Someone else mentioned this website article as a source of information on
rotator cuff exercise:
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/shoulder.html
Instead of finding out some useful clinical and strength conditioning
information, I discovered that this article is a great one for my students to
analyse, since it contains an interesting collection of biomechanical errrors
and misconceptions. For example:
<When I speak about external rotation of the shoulder, I'm referring to the
motion of moving the biceps away from the body or simply backwards. The
follow-through on a blistering Pete Sampras backhand is an example of external
rotation. Although many muscles are involved in this motion, the two most
important muscles are the teres minor and the infraspinatus.>
***So, external rotation of the shoulder is the motion of the biceps away from
the body or backwards? And the prime (most important) movers for the tennis
backhand are teres minor and infraspinatus? And the posterior deltoids and
trapezii are nowhere near as important?
Here is another gem:
<Strengthening the external rotators will help improve posture, thereby
reducing stress on the skeleton. >
***Despite the fact that many research papers and clinical experience have
shown no correlation between muscle strength and posture, this sort of popular
remark continues to be made. You can have the strongest, best balanced, most
symmetrical muscles in the world, but if they are activated in inappropriate
or unaesthetic patterns by the nervous system, then you will still have poor
posture. Posture is a the result of functional nervous control, not structural
muscular strength.
I am always looking for case studies like this as a teaching tool and this one
will come in handy as one of my educational resources. Analyse this article
for yourselves and see what other inaccuracies or misconceptions you can find.
You should also find it a useful exercise, especially since it contains the
usual mixture of useful fact and useless fallacy which one finds in popular
fitness magazines.
Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
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