Overhead Exercises & The Shoulder

Overhead exercises are not necessarily bad for the shoulder. This is almost as big a myth as the knee over the toe. The shoulder is designed to allow the arm to move overhead. But we must focus again on linkage. The arm is on of the last links in the kinetic (referencing from the ground up) instead of worrying about overhead activity we should focus on how the arm get overhead, to understand that we need to look down the chain at the core and the hips. To get the arm directly overhead requires a inclination of the trunk to allow the head of the humerus to clear and the glenoid fossa. Simply instead of eliminating over head activity work on how the arm is getting overhead. One of the main jobs of the core is to help position the extremities. When we do strict presses and seated behind the neck activities and combine those activities with a high volume of movements that occur in tennis, baseball and swimming, then we are asking for trouble. Instead focus on hip mobility, core strength, dumbbell pressing movements standing that allow the trunk to help position the arm. See my video Functional Shoulder Exercise for numerous exercises that address getting to overhead.