3 Movements for a Stronger Core and Healthier Shoulders

In Korea, frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is common enough at a certain stage of life that it's called "fifty shoulder," meaning a shoulder ailment that tends to develop sometime during one's fifties or beyond.

Frozen shoulder is marked by a gradual onset of stiffness that makes it difficult to raise one's arm overhead - specifically, abduction, external rotation, and flexion become inhibited by inflammation and scar tissue formation.

The video above shows 3 relatively simple movements that can be done with a weight like a water bottle or kettlebell to help maintain and even improve shoulder flexibility and strength, thereby reducing one's risk of developing frozen shoulder.

All three movements also encourage development and maintenance of solid core strength, and can be done while standing or while on one's knees.

In my experience, frozen shoulder is typically caused by a combination of inactivity that leads to loss of mobility of the shoulders, as well as inflammation that often stems from having too much sugar in the diet.  There are some cases where an overt injury like a bad fall can precipitate frozen shoulder as the body stiffens the area via inflammation to keep it relatively still while injured tissues heal.

Studies on longevity clearly point to functional strength and joint mobility as strong predictive markers for our chances of thriving in later decades - with this in mind, whenever possible, it's beneficial to combine muscle and strength-building movements with flexibility work as is the case with the movements in today's video.

As always, it's a good practice to strive to turn every strength-building exercise you do into one that promotes a strong core - this is easily done by being mindful of keeping the abdominal region, lower back, and buttock area engaged through all body movements.