6 Quick Form Fixes

Simple moves to loosen your shoulders and help you run faster

WHY DO COACHES shout ‘relax your shoulders’? What happens to your running gait mechanically if your shoulders are hunched around your ears? The essence, beyond simply not being relaxed, is that you reduce your trunk rotation, which, in turn, leads you to overwork the lower half of your body because of overstriding and a lack of power through the hips.

Tight shoulders are increasingly common – a symptom of our poor work and life postures. Intensive desk, laptop and phone usage leads to increased stiffness in the thoracic spine, tightness in the chest muscles and weakness in the back and neck muscles. When hunching over a computer, your head may lean forward, which can lead to poor posture. Using a mobile can cause similar problems, dubbed ‘text neck’. All of these cause us to be more comfortable when hunched and flexed forward in our habitual posture, which will make your running gait inefficient and put you at risk of injury. Here are some solutions to counteract these issues. Mark Buckingham is a consultant physiotherapist to UK Athletics and runs the Witty, Pask and Buckingham practice in Northampton. wpbphysio.co.uk

1. STRETCH YOUR CHEST, UPPER BACK AND NECK MUSCLES

A. To stretch the pecs, put your arm out to your side against a wall at shoulder height; turn your upper body away. Keep your shoulders down to feel the pull in the front of the chest. Hold for 2 mins, 2-3 times a day on each arm.

B. Stretch the trapezius and levator scapulae by sitting on a chair and holding the edge of it. Lean away from that hand until the shoulder is pulled down. Hold and tip your head away from the shoulder. By turning your head and altering the forward and backward position, you alter the muscle you are stretching. Do not force any pull. Hold for 30 secs. Do 4 times at each area of tightness.

Tight pectoral (chest), trapezius (upper back) and levator scapulae (rear neck) muscles pull the shoulder girdle up and forward.

2. INCREASE YOUR UPPER BACK EXTENSION RANGE

Using a gym ball (preferable) or a tightly rolled towel to extend and open your chest is a good way to increase the range of your thoracic spine. Begin by sitting in front of the gym ball and slowly lower down so the ball fits against your upper back. Support your neck with your hands, if you want. Repeat two to three times a day and hold for two minutes.

4. STRENGTHEN YOUR LOWER TRAPEZIUS

To combat shoulder tightness, you need to strengthen the muscles that hold the shoulder blade down. To start this, you should to be able to activate them well. Lie face down with your arms in a press-up position. Draw your chin in and hold your shoulder blades down by drawing them to your waist. Lift your chest up a little and then your arms just off the floor. Hold for five seconds, 12 times, being careful to not allow the shoulders to hunch.

3. CHIN DRAWS

A forward position of the chin draws the shoulders up and forward – this is part stiffness in the neck, and part weakness in the deep neck muscles that have to hold the neck up. To counteract this, lie face down on the floor, elbows holding your chest up – a nice back extension. Draw your chin in towards your neck (to make a double chin). Hold for 30 secs and repeat six times.

5. USE TAPE TO BREAK THE HABIT

The hunched-shoulders posture is a habit that needs to be broken, even after you’ve worked on the muscles here. Use tape to act as a reminder on the run. Start with shoulders down and get someone to attach tape from the bottom of your shoulder blades to the centre of your thoracic spine in a ‘V’ shape. Be sure there is a little tension in the tape. It should not feel tight, but if you lift or roll your shoulders on the run it should pull to remind you.