Shoulder Connection: How to protect your shoulders in grappling
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Shoulder connection is the kinesthetic awareness of using your scapula to help stabilize your shoulder.
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Grappling arts are designed to exploit the weaknesses of the human body, one in particular is the shoulder. The shoulder (glenohumeral) is a mobile joint which means it is not very stable and thus at risk for injury. “The joint by joint approach” is a concept originated by Mike Boyle, who notes that the joints of the human body alternate with mobility and stability. If the glenohumeral joint is a mobile joint the closest most stable joint is the scapula (scapulothoracic joint).
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Shoulder connection: Scapular retraction, which effectively connects the shoulder to the trunk thus giving significantly more stability. As I explained in a previous post the shoulder does not have to be locked down and back, especially for overhead motion, instead the scapula needs to be active and slightly retracted.
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Positional Injury prevention:The arms are often outstretched on takedown attempts (double leg / single leg), especialy when shooting from too far away. During this scramble the shoulder is exposed to injury from a heavy sprawl on the back of the shoulder. By engaging your scapula during this outstretched position you can give your shoulder additional stability to prevent injury. In addition to reducing injury this also allows the grappler to maintain control of the leg or hips to try to finish the takedown.
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Posture: Often from standing or from the ground an opponent may attempt to pull the arms to unbalance you. Often the weakest link in this situation is the shoulder. By connecting your shoulder to your trunk you give yourself the additional stability necessary to avoid the unbalancing technique.
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Grappling is hard enough on your joints, by using proper biomechanics you can give your shoulder the advantage to avoid future injuries!