What are dead hangs? What are the shoulder pain risks and the way do I do them safely?

You might need seen media articles or fitness influencers online urging people to do “dead hangs”, where one hangs loosely from a bar – normally with feet off the ground. The goal is generally to enhance upper-body strength and shoulder stability, or stretch out muscles across the shoulder.

But what does the science say? Are dead hangs good for shoulder health?

As with so many things health and fitness, it’s not a straightforward “yes” or “no”. It really relies on your reason for doing it, your individual biology, and the way you do them. For some, dead hangs may risk musculoskeletal injury.

The shoulder: a comparatively unstable joint

Dead hangs may improve grip strength and endurance in rock climbers. This suggests that when you’re well adapted to any such exercise and have superb upper-body strength, dead hangs may bring hand and forearm advantages.

But while dead hangs could also be OK for individuals with good upper-body strength and no shoulder problems, they could be dangerous for others. People with shoulder hypermobility (excessive motion of the shoulder) or shoulder instability (comparable to those that easily dislocate their shoulder) may have to be cautious.

The shoulder, by design, is a comparatively unstable joint. It has a big ball-type bone called a humerus, which sits in a comparatively small socket called a glenoid.

The passive (non-muscle) tissue around these bones (the capsule, labrum and ligaments) creates a generous space across the shoulder joint – all so you’ll be able to move your arm though a wide range of motion.

Because there’s not much passive support within the shoulder, it relies heavily on lively muscle coordination and strength to maintain it stable.

The coordination of muscles across the shoulder blade help keep the socket in the fitting place, and the rotator cuff and deltoid muscles help to manage the “ball” within the centre of the socket as you progress.

All this implies dead hangs, if not done appropriately, could present a risk for individuals with hypermobility of their shoulders.

Hypermobility and the shoulder

Some people have excessive motion of their joints resulting from increased elasticity of joint tissue. This known as hypermobility and should be within the shoulder or all joints.

The overhead arm position of a whole dead hang puts you ready where, inside your shoulder, the ball is pulled away from the socket. Hanging your entire body weight can, in hypermobile people, cause the tissue to stretch much more.

People with shoulder hypermobility are more likely to develop painful shoulder instabilitywhich is when the ball often pops out of the socket.

Shoulder instability could also be attributable to acute trauma (comparable to dislocation). Or it may possibly develop over time from a lack of muscle control, deriving from micro-trauma (by, for instance, swimming laps within the pool with hand paddles).

Shoulder instability is related to reduced strength and coordination within the shoulder muscles. In people under 40, it’s often misdiagnosed as “rotator cuff pain” or “shoulder muscle tightness”.

What can I do as a substitute of dead hangs?

Dead hangs require good baseline strength, can risk popping the ball from the socket for some people, and might stretch the passive tissue. They will not be the very best exercise for those for shoulder hypermobility and instability.

So what’s the choice? A treatment often known as the Watson Instability Program has had good results for resolving non-traumatic shoulder instability in comparison to a general shoulder strength program.

This program focuses on gaining shoulder blade control (comparable to the upward rotation you get once you reach as much as a high shelf). It involves recruiting the shoulder blade and shoulder joint muscles to enhance the contact between the ball and the socket.

Building shoulder blade control and strength can assist boost broader shoulder strength.

Still keen to try dead hangs?

If you’re determined to do dead hangs, remember to:

• start with small increments; hang for just ten seconds or fewer at first, and construct from there

• don’t allow yourself to get too fatigued; your shoulder joint can grow to be less stable when it’s drained

• try stepping off a box under the bar reasonably than jumping as much as the bar

• keep some “lively” tone in your shoulders as you hang; hanging completely passively can include risk.

Our team is conducting a trial of the Watson Instability Program. We are investigating brain changes in patients with multidirectional instability of the shoulder.

If you’re female, aged 18-35, have non-traumatic, right-sided shoulder instability and would really like to have the possibility to receive six months of free Watson Instability Program physiotherapy treatment as a part of our study, please contact either of us or read more concerning the study here.