Tips For Keeping Healthy Shoulders-The Lat Pulldown
Shoulder problems are incredibly common, particularly for those who have any sort of athletic background. They are also common for those who do any kind of physical work regularly, where repetitive movements are done over and over again involving movement at the shoulder.
In addition to sports and other physical activity, people can often harm their shoulders in the gym or fitness center. Some exercises are simply done wrong, while other exercises that are perfectly fine are done by people who should not do them based on limited range of motion, incorrect form, injuries, or a combination of the three. In this article we’ll take a look at the Lat Pulldown exercise, which can be a common contributor or even cause of shoulder problems.
The Lat Pulldown is an exercise that has been around for a long time. It’s a great way to target the “Lats”; short for Latissimus Dorsi. This large muscle runs down the entire back and is a favorite to be worked for those looking to increase the size and width of the back.
The problem with the Lat pulldown comes from three primary mistakes. The first has to do with where the bar is pulled down. Although it is less common now than in the past, some people still pull the bar down behind the head when doing a Lat Pulldown. This is problematic for a few reasons. First, for most people it places strain on the neck, and more specifically the cervical vertebrae by protruding the head forward to allow for the bar to pass behind the head. For most people, and especially for most males, insufficient range of motion exists to safely do that. Secondly, bringing the bar down behind the head forces the humerus bone (the upper bone of the arm that attaches into the shoulder) to externally rotate into its most superior position possible. Many lifters cannot move their arms into this position without resistance, and doing it under heavy resistance is even harder on the shoulder. Thirdly, many lifters, when bringing the bar down to the front of them, bring the bar too low, and thereby have to drop their elbows down and back. This puts more force on the rotator cuff to do the work then the actually Lat muscles.
The proper way to do the Lat Pulldown exercise and place the least strain on the shoulders is to bring the bar down to the front, about chin level or slightly lower. The forearms should stay vertical the entire time. Drawing the elbows back, as well bending at the wrist, will lead to improper form, and can consequently result in shoulder pain and problems down the road.
Some back machines are structured so that rather than pulling a bar down to the front or back of the head, individual handles are pulled down to the side. These can be an ideal means of ensuring that improper form is not pulled in to perform the movement, provided that the person doing the movement has full range of motion with shoulder flexion.
Finally, some machines exist that are very similar to the lat Pulldown but require the user to pull down at an angle. The angle is usually somewhere around 45 degrees or so. Not only can these types of machines be helpful in preventing shoulder and neck injuries, but very often they are structured so that each individual arm pulls its own weight. This can be highly beneficial as most people have one arm stronger than the other. Additionally, for people who have shoulder injuries and/or limited overhead range of motion (shoulder flexion), this can be a very good alternative to the Lat Pulldown exercise.
Paul Owens is a personal trainer in the Cleveland area. He is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the National Council on Strength and fitness. He is also a Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He can be reached at http://www.clevelandpersonaltraining.com
