I asked Mat Pearch, a fantastic windsurfer, mountain biker and all-round sportsman, who is also currently the UKWA Slalom Champion, to try the Rotater as he has some issues with shoulder stiffness and reduced range of motion, especially in extension. This is what he has to say;
“Hi Andy,
Yeah, getting on well with it. definitely got more movement in my shoulders, my arm goes back at more of an angle now when I use it. I’ve been boxing twice a week with Scott (Welch) and my shoulders are
absolutely dead after a session and the next day so been using it to loosen them up and make them feel normal again. Cheers, Mat”
These comments are from Robert Orr, winner of golfing’s Nitro Long Drive for Seniors in 1997. Now, Bob is a mere 62 years of age, but his experience does show that given the drive, (no pun intended), and the right equipment, it is never too late to improve your mobility and be competitive.
“The problem many golfers face as they get older is a lack of flexibility which makes your great golf shots a part of your memory bank. Having competed in Long Drive competitions winning the Nitro Long Drive for Seniors in 1997 at the age of fifty here I am in 2010 at 62 years old still able to hit it 300 plu…s. # years ago at the Vegas PGA show I met Scott and Chris at the show. My shoulder flexibility had decreased due to calcium buildup from years of injuries. I was shown how to use the Rotator and saw the guys again at the show in Orlando. It was amazing to them and to me how much additional movement and how the regular use of the Rotator had broken down the scar tissue. It is now a part of my daily stretching and my regular golf warm up. My turn and shoulder flexibility is as good now as it was years ago. Now if we could get the guys to invent something as dramatic for the hips Nicklaus, Watson and soon my self would not need so much surgery on our hips. Kudos to you guys. Can’t imagine a more helpful and easy to use aid”.
First, I am a Registered Osteopath and must state that my interest in this opinion piece is for the relevance of Kettlebell for people who already have back, neck and/or shoulder problems.
More specifically for those who are chronic or long term sufferers. Also, this is quite a long rant, but please bear with me because the general issue of how we tackle chronic back pain in this country is a serious one and often badly tackled and underfunded.
Anyone with an acute back problem should avoid strenuous exercise until they have been properly assessed by a Registered Osteopath, physiotherapist or appropriate medical practitioner.
Second, you may well ask, what on earth is Kettlebell? This dynamic exercise and training form is currently making itself felt throughout the fitness industry and claims the patronage of many celebrities, (Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, Gerri Halliwell and Penelope Cruz are often mentioned), Russian Special Forces, boxers, cross-fit trainers, MMA* fighters and football clubs.
Raging through the US for the last decade with crossfit trainers and fitness adherents, the disipline has been in the UK for the last few years and it has now reached a prominence that is hard to ignore.
Its origins are not entirely clear but lifting weights to improve strength and fitness goes back as long as boys have wanted to show off . Kettlebells have been claimed by the Russians, Turks and Scots, (who apparently trained with small church bells!). The kettlebell or Girya resembles a cannonball with a handle. Incidentally, they do not ring. The only sound created is the heavy breathing of the user and the occasional clang as the bell finds the floor early!
Weights vary from 4Kg to 60kg, although typically 8kg, 12kg, 16kg and 20kg are used by normal mortals. The more capable and ambitious ‘kettlebellers’ are called Gireviks, Russian for weightlifter.
Now, it is not my business to promote Kettlebell as a practise, there are plenty of more able people out there who can do that, but must declare that I am an enthusiastic participant who has benefited, and has done so at a number of levels.
What is the technique?
A good whole body mobilisation is essential. Some moderate aerobic exercise such as jogging, star jumps, squats and arm swinging, shoulder, neck and quads stretches take place over several minutes. Now I know that the evidence for stretching before exercise is now felt not to help in preventing injury, but you will need 6-10 minutes of cardiovascular ‘warm-up’ for the session that follows.
For the chronic back pain sufferer, I think this gives hope. All too often, rehab programmes concentrate on passive stretching and mobilisation, rather than a return to CV health and strength. Personal and professional experience tells me that someone with a 20 year history of back pain is afraid of the consequences of exercise.
