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Several comments on the alleged dangers of behind the neck (BTN) pulldowns presume that this necessarily causes excessive lateral rotation of the humerus. While this certainly may be the case with some ways of BTN pulling, it is not always true of all methods of BTN pulling, such as those used when: 1. You sit very close to the pullup machine so that you can pull the load directly downwards, thereby not producing any externally rotating torque about the shoulder joint 2. You face the pullup machine and lean forwards so that you can pull the load down at an angle which minimises the tendency to external rotation of the shoulder. While I have no particular affection for the BTN exercise and see no really compelling reason to use it regularly in place of the wide variety of pulldowns in front of the neck (except possibly to offer one form of training adaptation to external shoulder rotation which occurs in many throwing activities), one still should not attribute specific injuries to any single given exercise like this, when the risks may be more closely related to the manner in which that exercise is executed or prescribed. Possibly pulldowns, like power cleans, standing presses, presses behind the neck, good mornings, snatches and full squats indeed are easier to perform incorrectly for relative novices, but this does not mean that they cannot be executed very safely and effectively, if care is taken to learn them correctly to suit your specific structure. If one examines the clinical records of sports physical therapists and orthopaedic surgeons, it is far more likely that you will find far more shoulder injuries that are caused by common popular sporting activities like baseball and other throwing and hitting sports than by BTN pulldowns among bodybuilders. Many colleagues of mine and I have trained or trained with numerous bodybuilders, athletes and pretty average clients who have used BTN pulldowns for many years without injury, so the 'workplace' does not suggest that there is a major epidemic of shoulder injuries resulting from this exercise. I am still curious to see peer-reviewed references which provide clinical proof that a significant number of shoulder injuries correlate with the use of judiciously performed BTN pulldowns. Those who contend that the BTN pulldown produces excessive force in the anterior structures of the shoulder need to sketch a free body mechanical diagram to note that the shoulder joint is not passively forced into significant external rotation if the load is pulled vertically downwards (thus there is no force component to produce a moment that results in any form of rotation of the shoulder). In other words, the argument concerning excessive lateral rotation of the humerus is concerned more with faulty technique than a faulty exercise. Dr Mel C Siff Denver, USA [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%