Posts Tagged ‘sick scapula’
March 24, 2011 | 
Author We do wayyyyy too many blackburns in my gym. But you know what? I think they have as much bang for the buck as any set of exercises out there. For an overhead athlete like baseball, softball, volleyball and tennis players, it’s really hard to beat them.
Here is a real-life example of a baseball player who has the signs of S.I.C.K scapula, which can leave the shoulder and elbow in ruins if not treated.
Morgan before: (Look at right shoulder – DRASTICALLY lower than his left)
And here is Morgan again, after I showed him this picture and told him that he needed to d0 the full Blackburn circuit 2x per day, every single day. He’s a hard worker, so he did…
Pretty big difference. He isn’t perfectly symmetrical yet, but has gotten pretty close with just an additional 12 minutes of rehab/prehab per day. Blackburns are the one thing I wouldn’t live without as a baseball player. They perform miracles…
I apologize for only revealing half of my beautiful face – I wanted to get this video up immediately to instruct a few of my clients, and didn’t realize what had happened to after the upload. Blame my camera – it’s not so intuitive for a first-time user.
The rep scheme is as follows… Read the rest of this entry »
S.I.C.K Scapula is an acronym for a pathological condition in which one shoulder blade sits lower than the other, resulting in an asymmetry that leads to a wealth of additional shoulder problems.
Picture from a Clinical Diagnosis
I had movement assessments with 3 baseball player clients this week, and ALL of them had this and are in need of correction. This is one of the first examinations I make with a new client, and a low throwing shoulder is a really common problem in throwing athletes, even well-trained ones. Luckily, with my three, we are going to cure the problem before it manifests itself into something much worse.
The exercise prescriptions for curing SICK scapula are ones that strengthen the scapula in all its movement patterns: elevation, depression, protraction, retraction, upward rotation and downward rotation.
Blackburns are probably the most well-known of the scapula-strengthening exercises. The L, Y, and Ts that I recommend all pitchers do (and overhead athletes, for that matter) are 3 of the 6 Blackburn exercises.
Each of the 6 positions works the scapula in a different plane or angle of motion. There are numerous other exercises designed to help clear up shoulder dyskinesis, and it is essential to have these exercises in one’s regular training routine to keep shoulder function optimal and ward off any potential problems.
One of 6 blackburn exercises
High repetitions of unilateral exercises, like throwing, are what cause the body to maladapt and create these asymmetries, so it is important to monitor oneself or consult a professional. Not all unilateral dominance or asymmetry is bad, as my friend Coach Nick explains in The Truth About Muscle Imbalances Pt.1, but we have to make sure they don’t cause dysfunction and become pathological.
You may have heard of the Y-T-W-L circuit, which develops scapular stability by strengthening the shoulders and upper back. Scapular stability is of the utmost importance for overhead throwing athletes like pitchers. Talk to someone with healthy shoulders, and they probably have been using the YTWL.
Yet despite it’s popularity, the YTWL circuit is often done improperly, and actually contains some movement patterns that aren’t useful: specifically, the W.
My shoulder routine has consisted of the YTWL for a few years, coupled with an additional standing shoulder/rotator cuff circuit. However, for the YTWL, it is time for a upgrade, and that is why I have made the switch to the YTLP.
My friend Nick Tumminello at Performance University has been evaluating the YTWL for a while now, and has done a series of videos on how to perform his newly developed L-Y-T-P circuit perfectly, many of which are featured below. Read some of his other great training articles on this page.
Nick has made a lot of changes to the circuit, which I am going to highlight in this article. The biggest is a call to eliminate the W pattern, which he swaps for the (P)ivot Prone. Rest assured, adopting the new circuit is going to give you stronger shoulders and more scapular stability than you’ve ever had before, even if you’ve already been doing the YTWL.