Round Shoulders
One of
the things I am asked the most is "how
to fix rounded shoulders". I've even had people
thinking there were something really wrong with them if their
shoulder blades point out at the back, and they'll often ask
how to fix big shoulder blades. In fact they're not
"big shoulder blades", it's just poor posture and can be fixed
with simple training. Considering how many emails I get
asking the best way to fix round shoulders, especially fix round
shoulders in children,
one might wonder are rounded shoulders possible to fix?
Often people think
they have to fix tight chest muscles because of their rounded
shoulders. But it's not normally overly tight chest
muscles & rounded shoulders - they don't need to put those poor
round shoulders in a back brace, or a shoulder brace, because
what happens the minute they take it off? Back to
poor posture, because the SHOULDERS ARE NOT THE CAUSE!
However how to stop rounded shoulders obviously isn't easy for
everyone, as it's one of the things that is asked of me most
often, and it's not only horse
riders that want to know "what can I do about round shoulders",
it's teachers, people sitting at desks, children with round
shoulders at school,
men and women with round shoulders in the workplace. From my own observations,
nearly everyone is round shouldered, and the older we get, the
worse the round shoulder problem gets! But round shoulders
ARE possible to fix!
1.
Your position is more unstable
Have a look at the horse rider's shoulders in our photo
right. When we test out this position both on and off
the horse, with "round shoulders" the horse rider can be
more easily pulled forward, dangerous if the horse suddenly
stops.
A round shouldered rider is definitely more unstable (and
therefore less confident!)
2.
It puts weight on the forehand
At
many demonstrations around the world, I get a saddle stand, and put four
bathroom scales under each of the four "feet". I
then ask the rider
to slump their chest, (which makes them "round shouldered")
and instantly it puts more weight on the two front bathroom
scales, or on the two front "feet". This is called "on
the forehand".
Round
shouldered makes it more difficult to do
sitting trot
and canter -
not only because the rider is out of position, but also because
the additional weight on the horse's shoulders make it a more
bumpy ride.
And,
it's the same for jumping.
3.
Round shoulders can create Pain!
Especially at the school desk, or in the car
or workplace
There are so many problems caused by rounded shoulders.
Rounded shoulders - a weight around your neck, pulling your
spine into a bad shape, and with round shoulders it's pulls
on your neck and the back of the thoracic area (where a bra
clips at the back) and HURTS!
How to improve round shoulder
and the biomechanics of the shoulders can be quite complicated,
so let's make it easy...If you were wearing a pair of old fashioned grandpa-braces
to hold up your pants, and you are slumped
through the chest (round shouldered), the braces would pull tight at the
back, and be floppy at the front.
Now
imagine those braces are your major back muscles the ones from
your neck to your "dimples" - the dints each side of your butt
(or sacroiliac joints). If you are slumped through
the chest (round shouldered) this pulls and pulls at
the long back muscles over a period of time, and the
insertion points especially of the muscles get very very
painful. That is one of the many
reasons that you can get lower back pain, and certainly, I believe, one
of the most common reasons.
And,
speaking from experience, no-one wants back pain.
We all should be working on improving our rounded shoulders
(or slumped chest!). So, if you're young and you aren't hurting yet, then you must
protect your body from long term damage. And, if
you're old like me, it might be the only way to lower stop pain
that can be the end of your riding career!
4.
It's UGLY!
If
the top three are the major reasons why "round shouldered"
is a problem...then there's got to be one more!
It looks UGLY! There's nothing worse than rider's
shoulders pulling at the seams of the show coat or tail coat.
Quite frankly...it looks terrible.
How
to fix rounded shoulders...
This
DOESN'T work....
How to stop round shoulders and
"How
do I fix my round shoulders?" is one of the questions I'm asked
most often. So, the
reasons for rounded shoulders seem to be difficult for many
people to discover.
There's lots of theories on how to fix rounded
shoulders...but fixing the round shoulder problem isn't that
easy for lots of people!
We all see the photos of rounded shoulders before & after
and you've
probably all heard things
like..."shoulders back'", or "sit up", "stop
rounding your shoulders" or variations of doing something with your shoulder blades to
improve or 'fix' round shoulders.
I
have said that to hundreds of riders all over the world
myself, and I spent years trying to get people to 'bring their shoulders back'
and all it did is make them stiffer and stiffer, and they
eventually flopped back into round shouldered slumping anyway.
They just couldn't maintain it.
So...what can I do about round shoulders?
This
DID work....(except
for 1 rider!)
Now
this is something that really DID work for
improving
rounded shoulders.
Try
this as you're reading from your computer.
Q.
Stand up...relax, and stand normally. Are your thumbs over
your toes or over your heels? If they are
directly above your toes, they you are slump chested/round shouldered, and
putting more weight on the two front feet of the horse.
Q.
Now, imagine that you had a BLACK FRILLY BRA and in the
front of the bra in the middle of your chest, in between the
bra cups was a little white bow.
Now, RAISE the white bow up towards the ceiling.
Now...double check. I bet that raising your
"bow" makes your hands go back over your heels which means
you're not round shouldered any more, and putting far less
weight on the forehand.
Pulling the shoulders back, clamping the shoulder blades,
squeezing your pony tail in between your shoulders ....anything
like that DOESN'T WORK. It makes the rider stiffer,
and certainly can't be maintained for hours and hours on end.
Try it
yourself! Try
to pin your shoulders back and see how long it lasts! Not
long!
It really is not the answer on how to fix slumped shoulders
However when you raise
your CHEST, you can maintain it hour after hour.
It might take a bit of reminding, but it definitely can be
maintained!
Raise the chest and the shoulders look after themselves!
Who was this rider that
"raise the white bow" wouldn't work for?
I was
giving a "train the coach" seminar some time ago and
we were working on how to fix round shoulders. One coach
mentioned that he would be a bit embarrassed mentioning bras to
young girls, so I said to say to them they're in a 'marathon
running race', and they have a big number across their
chest, and to raise the number. He has told me since
that it works very well. So does "imagine you're wearing a
Nike sports top, with the Nike logo, the TICK, right at the
front of the chest....raise your tick".
However, recently I had the privilege of working with
a young man who rides with Riding for Disabled. And, the honour of meeting
his lovely coach at the same time. It was quite obvious that he had a very slumped
torso, and therefore round shoulders. It was
then I realised that the "wearing a black frilly bra", or
anything along those lines wasn't going to work!
His coach had obviously worked at length on
how to improve rounded shoulders, but to no avail.
So, I
got a bright yellow sticker from my bag, asked him to put it on
his chest bone, about half way between his Adam's apple and his
belly button, and simply told him to lift it.
And....PERFECTION!
Then, I heard a
proud whisper, with a tear from the grandstand...
"Oh
my gosh he looks wonderful".
Honestly little
things like that make all the study and 3:00am emails
worthwhile! It was an incredible moment for me.
One of the many times I've been teaching with a tear in my eye
to hear such an amazing comment.
You
might be aiming for the Olympics. You may already be a
medallist, so your goals are big, but just remember some
people's goals are much smaller.
How to fix round shoulders?
Raise your chest...
let your shoulders take care of themselves!
And,
if it worked for my Riding for Disabled friend, and
he could maintain it
with
perfectly normal looking shoulders in just a few minutes of
instruction....then you can do it too!
Copyright © 2005
[Colleen Kelly. Improve Your Riding ABN 76799531257].
