Watch this video and relieve your pain! Just roll your shoulders back a little and let them lower and relax. The muscles between your shoulder blades, your middle trapezius and rhomboids, are easy to neglect as they aren't easily visible. This pain is often caused by an accessory respiratory muscle under your shoulder blade and can be relieved by a self-massage. Hold for 6 seconds, then relax. • There is some relation between weakness and/or tightness of the muscles around the shoulder blades and shoulder dysfunctions/pain. Pull your chest up, close to bar and remain there for 20 seconds. It focuses on the muscles around your shoulder blade and helps in giving you rounded shoulders. Straight-arm shoulder blade squeeze. Your chin should be tucked in slightly and your shoulders should be back slightly. With palms down, hold your elastic tubing or band straight out in front of you. On this page, I succinctly explain in my video as well as in my text which muscle can cause these problems and what you can do about it. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Only squeeze them toward your spine two or three times the first few days, two times a day, so you don’t get sore muscles. When we squeeze our shoulders together, the main muscle we are activating is the rhomboids. Scapulothoracic stability (putting your shoulder blade in the right position) is much more complex and intricate than just squeezing them together. Shoulder Blade Squeeze Begin this exercise standing or sitting with your back and neck straight. These muscles pull your shoulders back in a movement called retraction. My favorite way to do this is to lay flat on my back. Squeeze your shoulder blades together. All you need is a massage ball or a towel. Using an overhang grip, hang from a pull-up bar. 3 Resisted Shoulder Blade Squeeze. Repeat ____ times. slide 6 of 10. slide 6 of 10, Straight-arm shoulder blade squeeze, Sit or stand tall. Primary muscles: Trapezius, Rhomboids; Accessory muscles: Serratus anterior Place arms with elbow bent at right angle and palms down, in the “stop” position. And then, squeeze your shoulder blades together. That way, gravity helps with the movement. Scapular Winging • This is when the shoulder blades stick out and don’t sit properly on the rib cage. • This refers to how your shoulder blade (aka Scapula) moves and sits on your ribcage. Overdeveloped chest muscles and underdeveloped mid-back muscles can cause shoulder … Squeeze shoulder blades together. Keeping these muscles strong will help counterbalance chest exercises such as the bench press and pushups. Relax your shoulders. Start with 5 repetitions and then add a weighted vest or dumbbell between your feet to add resistance. Slowly squeeze your shoulder blades together as hard and far as you can go without pain and provided you feel no more than a moderate stretch (figure 1). Hold for ____ counts.