My girlfriend and I started playing tennis recently. She has an extensive throwing background due to pitching at Oklahoma. Partially due to this, she has to be careful about her throwing arm sometimes. (Lot of mileage on that arm.) Playing tennis is one of those times.
We were playing for almost two hours and things were going well. Then her arm started bothering her. Primarily during the downward motion of a bigger swing, like when serving. We decided to call it a day. We’re still new to playing. No need to push things too far.
I’ve gone over some exercises with her before. I decide to show her a new one before we head out, to see if we can make the arm feel better before moving on to the rest of the weekend.
This is what I see:
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Let’s slow it down and watch the most pronounced segment a few times:
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Notice when that winging is occurring: Not when lifting the arm, but when lowering. Exactly when she was having a problem in tennis!
I show her the video; tell her about 15 words. They were, in effect, to “don’t let that happen.” I give her a little push on her shoulder for where I’m referencing, and where I want her to think about. I reiterate it’s when coming down during the motion. If a minute went by, that was the max. Then she does this:
Not only does it look way better, but she felt way better too. The last few minutes we played she was grimacing some, trying to “loosen up” her arm. We left the court with her rubbing it a decent amount. By the time we got in the car, it was forgotten about.
Sometimes it’s this simple. That’s not to say it’s easy though. This is someone with a very high level athletic background. These types pick up different ways of moving much easier than the everyday person.
Plus, with the shoulder blade, it can be much harder to make a change as you can’t always precisely feel the change, and you’re not able to see the thing in real time, compared to something like your knee. Initially, she had no clue she was doing this during that motion, until I pointed it out.
Furthermore, integrating this with a tennis swing can take a lot more practice. Once a tennis swing occurs, the velocity increases a great deal. Subsequently, old habits take over. Same thing with fatigue. As it increases, old ways creep back in. It’s not a coincidence she started feeling things after we’d been playing nearly two hours. For us, we just stopped playing. For someone else, they may need to build up their fatigue tolerance, or build up their ability to not wing as velocity of the arm increases. That’s going to be harder.
Lastly, she had winging during one motion- lowering the arm. Others have winging during much more than this. For some, it might be even while only standing. Having to think about correcting how you move during one motion can be a lot easier than thinking about it every time you do anything.
However, difficulty does not connote complexity.
“Don’t let that happen.”
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Grayson Lewis
March 11, 2016
Would you deduce this was a neuromuscular control issue or a relative strength issue; or both? I presume you would lean toward both, but how does this change your training approach? Do you only train for relative strength with your typical set/rep ranges or is there any specific training method you might also use for better neuromuscular control?
Also, if one does not have the ability to flex the arm completely without winging (assuming tactile/visual feedback is available), would you only have them go as far as they can without the aberrant movement(s) and then stop? And would this strategy allow one to eventually reach a full ROM with correct movement?
reddyb
March 15, 2016
Hey Grayson,
It would be neuromuscular, or simply habits. (Or relative *timing*) You can’t really say it’s strength oriented because nothing was changed strength wise in the minute it took to correct things. If improvement took 4-6 weeks or something like that, then we might say alright, some strength changes needed to be made.
For someone like this, I would change little if anything strength wise. I would just make sure they don’t let their shoulder blade wing whenever they bring their arm down. Having a stronger serratus anterior wouldn’t hurt, but it wouldn’t guarantee anything. Not letting the shoulder wing when the arm comes down guarantees the shoulder not winging when the arm comes down.
If something is causing issues, or if there is a movement we’re trying to avoid, I never have the person go into a range of motion that causes an issue or invokes that movement. This will often get someone to a full range of motion, yes, but thinking off the top of my head, I’m not sure scapular winging fits here i.e. are people more likely to wing the higher they reach? That’s not usually what you’re working to correct. Timing is what’s usually most crucial.
Hope you’ve been doing well.
Grayson Lewis
March 17, 2016
I have been doing well; thanks. I am still fighting to correct some of my issues: Lower body has improved but that pesky left scapula has been difficult for me.
Any training methods you would recommend to help facilitate better neuromuscular control(e.g. higher volume, training every day/multiple times a day, isometric holds, etc.)?
Does your approach change if someone is actually tight versus stiff or tight versus lacking neuromuscular control? For example, with a conscious effort, I can flex the arm without winging; however, in order to do this I have to protract the scapula what I feel is well beyond ideal.
Can a tight muscle prevent one from proper movement no matter how much time and effort is spent on consciously performing correct movement? I know you are not a big advocate of stretching, but curious if or when you may advise otherwise.
Thanks for your feedback and hope things are well.
reddyb
March 18, 2016
-If we’re talking correcting a specific habit, like preventing a movement, then I recommend preventing that movement every single time it wants to occur. For some, that could be literally 24/7. For others, that might only be when they swing a tennis racquet.
-Protracting the scapula engages the serratus anterior. That’s often what’s needed to prevent winging. Perhaps the biggest mistake I see with this is people want to go do a few exercises aimed at strengthening / stretching something, then hope that sticks when they move the other 95% of the week. That often does not work. You will get stronger / more flexible, yet often still move the same way: http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2013/10000/Improvements_in_Hip_Flexibility_Do_Not_Transfer_to.1.aspx
It’s like eating. Let me workout for a couple hours a week yet eat the same way. Unlikely you’ll lose weight.
-Volume wise I pretty much always keep things the same: http://b-reddy.org/2013/06/20/how-many-reps-and-sets-to-correct-muscular-imbalances/
If that amount of volume isn’t enough, the person is doing something(s) during the day which are countering that amount of volume. (Assuming the right exercises with the right form are being performed.)
-It’s not true I don’t advocate stretching. Stretching does not have something pull on your arm for 30 seconds and do nothing. It means change the muscle’s length. In the example of this post, I had this person *stiffen* their serratus anterior and stretch their infraspinatus and teres minor. They also stretched their lats at the top of each wall slide.
And I still do things like hold a position for 30-45 seconds. Examples:
http://b-reddy.org/2012/11/26/my-favorite-mobility-corrective-exercise-the-toddler-squat/
http://b-reddy.org/2012/03/04/the-best-damn-it-band-stretch-ever/
http://b-reddy.org/2013/10/30/making-your-memory-of-your-workout-more-enjoyable/
It’s just not something I do much of.
Grayson Lewis
March 21, 2016
Thank you. I did not mean to insinuate you do not advocate stretching at all; just that you are not the biggest proponent of basic static stretching methods to which I would agree. Learning about relative stiffness has done wonders for how I view and implement stretching. I never had much success with your IT band stretch (everyone is different) but by using your same logic and approach, I have been able to find an IT band (TFL) stretch that has seemed to work well for me.
reddyb
March 22, 2016
Good to hear!
reddyb
March 22, 2016
Which stretch have you been playing around with?