You may need seen media articles or health influencers on-line urging folks to do “useless hangs”, the place one hangs loosely from a bar – normally with ft off the ground. The aim is normally to enhance upper-body power and shoulder stability, or stretch out muscle tissue across the shoulder.
However what does the science say? Are useless hangs good for shoulder well being?
As with so many issues well being and health, it’s not a simple “sure” or “no”. It actually depends upon your motive for doing it, your particular person biology, and the way you do them. For some, useless hangs might threat musculoskeletal damage.
The shoulder: a comparatively unstable joint
Lifeless hangs might enhance grip power and endurance in rock climbers. This implies that in case you’re properly tailored to the sort of train and have excellent upper-body power, useless hangs might convey hand and forearm advantages.
However whereas useless hangs could also be OK for folks with good upper-body power and no shoulder issues, they are often dangerous for others. Individuals with shoulder hypermobility (extreme movement of the shoulder) or shoulder instability (akin to those that simply dislocate their shoulder) might have to be cautious.
The shoulder, by design, is a comparatively unstable joint. It has a big ball-type bone known as a humerus, which sits in a comparatively small socket known as a glenoid.
The passive (non-muscle) tissue round these bones (the capsule, labrum and ligaments) creates a beneficiant area across the shoulder joint – all so you’ll be able to transfer your arm although a wide range of movement.
As a result of there’s not a lot passive help within the shoulder, it depends closely on lively muscle coordination and power to maintain it secure.
The coordination of muscle tissue across the shoulder blade assist preserve the socket in the proper place, and the rotator cuff and deltoid muscle tissue assist to regulate the “ball” within the centre of the socket as you progress.
All this implies useless hangs, if not accomplished accurately, might current a threat for folks with hypermobility of their shoulders.
Hypermobility and the shoulder
Some folks have extreme movement of their joints attributable to elevated elasticity of joint tissue. That is known as hypermobility and could also be within the shoulder or all joints.
The overhead arm place of an entire useless hold places you able the place, inside your shoulder, the ball is pulled away from the socket. Hanging your total physique weight can, in hypermobile folks, trigger the tissue to stretch much more.
Individuals with shoulder hypermobility usually tend to develop painful shoulder instability, which is when the ball typically pops out of the socket.
Shoulder instability could also be attributable to acute trauma (akin to dislocation). Or it may possibly develop over time from a lack of muscle management, deriving from micro-trauma (by, for instance, swimming laps within the pool with hand paddles).
Shoulder instability is related to diminished power and coordination within the shoulder muscle tissue. In folks beneath 40, it’s typically misdiagnosed as “rotator cuff ache” or “shoulder muscle tightness”.
What can I do as a substitute of useless hangs?
Lifeless hangs require good baseline power, can threat popping the ball from the socket for some folks, and might stretch the passive tissue. They don’t seem to be the perfect train for these for shoulder hypermobility and instability.
So what’s the choice? A remedy often called the Watson Instability Program has had good outcomes for resolving non-traumatic shoulder instability when in comparison with a common shoulder power program.
This program focuses on gaining shoulder blade management (such because the upward rotation you get once you attain as much as a excessive shelf). It entails recruiting the shoulder blade and shoulder joint muscle tissue to enhance the contact between the ball and the socket.
Constructing shoulder blade management and power may also help increase broader shoulder power.
Nonetheless eager to attempt useless hangs?
If you’re decided to do useless hangs, bear in mind to:
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begin with small increments; hold for simply ten seconds or fewer at first, and construct from there
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don’t permit your self to get too fatigued; your shoulder joint can develop into much less secure when it’s drained
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attempt stepping off a field beneath the bar somewhat than leaping as much as the bar
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preserve some “lively” tone in your shoulders as you hold; hanging fully passively can include threat.
Our workforce is conducting a trial of the Watson Instability Program. We’re investigating mind modifications in sufferers with multidirectional instability of the shoulder.
In case you’re feminine, aged 18-35, have non-traumatic, right-sided shoulder instability and wish to have the prospect to obtain six months of free Watson Instability Program physiotherapy remedy as a part of our research, please contact both of us or learn extra concerning the research right here.