The attitude is ‘better the devil we know’ and all that. Maintaining the status quo is better, in the minds of many, than ’stirring things up’, which is often the experience they have starting a new exercise programme. It takes a lot of courage to start a regime knowing that it may well make things feel worse to begin with.
However,the important word there is FEEL. I spend much of my clinical time agreeing with patients when they say, “but won’t that exercise make it hurt more?”. They don’t expect me to agree, because previous advice will often have been about caution and ‘don’t do too much’.
Being frank about what will happen is often more to do with the therapist making their own life easier; management of the patient rather than management of the condition. Both are needed, but it’s the emphasis that may need looking at! Please remember, hurting more does not necessarily equate to damage!
Of course, there are risks, but with proper guidance from your Osteopath, Physiotherapist or health advisor and in conjunction with your trainer, doing damage or causing any permanent worsening of symptoms is unlikely.
The trick is to take the right amount of time for the individual and this is where group classes can be weak – frankly, even the best trainers can’t be expected to tailor programmes for each person in a class of 20+. Don’t blame the class leader though, take personal control and think of how you get around the issue.
So, what is the answer? Well, one answer is to take personal tuition to begin with. Yes it can be expensive, but at say £35 to £40 per session over say 4 weeks, it’s cheaper than an overnight stay in London. Put bluntly, I know plenty of my chronic back pain patients do that fairly regularly ‘as a treat’. So treat yourself to being well and it may improve your mood and mental well-being as well – radical stuff, eh?
Probably sounds smug, but it’s what I did. I took a couple of 1-1 lessons and was joined by a friend for a further 2, (price went down for 2 by the way), then another friend for two last sessions. Then I felt ready to join a group class. Let’s face it, most blokes don’t want to look like they don’t know what they are doing and most women don’t like to be stared at!! No doubt that sounds somehow sexist, but I hope you know what I am getting at.
Photo courtesy Paige Waehner
The basic form is the TWO HANDED KETTLEBELL SWING. I won’t describe each exercise in detail, but the kettlebell swing is where it all starts and the technique must be good to both protect your back and get the most out of the exercise.
The swing mainly targets the legs and abdominal muscles, the back, (BUT NOT WHILE BENT),the hip rotators and increases cardiovascular endurance. The swing element comes from contact with the inner arm as it meets the inner thigh and the thrust generated by a crisp forward thrust of the hips/pelvis.
The aerobic nature of the exercise is what startled me most when I started.
The next technique to master is the CLEAN.
Clean 1st Pos - Photo Christian Vila
Clean 2nd Pos - Photo Christian Vila
The kettlebell design allows for the weight to roll around the hand and wrist as you lift into the clean, keeping it balanced and ‘close packed’.
Once again, the power is coming from the thighs, abdomen and to some extent the lower back, dynamic, fluid and using the whole body to distribute any stresses. However, you can see that the back is held in a neutral or slightly extended position.
The lifting arm is held close to the body to protect the joints in the arm and shoulder. This is crucial, as injuries to the rotator cuff are common when weights are used with the arms extended or stretched out. The loose arm is used for balance and seems to help focus the dynamic nature of the move.
PRESS - Photo Christian Vila
The next move is a continuation of the CLEAN; the PRESS can be seen in the image here. Particularly good for shoulder, shoulder blade and upper back muscles, it is once again using the whole body, flowing from one structure to another and while the joints are used throughout their range. There are few static moments during kettlebell moves, the time when soft and bony structures are most stressed, and so helps in reducing the risk of damage.
While excellent for promoting mobility in the joints at each end of the collar bone, the upper ribs and neck, this exercise needs to be done with good technique. This often means using an approriate weight. I have seen people struggling with too much weight, the technique suffers with the consequent risk of neck strain.
I should also say that the leaders of the class that I attend are very hot on this and encourage swapping weights during a set – the emphasis is on keeping going safely rather than emulating Atlas.
The static presses and exertions of ‘regular’ gym weights, fixed or free, do, in my view, carry the risk of over-extension of the joints and point pressure on vulnerable structures such as the rotator cuff insertion, acromio-claviclular joint, knee and shoulder cartilages.
There are plenty of other basic forms, but check those out on the kettlebell sites, (see examples below), as there are variations and styles that should suit most needs.
So, after all that, is it good for your back? Please remember that the back, (or spine), to physical therapists also includes the neck.
