HOW: Set up in a tall kneeling position. With one hand, reach overhead and behind your neck with your elbow pointing up towards the ceiling. Hold that position with your fingertips pointing straight down your spine. The other hand reached behind your back with your fingertips pointing up attempting to touch the other hand’s fingertips. Stay straight up and hold that stretch for as long as prescribed. 

 

FEEL: You should feel a stretch in your shoulder. 

 

COMPENSATION: Don’t arch your back, stay straight up.

HOW: Begin in a standing position with your feet about shoulder width apart. Hinge forward at the hips, and bend your knees into a deep squat all the way down to grab onto your toes. Once your hips are as low as you can go, rotate your chest to one side bringing that arm straight up and the other arm straight down, then do the same on the other side. Finally, raise both arms up overhead and return to the standing position. 

 

FEEL: You should feel your leg muscles working. You should also feel a stretch in your  shoulder and mid back.

 

COMPENSATION: Keep your feet flat on the ground. Make sure you are as deep as you can squat before you rotate your chest.

HOW: Get set-up in a 90/90 position, you can use a yoga block or something else under your front hip to get into the correct position (follow video for tips and details). Once set-up, keep your thighs, knees, and feet flat against the ground, lift your chest up to make your torso long. Holding this position, shift your weight forward until you feel a stretch and hold that position for a moment, return to starting position and repeat.

 

FEEL: You should feel a stretch in the back of your hip and your butt on the front thigh. You may feel a stretch inside your thigh and groin on the back leg.

 

COMPENSATION: See video for tips and details, the most important thing is having a long torso and relatively straight back as best as you can especially when you shift your weight forward. We want to move through our hip and not our low back

HOW: Begin in a seated position with one leg in front of your with your knee bent and your lower leg on the ground. The other leg is bent at the side. From here, rotate towards the side leg and slowly return back to the starting position. Repeat for the prescribed amount of reps. 

 

FEEL: You should feel a stretch in your hips. 

 

COMPENSATION: Make sure your legs are in the proper starting position. Keep your chest up as you lean to the side.

HOW: Start in a long sitting position holding only one weight in one hand in front of your shoulder. Begin the exercise by keeping the rest of your body still and performing an overhead press.  Hold the overhead position for a moment (the weight should be in line with your ears), slowly lower the weight down and return to the starting position and repeat.

 

FEEL: This should feel like an upper body workout, specifically your deltoids, traps, triceps, and upper back muscles. You should feel your shoulder blade working a lot with this exercise. You will also feel your abs and lower body working to maintain optimal long sitting posture – avoid side-bending or tilting due to the off-set unilateral weight.

 

COMPENSATION: Do not excessively arch or bend your low back. Keep the rest of your body still as best as you can. Do not use momentum to move the weight, also focus on moving slowly, maintaining time under tension. Avoid excessive shrugging. Avoid leaning side to side. 

HOW: Begin on your side with one foot on top of a bench and the other below the bench on the ground. Keep your knees straight, and your elbow on the ground underneath your shoulder. Hold a dumbbell in the other hand out in the front at chest level. From here, lift your hips into the air with your leg pushing into the bench creating a side plank position. With your thumb up and elbow straight, lift the dumbbell up until you get to be straight up from your shoulder. 

 

FEEL: You should feel your shoulder and core muscles working. 

 

COMPENSATION: Keep your hips off the ground in the plank position. Keep your thumb up as you bring the dumbbell up.

HOW: Start in a standing position holding onto a kettlebell by the outside handles or any object can work as well. While keeping the rest of your body still, begin the exercise by driving your elbows up and out to bring your hands to shoulder height. Hold for a moment, then lower down to starting position and repeat.

 

FEEL: This should feel like a shoulder and shoulder blade workout. Your deltoids and your traps will be working along with your forearms holding onto the weight/object. At the top you should feel your shoulder blades squeezed up and back.

 

COMPENSATION: Do not use momentum to lift and lower the weight, keep your body still. Do not excessively arch or bend your low back. Drive your elbows up and out so that they’re even with your hands at the top, don’t have your elbows excessively higher than your hands.

HOW: While standing, grab a kettlebell and hold it overhead with a slight bend in your elbow. Maintain this position as you walk forward for the prescribed amount of time or distance. 

 

FEEL: You should feel your shoulder muscles working. 

 

COMPENSATION: Don’t let your arm come down as you walk forward.

Description:

The Closed Kinetic Chain Upper Extremity Stability Test (CKCUEST) is a reliable tool developed and used to evaluate upper extremity functional performance and progress. Please watch the video to get a visual demonstration of how to perform the test. Below you will find a description of how to do so.

Instructions:

Test Instructions: Place two strips of tape in parallel 36-inches apart on a floor as measured with a standard tape measure. The starting position for the test is one hand on each piece of tape while assuming a pushup position. From the starting position, use one hand to reach across the body and touch the piece of tape lying under the opposing hand. After touching the tape line return your hand to the original starting position. Perform the same movement with the other hand and repeat. Touches are counted as every time the hand reaches across the body and touches the tape, think of the left hand as touch #1, right hand as #2, and so forth. The total time for the test is 15 seconds. You are allowed to perform a warm-up trial followed by three real trials of the test with a rest period of 45 seconds between trials. Your final score is the average of the three trials.

Norms:

Male reference values: 18.5

Female reference values: 20.5

Average 1st-time Testing Scores

Active Male: 25

Active Female: 28

Male with shoulder pain: 10

Female with shoulder pain: 12

References:

1) Rousch, JR, Kitamura, J, and Waits, MC. Reference values for the closed kinetic chain upper extremity stability test (CKCUEST) for collegiate baseball players. N Am J Sports Phys Ther 2: 159–163, 2007.

2) Tucci HT, Martins J, Sposito Gde C, et al. Closed Kinetic Chain Upper Extremity Stability test (CKCUES test): a reliability study in persons with and without shoulder impingement syndrome. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2014;15:1.