often contributes to scapular winging. Doing this exercise regularly will help you prevent this condition and lower your risk of injuries in the future. There are various variations of push-ups that can help target different muscle groups and correct compensations such as elevated scapula, forward head posture and scapular winging. This exercise will give both you and your clients greater neuromuscular control to avoid long-term compensations that lead to compensations in their bodies.
Triceps dips
Dips are an effective exercise for developing arm strength, providing an alternative to standard push exercises like bench presses and dumbbell bicep curls. Furthermore, they engage the core. However, improper execution of dips may lead to shoulder pain or impingement as this requires the shoulders to move further from their natural positions, which leads to external rotation of elbows and external rotation of shoulders. To avoid this happening, always perform triceps dips properly.
Assuming you’re using a bench or chair, place yourself with your behind clear of its edge. Press into your palms and slide forward until your chest is just above the seat, slowly lower yourself until your arms form a 90-degree angle, and press back up into starting position. Aim for eight to ten repetitions at first before gradually increasing both sets and repetitions as you become more adept with movement.
This exercise targets the triceps, as well as working the pecs and core to a lesser extent. Furthermore, its movement will test your balance while challenging you to flex your core for stability; this helps create stronger core muscles as well as better posture overall. Plus it boosts metabolism while burning more calories!
If you have reached a plateau with bench press or other push exercises, this exercise is an easy yet effective solution to bring results quickly. Use parallel bars at your local gym or even two chairs at home to perform this move; for extra challenge add weight by placing hands on benches or chairs, or increase range of motion by bending elbows more.
Triceps extensions
triceps extensions are an effective exercise to strengthen and develop your triceps muscles, as well as providing a challenge to shoulder and chest muscles causing scapular stabilization. As with all exercises, proper form and technique must be adhered to when performing this movement – many make the mistake of letting their elbows drift forward when performing triceps extensions which increases workload on shoulders and chest muscles while decreasing effectiveness of this movement. To prevent this mistake from occurring try doing a few upper body stretches before performing your triceps extensions, or try doing the skull crusher variation of this exercise to help keep elbows pointing straight ahead.
One of the best ways to isolate your triceps is with a single-arm cable attachment. This method will allow you to use more weight with less reps. First, position yourself with an open grip so your elbows are close to your body; brace your core and lower traps against any weight stack; once elbows are secure in their positions, start to extend them upward and contract your triceps until you feel an intense contraction before returning your hands back to their starting positions and repeat.
An increasingly popular Triceps variation is the unilateral dumbbell triceps extension exercise, which can be performed seated or standing with either barbell or pulley machines – even lying down!
The triceps muscle group consists of three distinct bellies, or heads. Each head targets different aspects of your arm, making them highly versatile when it comes to targeting with exercises and training methods. Triceps extensions engage all three heads simultaneously; however, doing dumbbell triceps extensions in a supine position engages only lateral head more heavily.
Shoulder press
The shoulder press is a weight training exercise that specifically targets the front deltoid muscle of the upper-body. It can be performed either standing up or sitting down and often employs dumbbells for weight training purposes. It is an extremely effective method for increasing shoulder strength while simultaneously improving stability; making this an invaluable way of building bigger upper bodies or avoiding shoulder injuries altogether. There are various variations available of this particular shoulder press exercise.
The seated shoulder press is an ideal exercise to help those suffering from scapular winging as it encourages your scapula to remain closer to your spine while testing and correcting shoulder internal rotation. If your shoulder blade pops off your ribcage at rest or during movement, this move may help restore equilibrium; once it can be done with good form and control it’s time to introduce more difficult variations of this exercise.
Note that your elbow’s position during each movement will determine which muscles are activated the most effectively; elbows out to the sides target middle and lateral deltoids more; with them closer in, more front deltoids will be targeted more heavily. Furthermore, it’s crucial that at the top of each rep you shrug at the top to activate trapezius muscle and provide space between upper-arm bone and acromion for your rotator cuff tissues to breathe – otherwise they get crushed every rep causing inflammation and pain (shoulder impingement).
Shoulder presses can be an invaluable way to build muscle in the upper body – pectorals, deltoids, triceps and trapezius included! They also help develop greater shoulder strength for Olympic lifts like clean and jerks and snatches!
Shoulder flexion
Shoulder flexion exercises can not only strengthen muscles in your shoulders and upper back, but can also increase scapular stability. To perform this exercise, stand with feet shoulder-width apart while engaging your core. Hold a light weight and raise both arms up in front of you until they form an angle of 45deg with your body; repeat this movement for 30 to 60 seconds.
Scapular stabilisation relies on the coordinated efforts of 17 muscles. This includes the serratus anterior (shoulder blade muscle) and scapulothoracic rhythm muscles – two essential muscle groups to ensure correct positioning of the shoulder blade during shoulder movements, and prevents any potential winging of scapulae (shoulder blades).
However, these muscles can be compromised due to several factors, including ageing and chronic rotator cuff injuries. Such injuries can cause the muscles to weaken and shorten over time leading to decreased stability and mobility in the shoulder joint; often leading to scapular winging due to overuse, poor posture or sports activities.
One of the primary causes of scapular winging is Lateral Epicondylitis, commonly referred to as tennis elbow. This painful condition involves inflammation or micro-tearing of tendons on the outer side of the elbow due to repetitive movement such as lifting weights or typing, leading to inflammation or micro-tearing within forearm muscles on that side of the arm.
Early treatment of this condition can make a big difference; early treatment includes physical therapy, chiropractic care and registered massage therapy to address it. Book an initial consultation now to explore all available treatment options for scapular winging and begin the path to your recovery today!