Succinctly, if you are well but unfit and want to become so, then yes. If you have back problems, then proceed with some caution!
However, as with all exercise forms, make sure that you seek out well qualified trainers and yet be strong enough in yourself to proceed at your own pace. Their job, in my view, is to provide the knowledge, support and skills, plus the encouragement to keep going and to draw out your motivation.
In conclusion, I like this regime because it is dynamic, relatively low impact and uses the joints through their whole range. It flows, is as much about balance and technique as it is about strength, yet improves power.
Kettlebell is an excellent mix of aerobic exercise and fat-burning, with muscle toning that doesn’t produce too much bulk.
It is egalitarian and friendly. My experience is that the men and women who go are not there just to look wonderful, but to improve themselves generally. Sounds a bit twee, but I mean it. Posers are at an absolute minimum and overt testosterone is low. There is a good mix of abilities, ages and, lets say, weight categories and there is an old-fashioned helpfulness, at least in the class I attend.
Go on, give it a go. As previously stated, check with someone qualified to judge but you may well be surprised by how much you will benefit!
Andrew Bellamy
Training in the Brighton, East & West Sussex area.
Watch these new videos from Joint Mechanix, (see right), inventors and makers of the the Rotater. Demonstrated by Eric Beard, a very experienced physical therapist and trainer, these newly issued videos thoroughly explain the background to rotator cuff prehab and rehab, how to set up the Rotater and how to make the most from this unique device.
This posting on YouTube is a clear description of how to use the Rotater and how it can help recovery from shoulder surgery.
Thanks to John Madden, a professional baseball pitcher. He is recovering from shoulder surgery (torn labrum & rotator cuff) and discovered the Rotater. Here’s the shorter of two videos he’s produced about the Rotater.
There is an old saying that suggests that there are many ways to skin a cat. Just so, and there are also many ways to stretch and rehab any joint, including the shoulder.
I sometimes feel that there is a gap in the way that we as therapists and trainers handle the recovery and rehabilitation phase of shoulder injury; that the categories are sub-divided too starkly into black and white, passive and active, low-stress mobilising and strength building. It seems to me that we should more often look at what the individual needs and build in an intermediate phase, where act as guide but let the injured individual be inventive and therefore participatory in their own recovery. They improve faster as a result. Encourage them to clean windows, polish floors, bounce balls against a wall – all low, (or at least controllable), effort activities that help to distract from the discomfort but also gives a sense of achievement.
This is not revolutionary thinking by any means as business management techniques are always telling us that if the employee ‘buys in’, then productivity and contentment rise! Why should patients and sports people be any different?
Each individual is just that, individual, and has different physical structure, varying levels of physical activity, abilities, age, expectations and needs. It seems intuitive, therefore, that while those who are professionals endeavour to tailor recovery regimes, that they should, in part at least, be led by the recipient.
I am a great fan of The Rotater and, increasingly, of Kettlebell workouts, but they have very different ‘points of entry’ in the timeline of recovery – the Rotater can be used fairly early in the recovery phase – gently at first, ramping up the intensity as pain reduces and range of motion increases and until it becomes an integral part of any workout, prehab or sporting event. Kettlebell is fantastic as a total body workout that is low impact and wonderful as shoulder mobiliser, BUT is only appropriate rather further down the recovery road!
The following video tries to outline a fairly ‘loose’ approach to mobilising the shoulder – be inventive, work within your means to start with, gradually increasing range and intensity, trust your therapist or trainer, but trust yourself as well.
As with all advice on medical conditions, check with your doctor, osteopath, physiotherapist, chiropractor or trainer before embarking on any new regime.
What is a dislocation? Everyone knows, right? A true dislocation of a joint requires the complete separation of the two sides of a joint. What is often called a dislocation is actually a sub-luxation, or partial separation – they still hurt and do damage, but tend to recover faster.
This is an example of a shoulder dislocation. It is of a rare type, inferior, (or downwards into the armpit), and is caused by hyperabduction and makes up only 1% to 2% of all dislocations. This is a Luxatio erecta type.
So, if it is so rare, why does it matter? Well, it is rare overall, but is relatively common in sporting people who fall! Mountain biking, moto-X, soccer goalkeeping, equestrian sports and skateboarding.
