Too often nowadays, our shoulder motion gets confined to a little box; our hands rarely come above our shoulders or below our waists, and we simply rotate at our elbows inward and outward like a bunch of Tyrannosaurus Rexes (and let’s not forget what happened to them).
When we get in that box, the shoulder muscles not only get weak and atrophy, but the elbows, wrists and hands overwork, and become tight and irritated. Here is a simple trick to put the shoulders back in charge: The Egoscue Shoulder Integrator. The Egoscue Shoulder Integrator stretches those overworked and tight forearm and wrist muscles, helps to re-link the shoulders role in activities, and keeps you from going extinct like T. Rex! Simply extend your arm straight out to your side, and try to flatten your palm and spread your fingers wide like a starfish (for some of you, this might be too much of a stretch, in which case I would suggest checking out our video for the Egoscue Forearm Stretch first (video #101), or The Forearm and Wrist Mobility Video (#79) by Hosmer alumni Jeremiah Schulze). Next, using your shoulder, and ONLY your shoulder, try to rotate your elbow so it is pointing down to the floor or up toward the ceiling; your arm should stay straight and your hand should not move. You will feel a good deal of stretch in your forearm. Try to do 1 – 2 sets of 20 reps every day to keep the T-rex arms away.