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The movement that we do in aerial is not a balanced body workout. It’s inherently uneven because we use the same movement patterns over and over. Consider how many times you pull up or climb the fabric in one class. Muscles pull instead of push on joints that aren’t fixed or fused. Some are overtrained while others are under utilized, which causes an imbalance to be born. This uneven pulling can create pain and make it feel like you have a real injury, which creates some or all of the same symptoms such as inflammation, referred pain to other areas, nerve impingement and over time, postural shifts.
In addition to the muscular pulling, we also have connective tissue or Myo-Fascia, that connects everything together (imagine the slimy film on raw chicken). It gets bound up in such a way to compensate for the strenuous and unique movement patterns that silks technique utilizes. Taking simple self-care steps at the first signs of pain can prevent more chronic problems such as nerve impingement and postural shifts. To loosen the shoulder, we need to unbind connective tissue as well as release muscle tightness. We’ll use simple tools like foam rollers and balls to accomplish this.
The functionality of the shoulders is a bio-mechanical miracle. With so many moving parts, the shoulder system is one of the most complex in the body and we use the crap out of it. Every body is different but there are some common denominators that in my experience create the most havoc for silks aerialists.
When these pesky little muscles get too tight, they can make you feel like you have a legit injury with pain presenting in the front of the shoulder. The biggest offender is the teres major because it originates from the outside edge of the shoulder blade in the back but attaches to the inside of the upper arm, which pulls the shoulder into an internal rotation when overtrained. These little assholes need to be loosened on a regular basis if you are constantly training on silks.
As one of the chief climbing muscles, the lats look like wings on your back and go all the way from the bottom of your tail bone to the mid back and insert on the back of your upper arm. In a correct pull up, the lats are super active as we shrug the shoulder blades down and back. We use our entire torso instead of just the arms to support our weight. When overtrained, they can cause referred pain all the way down the arm and back and into the shoulder which makes it painful to do a pull up and reach your arms forward.
This is a ribcage muscle system that wraps around the back side of your mid to upper back and control the shoulder blade. It’s major function is to assist in scapula rotation and protraction and it gets used constantly in aerial. If you experience general shoulder pain, the serratus anterior needs to be loosened for the entire system to be balanced.
In simple terms, the pecs make up your chest musculature including underneath your breasts. It isn’t a surprise that these two do a lot of heavy lifting, however, the problem is, few people get their chest massaged. The pecs end up neglected and when these big muscles get too tight, they pull the shoulders into internal rotation which leaves the muscles between the shoulder blades weak and the entire system unbalanced.
This is the big muscle group on your upper arm that lifts and extends the arm. Aerial can make it very angry, creating referred pain to the front of the shoulder and shoulder blade and local pain for the deltoid itself.
The triceps, a three-headed monster is usually taking it for the team while the biceps take a bit of a joy ride, which creates an imbalance and potential referred pain up the back of the arm into the neck. Roll this three-headed monster out on a regular basis to stay healthy.
We cannot ask our bodies to do anything and everything without self-care, regardless of age. I have just as many injured 20-somethings as 50 year old clients. Recovery is at least half if not more of my training time. Coming to terms with this reality is not something that any of us can avoid. The earlier you bring self-care into your practice, the better.