If YOU end up in the emergency room with your arm stuck above your head, the chances are that they will not have seen it. The key to relocating this joint is to dislocate it again first…..FORWARD, creating an ANTERIOR dislocation, then a more normal reduction to its proper position.
As well as the usual problems associated with dislocations, (AC joint, nerve and blood vessel damage), the inferior type causes damage to the floor of the armpit and can lead to concurrent fractures of the upper arm, AC joint, as well as injury to the nerves, (brachial plexus), or specifically to the axillary artery.
Recovery can be slow, even with conventional physical therapies, medication and exercises. You will probably have to start with PASSIVE movements, such as pendulum swinging which you can see if you run the video. Remember that passive means just that – let someone else make the movements for you, (physio,osteopath), or use the weight of a tin of beans or can of coke and your body movements to generate the impetus.
Repeat these exercises several times a day and at every opportunity. If you don’t use the range of motion, you may well lose it! Repeat each direction on movement about 30 to 40 times. ie, 30-40 clockwise, anticlockwise, front-to-back, etc.
Good luck with your rehab and make use of all the tools available to you; information, professional advice, devices like the Rotater and, most of all, use your imagination.
Enthusiast for long golf drives? One way to improve and extend your range and distance is to stretch and stretch your rotator cuff muscles and your shoulder muscles generally. As part of any sports warm-up, stretching has come in for some stick lately – don’t be misled though, the research does suggest that it does not prevent injuries and I agree that you can be too enthusiastic, but it is still worth doing before and especially after any physical activity. The aim of stretching is partly mental and preparatory, just do it with care and take good advice from those who know!
Take a look at this article from Joint Mechanix about American Mike Dobbyn – 551 yards – before watching the video.
Find out more about Mike by clicking the link and why he endorses the Rotater.
I noticed after only a few days of using The Rotater a much more flexible and stronger shoulder area!”
“After using The Rotater for only 1 week I have achieved more extension at the top of my back-swing giving me a larger swing arc and the ability to generate more club-head speed.”
“Having been an athlete since I was very young and having multiple shoulder injuries from over use in baseball, I can honestly say that there is no better tool on the market than The Rotater for stretching and rehabilitating the entire shoulder area.”
“If you want to hit the ball farther with more ease and be in less pain, then you have to get The Rotater!”
Scott Welch, former professional heavyweight boxer and all-round fitness advocate has suffered from general shoulder and rotator cuff problems and has recently been using the Rotater to increase his range of motion, a unique device developed in the US for just this type of problem.
After just a couple of weeks of use, Scott tells me that “the Rotater has really helped to loosen up my shoulders, increasing range and flexibility. I will definately be encouraging the lads to use it before and after sparring and glove work. I can also see it being useful before competition as part of their pre-fight prep…….good one!”.
Former boxer, amateur and professional, picking up British & Commonwealth Champ and WBO Heavyweight Champ of Great Britain titles and was a contender for the Heavyweight Champion of the World (sadly lost on points).
He now coaches boxing at the Hove Amateur Boxing Club, keeps fit with road and off-road cycling and undertakes events like the Marathon Des Sables for charity. Just for good measure, Scott starred as Horace ‘Good Night’ Anderson in Snatch alongside Brad Pitt! His moto and attitude to life is “to do us much as I can as fast as I can”.
The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) is widespread in medical prescribing worldwide and over the counter self-medication is on the increase.
Their paper suggests a hypothesis that suggests ‘traditional non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cyclooxygenase-2–specific non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs interfere with tendon-to-bone healing’.
This is not the same as saying that human tissues and tendons will react in the same way, but read for yourselves and draw your own conclusions.
ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE STARTING ANY EXERCISE, REHABILITATION OR STRETCHING PROGRAM! THIS BLOG SHOULD NOT BE SEEN AS MEDICAL ADVICE. IF IN ANY DOUBT, SEEK QUALIFIED MEDICAL, THERAPEUTIC OR PHARMACEUTICAL ADVICE.
events like the Marathon Des Sables for charity. Just for good measure, Scott starred as Horace ‘Good Night’ Anderson in 
The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) is widespread in medical prescribing worldwide and over the counter self-medication is on the increase.
