Traditionally, the Plank has been taught with shoulder retraction. Thanks for visiting! Creating shoulder stability takes lots of specific work, and in my opinion core strength needs to come first to protect your … Performing a Side Plank Without Using Your Shoulder Read More » PCES – Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, Professional Pelvic Floor and Diastasis Course, Performing a Side Plank Without Using Your Shoulder, How to Heal a Diastasis Recti Without Surgery, Exercises that Harm the Core and Pelvic Floor, 5 Key Steps for Helping Clients with Pelvic Organ Prolapse to Lift Safely, Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, After Unlocking the Keys to her own Healing, she is on a Mission to Help Women Everywhere, Urge Incontinence: Symptoms and Treatment. Your body should be straight as a board. Lift using your stomach muscles (obliques and TAs). They are for people looking for more information, not a substitute for working with a licensed medical professional. If you have wide shoulders or a tight neck place a towel roll under your head to support your neck. You follow any information or recommendations on this website, emails or affiliate sites at your own risk. This will start you at the beginning and work your way up. Client #1 This client is almost 50 and does the basic version of the side plank and regularly felt it in her shoulder. The more leg you place on the bench the easier it is to do. Chances are good that the QL is offline if your shoulder hurts. Be careful with the top knee if you do not contract your adductors (inner thigh) muscles enough you can strain your MCL in your knee. And the underlying problem can vary between people. If you do a Side Plank and it is painful, you can do this exercise called the Farmer’s Carry.. What To Do If You Have Shoulder Pain When Doing A Side Plank My online information, emails and products are a resource guide for educational and informational purposes only. This will work your top adductor muscle. Make sure you don’t roll backwards, I don’t want your back muscles getting too involved. If you need medical advice, please seek it immediately from a qualified medical professional. I have a future newsletter planned on nothing but building a base of core strength. There are minor alternatives to planks; however, they all involve shoulder usage. Thank you for all of your questions, this was great. Performing a Side Plank Without Using Your Shoulder Side Plank with Feet on a bench I love planks, and this exercise is even better because it takes the shoulder completely out of the equation. Jessica and Anna’s Recovery: 1 Week to 6 Months Postpartum Summary. Women who suffer shoulder or lower back pain or dysfunction may worsen these conditions with unmodified Forward Plank exercise. So let’s look at a couple cases. Please do send me your questions. Do one set with both feet on the bench (or chair) getting the bottom leg hip muscles (squeeze your bottom glute), then do a second set with just your top leg on the bench holding your bottom leg up. In this video, I wanted to give an alternative exercise. Today, I wanted to explain what you can do if you are having shoulder pain when performing the side plank. Can you Prevent a Hernia, Keep it From Getting Worse, or Heal it Naturally? Take a look at the answer to the plank question above. Sorry about the shoulder injury. For the perfect plank position, align your hands directly underneath your shoulders, keeping your hands shoulder-width distance apart. Make sure you do not bend at the hip. However, I believe we're leaving a lot of potential improvement on the table by teaching the exercise strictly in this fashion. This exercise is a great way to maximize core strength without worrying over shoulder positioning. There are a range of pelvic floor safe abdominal core exercises that women at risk of pelvic floor injury can perform other than The Forward Plank. Creating shoulder stability takes lots of specific work, and in my opinion core strength needs to come first to protect your spine. I love planks, and this exercise is even better because it takes the shoulder completely out of the equation. This will work on an often ignored muscle group in the shoulder and decrease the stress on the anterior part of the shoulder, plus make sure that the shoulder is in good alignment with all shoulder exercises. By viewing this website you acknowledge that I cannot guarantee any particular results, nor am I supplying medical advice. I find with regular side planks clients will either have an unstable winging scapula or they will try and push up with their shoulder using their delt muscle and under-using their core. Your use of this site and the resources are subject to our terms and conditions. Especially the front of your hip! In my opinion, if you cannot perform plank (an exercise that requires no movement) due to shoulder issues, no other single exercise exists as a substitute. Shoulder Case Studies. If this exercise seems beyond your current ability level, then stay tuned.