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Before you answer, here's some background to my shoulder's condition:

I seem to have a chronically weak shoulder. For instance, when I play basketball I like to try hard to intercept passes from the other team. But in order to do this, I have to very quickly extend my hand out sideways in order to catch the ball as it is about to pass me at high speed to the opposing player behind me. However, multiple times in the past when I did this, my shoulder dislocated (probably as the ball hit my hand and pushed my arm back). But I was able to pop it back in very shortly after. I think I know now that it dislocates because I'm extending my shoulder to my side, and the further back my arm goes at this extended sideways position, the more likely the ball joint in my shoulder will pop out of the cavity if a strong force is applied to it (like when a basketball hits my hand). I believe this is called an anterior dislocation. This has also happened recently when I tried bouldering. I was gripping a hold with my left arm which was extended a bit over my head and to my side. And then as I was trying to move myself it dislocated.

Maybe I have this problem because most of the workouts that I did when I was younger worked mainly my front deltoid but neglected my posterior and lateral deltoid. Plus I don't really work out my shoulders enough these days so they are quite weak. Anyways, with all that I said, what exercises can I do to strengthen my shoulder and prevent future dislocations? And can you also tell me what shoulder muscles to exercise?

David Jr Gbadago
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  • I don't know what to say about the dislocated shoulder aspect, but per your shoulder you mentioned the main 3 muscles. You can hit the lateral and posterior with not much weight and higher reps pretty easily... With shoulder exercises, make sure not to move the shoulders themselves upward, which turns into a trap movement. Maybe also target your rotator cuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hIHwLsiq8 – Brian Mains Apr 11 '18 at 12:44
  • I would cautiously recommend trying Turkish get ups. They've helped my shoulders (though I've never dislocated one) and I've heard that they've helped people who have dislocated their shoulders previously. I haven't heard specifically about anyone trying them with easily dislocated shoulders though – Dark Hippo Apr 11 '18 at 13:23
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    A visit to an orthopedist and a physical therapist or physiotherapist is the best place to start. – BackInShapeBuddy Apr 11 '18 at 18:52
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    I'm voting to close. That should not happen to you anyway. So the only option to help is to visit proper specialist... – Michał Zaborowski Apr 15 '18 at 13:52

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After popping your shoulder, your tendons will be relatively weaker through abnormal stretching and the more times this happens, the more likely it is that your shoulder will pop. Depending on the severity of the damage to your tendons, if surgery isn't required to shorten them, it's likely that strengthening your rotator cuffs will help fix the imbalance in strength affecting your outstretched arm. Face-pulls are one exercise that helps in fixing this although it really depends on which auxiliary muscles are affecting you. Good luck.

Lloyd Moore
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