IS KETTLEBELL GOOD FOR YOUR BACK & SHOULDERS?
January 21st, 2010 2 comments »First, I am a Registered Osteopath and must state that my interest in this opinion piece is for the relevance of Kettlebell for people who already have back, neck and/or shoulder problems.
More specifically for those who are chronic or long term sufferers. Also, this is quite a long rant, but please bear with me because the general issue of how we tackle chronic back pain in this country is a serious one and often badly tackled and underfunded.
Anyone with an acute back problem should avoid strenuous exercise until they have been properly assessed by a Registered Osteopath, physiotherapist or appropriate medical practitioner.
Second, you may well ask, what on earth is Kettlebell? This dynamic exercise and training form is currently making itself felt throughout the fitness industry and claims the patronage of many celebrities, (Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, Gerri Halliwell and Penelope Cruz are often mentioned), Russian Special Forces, boxers, cross-fit trainers, MMA* fighters and football clubs.
Raging through the US for the last decade with crossfit trainers and fitness adherents, the disipline has been in the UK for the last few years and it has now reached a prominence that is hard to ignore.
Its origins are not entirely clear but lifting weights to improve strength and fitness goes back as long as boys have wanted to show off . Kettlebells have been claimed by the Russians, Turks and Scots, (who apparently trained with small church bells!). The kettlebell or Girya resembles a cannonball with a handle. Incidentally, they do not ring. The only sound created is the heavy breathing of the user and the occasional clang as the bell finds the floor early!
Weights vary from 4Kg to 60kg, although typically 8kg, 12kg, 16kg and 20kg are used by normal mortals. The more capable and ambitious ‘kettlebellers’ are called Gireviks, Russian for weightlifter.
Now, it is not my business to promote Kettlebell as a practise, there are plenty of more able people out there who can do that, but must declare that I am an enthusiastic participant who has benefited, and has done so at a number of levels.
What is the technique?
A good whole body mobilisation is essential. Some moderate aerobic exercise such as jogging, star jumps, squats and arm swinging, shoulder, neck and quads stretches take place over several minutes. Now I know that the evidence for stretching before exercise is now felt not to help in preventing injury, but you will need 6-10 minutes of cardiovascular ‘warm-up’ for the session that follows.
For the chronic back pain sufferer, I think this gives hope. All too often, rehab programmes concentrate on passive stretching and mobilisation, rather than a return to CV health and strength. Personal and professional experience tells me that someone with a 20 year history of back pain is afraid of the consequences of exercise.
The attitude is ‘better the devil we know’ and all that. Maintaining the status quo is better, in the minds of many, than ’stirring things up’, which is often the experience they have starting a new exercise programme. It takes a lot of courage to start a regime knowing that it may well make things feel worse to begin with.
However,the important word there is FEEL. I spend much of my clinical time agreeing with patients when they say, “but won’t that exercise make it hurt more?”. They don’t expect me to agree, because previous advice will often have been about caution and ‘don’t do too much’.
Being frank about what will happen is often more to do with the therapist making their own life easier; management of the patient rather than management of the condition. Both are needed, but it’s the emphasis that may need looking at! Please remember, hurting more does not necessarily equate to damage!
Of course, there are risks, but with proper guidance from your Osteopath, Physiotherapist or health advisor and in conjunction with your trainer, doing damage or causing any permanent worsening of symptoms is unlikely.
The trick is to take the right amount of time for the individual and this is where group classes can be weak – frankly, even the best trainers can’t be expected to tailor programmes for each person in a class of 20+. Don’t blame the class leader though, take personal control and think of how you get around the issue.
So, what is the answer? Well, one answer is to take personal tuition to begin with. Yes it can be expensive, but at say £35 to £40 per session over say 4 weeks, it’s cheaper than an overnight stay in London. Put bluntly, I know plenty of my chronic back pain patients do that fairly regularly ‘as a treat’. So treat yourself to being well and it may improve your mood and mental well-being as well – radical stuff, eh?
Probably sounds smug, but it’s what I did. I took a couple of 1-1 lessons and was joined by a friend for a further 2, (price went down for 2 by the way), then another friend for two last sessions. Then I felt ready to join a group class. Let’s face it, most blokes don’t want to look like they don’t know what they are doing and most women don’t like to be stared at!! No doubt that sounds somehow sexist, but I hope you know what I am getting at.
