What is normal shoulder mobility.

What is normal shoulder ROM?

I am an ex gymnast and a long time coach.  I was not the best trained I'll admit. Manna progressions were not worked at all and I used to have the best iron M around. So my elbows are just great now(plenty of sarcasm) and the shoulders are rolled forward when I am relaxed. 

 

I've followed GB for a long time and used it with my guys and always played around with planche work and ring support work. Over the past year I've started working more on my whole self actually trying to work the program. My question is about normal unweighted shoulder movement. Seems I have a HUGE imbalance.

 

 If I am standing and my arms are by my side and straight, I can easily make my thumbs touch or my pinkeys touch (like ring support) with no problem keeping my arms straight. Behind my butt, not so much or should I say not at all. If i have thumbs turned in and I'm actively pinching the shoulder blades, I can squeeze arms together almost to waist width or just enough not to see my thumbs any more if im looking at a mirror. If I'm supinated the wrist are probably an extra 2 inches or so away from the waist on each side. 

 

I used to have my guys pass a parallette around their body thumb to thumb and pinky to pinky as a pommel drill bc its obvious that mobility is needed for pommels. I just never noticed how bad mine is. There's no way I could do  what I was asking them to do. I mean Im going through the bridge series and when we do shoulder extension "keeping the finger touching to be honest" i dont even try to slide open. I just squeeze the shoulder blades together with my palms flat on the ground hoping that one day they will touch and feel it plenty.

 

So I guess my question is what would be considered normal and has anyone here overcome this much immobility?

Hi Darren,

 

I was not a gymnast as a child, only started by following GB about 4 years ago, but I am an Osteopath and the shoulder mobility that you describe in yourself is definitely sub 'normal'.

 

The question you ask is a very good question and something I have asked myself a lot over the last year, with regards to adult patients I see. Shoulder mobility will vary from individual to individual dependent upon variations in anatomical morphology and also to the degree of elastin in connective tissues (genetically determined) and also the amount of muscle mass an individual carries (as this can sometimes be a hinderance through mechanical obstruction), but these should only be apparent through whole joint ranges of movements such as dislocates or trying to grab your opposite hand behind your back and at end of range  limitations.

 

I tried your described movement of touching thumbs and little fingers behind the back, standing with elbows straight. I could easily touch my thumbs but was unable to touch little fngers without a light bend in my elbows. I found that my lats and teres major mass seemed to be 'getting in the way' 

 

I think if you really work on reducing the amount of protraction you have in the shoulder girdle, you'll notice improvements. You'll most likely have shortened pecs (both major and minor) as well as serratus and through the clavipectoral fascia and maybe some degree of over pronounce thoracic flexion. Work the table holds to stretch out the front and ring rows to fire up the rhomboids and retraction, if you hold one position it helps to relax the antagonist muscle groups through neural inhibition. L-sits help to relax the hamstrings for instance. So for an extended time period you need to not fire up the protractors (by avoiding planche work and presses) whilst working the retractors, until a more balance state has been achieved. That means adaptations in the nervous system as well as structural changes in the tissues.

 

Would be great to see a video if you wouldn't mind. Standing relaxed posture without a top and then your described movements???

Thank you for the response Wes. I too felt like  "my lats and teres major mass seemed to be 'getting in the way' ". It feels more like an obstructed movement as opposed to tightness in the joint itself like I would feel when trying a middle split.  I have been trying focus on the table holds and rocks. Its funny how humbling such a simple movement can be. It also seems the movement into the retracted position is much slower than protracting. For instance I'll come up in table and while up I can slowly feel the position continue to open. Table rocks take at least a few seconds at the top to feel like I am done opening. I have to really focus on keeping weight pushing through my palms or my hand will slip. This makes table insideout amusing to watch I'm sure bc as I roll over I cannot retract the shoulders completely  before placing both hands on the ground. My table insideout pretty much has a rocking table on each side.  

 

Ill try to get a video at lunch. Thanks again for the insight.

Your most welcome Darren. It took me a few months before I could get my chest up to shoulder height the during table holds and I am pretty sure there is still some more space I can gain in the position   I love how such relatively simple movements are so humbling. The lack of opening potential I see daily in adults with regards to the chest and shoulders is incredible. The table position is actually a really useful tool for evaluating movement restrictions in a clinical setting!

 

Out of curiosity, where are you based?

I am located in Lafayette LA, USA. My wife and I just opened a small recreational gymnastics and tumbling gym at the beginning of summer.

Do you have the Thoracic Bridge (stretch course)? The second exercise twisting Bear has helped me alot.

Alright guys. I did some video at lunch. 

 

https://youtu.be/dBAsbSFwxtw

 

1st is the positions i was talking about from the front, back and sideview. 

2nd is table and plank from side

3rd rear view of table

 

You can see my hands slide out a few times as i try to lift.

 

 Mats I do have all the stretch courses. The twisting bear does feel really good.

Thank you for sharing the video Darren. 

 

Yep, I hope you love that table hold because it looks like you're going to be enjoying the benefits for a while yet 

 

From what I can see just from your standing posture, you have a lot of tightness in the chest and serratus anterior and as this begins to free up I am sure your range will improve. Keep at it man, I would even make a habit of stretching your chest briefly each time you walk through a door, by leaning through with your hands on the door frame. Make sure you PPT otherwise that little bugger pectoralis minor won't be getting the stretch he needs too!

Love it... Its my new favorite position. haha I'll stick with it a post an updated video in a month or so hopefully I'll have some improvement. 

 

Now if I am holding onto something like a pvc or if my hands can grip the edge of a floor I can go much higher bc my hands do not slip to the side. Would it be better to incorporate the table with hands flat and also holding onto something or just stick to the hands flat? 

 

On another note, I used to have my guys do bent arm swings on parallel bars as a mobility/pre strength in their warm up. I would have them doing swinging dips to HS etc. Im just hanging there with bent arms maybe swinging a little and I feel a really good stretch in this position as well. Do you think this would be good to incorporate or does the bent arms change the stretch?