Caroline said her physical therapist had noted that she had winged scapulae (shoulder blades) but since she had problems with her hips they decided to focus on that instead. We focused on integrating the upper and lower body to create optimal positioning throughout the whole body not just one area.
By listening to Caroline, I was able to gather that she struggles to maintain proper posture because of her winged scapulae and she’s concerned that this has a negative effect on her appearance and performance and that any attempt to correct her posture is ineffective. Caroline is aware that her lordosis (lower back extension) is too pronounced and she’s also concerned that it negatively affects her performance.
When I asked Caroline to correct her posture, this is what she did.
As you can see, by trying to correct the position of her shoulder blades she is pulling herself onto more lower back extension. No wonder she feels like any attempt to correct her posture is futile, an attempt in one area negatively affects the other!
So, we began our session by grooving core control to stabilize her lower back so her shoulders can move over a stable base. By showing her a basic plank and slightly exaggerating her lower back position in the opposite direction (flexion), we were able to get her in tune with her core.
Next, we start having her move her shoulder blades independently of her spine by doing a simple scapular retraction and protraction. As you can she she struggles with this because she has been compensating for so long. Her shoulder blades have very little movement whereas her spine has too much. Towards the end of the set she has figured it out and is ready for the next step which is the push-up.
The push-up is an excellent choice for grooving proper scapular movement because it requires core stability, so the shoulders can move around the rib cage. As you can see from her first attempt, if you lose core stability, the exercises falls apart because the scapulae have no support.
In order to nail it, Caroline has to set her spine in the proper position and hold it there by using her core. So, I show her the tricks to creating more stability in the push-up position:
- Weight on the ball of the foot, not the toes
- Elbows locked
- Shoulders screwed into the socket
- Tension between the legs
- Tension in the glutes
- Core braced, ready for impact
As you can see, she figured it out. Her spine isn’t moving and her shoulder blades and arms are doing all he work.
Doing an upper body exercise with a stabile core is important but doing a lower body exercise with a stable core and scapulae is equally important. Now that she knows how to move her shoulder blades she can support a weight with her scapulae in the correct position.
To teach Caroline how to use her core during the squat, I have her setup in a squat position and point out the weak links to have her dynamically stabilize.
These are the exercises Caroline will practice until the next time we meet, when we will progress them further. By training this way, every rep she does will engrain proper mechanics so she won’t have to make so much conscience effort to adjust her posture during the day. Once she is able to do these exercises easily, we will progress them to make them more dynamic, which will carryover to sport better.
willnassif.com 