Photo courtesy Paige Waehner
The basic form is the TWO HANDED KETTLEBELL SWING. I won’t describe each exercise in detail, but the kettlebell swing is where it all starts and the technique must be good to both protect your back and get the most out of the exercise.
The swing mainly targets the legs and abdominal muscles, the back, (BUT NOT WHILE BENT),the hip rotators and increases cardiovascular endurance. The swing element comes from contact with the inner arm as it meets the inner thigh and the thrust generated by a crisp forward thrust of the hips/pelvis.
The aerobic nature of the exercise is what startled me most when I started.
The next technique to master is the CLEAN.
Clean 1st Pos - Photo Christian Vila
Clean 2nd Pos - Photo Christian Vila
The kettlebell design allows for the weight to roll around the hand and wrist as you lift into the clean, keeping it balanced and ‘close packed’.
Once again, the power is coming from the thighs, abdomen and to some extent the lower back, dynamic, fluid and using the whole body to distribute any stresses. However, you can see that the back is held in a neutral or slightly extended position.
The lifting arm is held close to the body to protect the joints in the arm and shoulder. This is crucial, as injuries to the rotator cuff are common when weights are used with the arms extended or stretched out. The loose arm is used for balance and seems to help focus the dynamic nature of the move.
PRESS - Photo Christian Vila
The next move is a continuation of the CLEAN; the PRESS can be seen in the image here. Particularly good for shoulder, shoulder blade and upper back muscles, it is once again using the whole body, flowing from one structure to another and while the joints are used throughout their range. There are few static moments during kettlebell moves, the time when soft and bony structures are most stressed, and so helps in reducing the risk of damage.
While excellent for promoting mobility in the joints at each end of the collar bone, the upper ribs and neck, this exercise needs to be done with good technique. This often means using an approriate weight. I have seen people struggling with too much weight, the technique suffers with the consequent risk of neck strain.
I should also say that the leaders of the class that I attend are very hot on this and encourage swapping weights during a set – the emphasis is on keeping going safely rather than emulating Atlas.
The static presses and exertions of ‘regular’ gym weights, fixed or free, do, in my view, carry the risk of over-extension of the joints and point pressure on vulnerable structures such as the rotator cuff insertion, acromio-claviclular joint, knee and shoulder cartilages.
There are plenty of other basic forms, but check those out on the kettlebell sites, (see examples below), as there are variations and styles that should suit most needs.
So, after all that, is it good for your back? Please remember that the back, (or spine), to physical therapists also includes the neck.
Succinctly, if you are well but unfit and want to become so, then yes. If you have back problems, then proceed with some caution!
However, as with all exercise forms, make sure that you seek out well qualified trainers and yet be strong enough in yourself to proceed at your own pace. Their job, in my view, is to provide the knowledge, support and skills, plus the encouragement to keep going and to draw out your motivation.
In conclusion, I like this regime because it is dynamic, relatively low impact and uses the joints through their whole range. It flows, is as much about balance and technique as it is about strength, yet improves power.
Kettlebell is an excellent mix of aerobic exercise and fat-burning, with muscle toning that doesn’t produce too much bulk.
It is egalitarian and friendly. My experience is that the men and women who go are not there just to look wonderful, but to improve themselves generally. Sounds a bit twee, but I mean it. Posers are at an absolute minimum and overt testosterone is low. There is a good mix of abilities, ages and, lets say, weight categories and there is an old-fashioned helpfulness, at least in the class I attend.
Go on, give it a go. As previously stated, check with someone qualified to judge but you may well be surprised by how much you will benefit!
Andrew Bellamy
Training in the Brighton, East & West Sussex area.
http://www.brightonkettlebells.co.uk/
http://thebrightongirevik.blogspot.com/
Influential figures in Kettlebell:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Tsatsouline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Valery_Fedorenko.jpg
*MMA – Mixed Martial Arts
2 comments »
Posted in Fitness, General Comments, Rotater Cuff Injuries
Tags: back pain chronic pain crossfit dynamic flow neck pain prehab rotator cuff