Welcome to Part 2 of our 4-part series on rounded shoulders & performance.  In Part 1 we discussed the 6 movements the shoulders (or scapula) make, the bones & muscles involved, the problems associated with rounded shoulders & a few tests to determine if indeed your shoulders are rounded.

• Part 3 will discuss the connection between shoulders & running performance.
• Part 4 will detail solutions to help you straighten up & get faster!

Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how those rounded shoulders negatively impact your sport performance.  We’ll start with swimming.

First off, just the act of swimming itself encourages rounded shoulders.  Countless laps back & forth on your stomach with head titled up (this is NOT good swimming form, by the way!!) in order to see forward practically sets you up for rounded shoulders.  And, if you only do Freestyle (or Front Crawl) stroke, you’re overusing those exact muscles that, when tight & strong, pull our head & shoulders forward.

“But how do these rounded shoulders make me a slower swimmer?” you ask.  Well, to answer this, we need to start with hydrodynamics.

Hydrodynamics

In swimming we are trying to move our bodies through a substance that is 800 times denser than air.  With that in mind, our #1 priority is to make our non-fish-like bodies (fish don’t have arms & legs to deal with!) more streamlined.  Remember that water drag forces work against our bodies by creating resistance.  Therefore, any amount of drag reduction is critical to increasing speed.

The best way to reduce drag, & thereby improve hydrodynamics, is to be straight, long & “skinny”.  The more we make our bodies like yachts (as opposed to tugboats), the faster we’ll move forward.  And the more streamlined we are, the less energy output (i.e. kicking & pulling) we’ll need to expend to move forward.  It’s a win-win!

Better Hydrodynamics = Faster Speed with Less Effort

Rounded Shoulders Make You Swim Slower

Back to those rounded shoulders.  There are 3 ways that rounded shoulders make you swim slower.

1.  Inability to “Straighten” Spine – Rounded shoulders come from tight muscles in the front of the body (chest, front of shoulders & neck) & weak muscles in the back of the body (upper back, back of shoulders & neck).  If you have a chronic head forward, shoulders forward position, you simply cannot straighten your spine up enough to create the long, extended spine necessary for ideal hydrodynamics.  Of course, we can’t straighten our spine 100% – we have natural curvatures in the neck, upper back & lower back.  But, without the ability to elongate & extend the spine, you’ll simply have more drag forces working against your body.  And therefore…slower swimming.

2.  Inability to Straighten Arms Directly Overhead – If our primary goal is to extend, lengthen & “straighten” the body, then being able to fully extend arms up directly overhead is critical.  When the shoulders are rounded, it’s because the shoulder blades (scapula) are pulled forward.  With the scapula in the forward position, the upper arm bone (the humerus) can only move upwards about 120 deg.  In order to get a full 180 deg of motion, the scapula need to rotate upward to allow the humerus to fully extend overhead.  (As a side note:  This is one of the reasons why swimmers often get shoulder pain.  If they have any amount of rounded shoulders…and then they try to force their arms overhead…they get a painful impingement.)  If we refer back to hydrodynamics, being able to fully extend the arms directly overhead will create a very long, lengthened & straight body position.

3.  Inability to Get Hips to Water’s Surface – Remember that the 1st goal in swimming is to be hydrodynamic (long, lengthened & straight).  The best hydrodynamic position occurs when the swimmer’s shoulders AND hips are at the surface of the water.  Typically, most swimmers have their head & chest at the surface, but their hips are low.  Even when swimmers know how to get their hips to the surface, they often can’t keep them there.  When the hips drop down, the body sits at an angle…not great for decreasing drag forces!  Suffice to say, in order to get your hips to the water’s surface AND to keep them there, you have to be able to do #1 & #2.

Have I convinced you to work on that upper back mobility yet??  Stay tuned!  There’s more to come!