Experts like to say that the shoulder is either nearly perfect or nearly a disaster. And rightly so: the shoulder is perhaps the most complex joint in the body, able to assume no less than 1,600 different positions!

Much more than other joints, the shoulder joints rely on soft tissue to hold the whole thing together: tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and muscles. In particular, the stabilizing small muscles of the rotator cuff (actually 4 muscles), and the "working" muscles commonly known as the deltoids, pecs, lats, and traps that create the wonderful movements are shoulders are capable of.

Three things you need to do to prevent shoulder injury:

1. Warm up! This increases blood flow to the joint and prepares muscles for the work they are about to perform. Arm circles, trunk rotations and shoulder rolls are all good ways to warm up the shoulders.
2. Stretch! Do this with caution as a major cause of shoulder injury are "loose shoulders" where the stabilizing muscles and ligaments are too flexible. It's better to stretch after physical activity than before as a certain amount of tightness in the shoulder muscles is critical to stabilize it during intense activity.
3. Strengthen! Here's a great set of light weight exercises (that is, 0-5lbs, NO MORE) to strengthen the small muscles that are so important to stabilizing the shoulder joints. Perform this sequence non-stop with 10 reps of each exercise. Start with no weight, then progress slowly. Cans of food or water bottles work great to increase resistance. The minor differences between the exercises (eg thumbs up vs thumbs down) really work the small stabilizing muscles thoroughly.

Lateral Raises - 10 (palms down)
Lateral Raises - 10 (thumbs up)
Lateral Raises - 10 (thumbs down)
Front Raises - 10 (thumbs up)
Cross overs - 10 (palms facing away from you)
Figure eights - 10 (arms out to the side, shoulder height, draw
horizontal figure eights with your hands. Your palms will face up for
the top half and face down for the bottom half of the eight)
Rotations - 10 (arms extended, simply rotate palms up to palms down)
Military press - 10

One of the best strengthening exercises paddlers can do is to paddle backwards 2-6 minutes each time you paddle. This will help balance the muscle development leading to a more balanced, stable shoulder.

Web sites:

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/shoulder-excercises.html

http://www.usack.org/USACK%20Guide%20Shoulder%20Exercises.pdf

Jen Kleck