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General information Imprint & Contact DisclaimerPrivacy policy shoulder active bar The Exercise References Back pains Advantages in sport Doctors in your proximity shoulder first aid tips Go to our shoulder forum Standard or acute model? Size chart order your shoulder active bar hereShoulder lexicon A Abduktion AC-Gelenk Adduktion Akromion Akromionizer Akromioplastik ALPSA-Läsion Ambrill-Läsion Arthrose Arthroskopie Axilla B Bankart Läsion Biopsie Bizepssehnenruptur Bursa subakromialis Bursitis Bursoskopie C Chondromatose Chondroplastik Clavikula (Klavikula) Clavikula-Fraktur Constant Score Copeland Schulter/Cup Prothese D Defektarthropathie Deltaprothese Deltoideus/Delta-Muskel E Enchondromatose Endoskopie ESD ESWT ETACS Extension F Flexion Floating Shoulder Frozen Shoulder G GLAD Läsion Glenoid Glenoidersatz Grammont Prothese H HAGL Läsion Hemiarthroplastik Hemiprothese Hill Sachs Defekt Humeruskopfnekrose I Impingement Infraspinatus Inverse Schulterprothese Injektion Invasiv K Kalkschulter Klavikula (Clavikula) Klavikulafraktur Korakoid L Labrum LACS Läsion Limbus Luxation M Minimal invasiv MTI MRT Morbus Ollier Mumford Operation N Night pains O Oberarmkopfnekrose Omarthritis Omarthrose Overload P Partialriss PASTA Läsion Periarthropathie Plexus brachialis Pseudoparalyse Psychopharmaka Pulley R RDA Reposition Rockwood Klassifikation Rotatoreninterval Rotatorenmanschette S SAD SAPHO Syndrom SAS Scapula alata Schulterengpasssyndrom Schulterkappenprothese Shoulder pains Sick Scapula Skapula SLAP Läsion Sternoclavikulargelenk Stosswellentherapie Subakromiale Enge Subakromialraum Subscapularis Subluxation Sulcus bicipitalis Supraspinatus Synoviale Chondromatose Synovia T Tendinitis Tendinitis calcarea (Tendinosis calcarea) Tendonese Tenotomie Teres minor Tossi Klassifikation Totalarthroplastik (Total Shoulder) TUBS Läsion V Velpeau Phänomen
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The shoulder helps us pay for the costs of living! When the shoulder hurts,
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SHOULDER PAINS?
• Main cause impingement syndrome (tightness in the shoulder)
• The usual amount of therapy units are by far insufficient to influence the cause (the impingement) in the long term. This mostly leads to almost unbearable pain and dramatic reduction in movement in the course of months or years, instead of improvement. The own existence is often endangered by the inability to work.
 You are now able to help yourself
with the help of our
shoulder active bar®
shoulder active-bar animated
• Actively support the work of your therapist or doctor. Pick up on a therapy or treatment that has ended. In this way, you make sure that the problem does not recur as usual.

• Together with the training concept included, which has been tested and tried in practice thousands of times, this exercise bar leads to a lasting freedom of pain!

All about the shoulder, shoulder pains and our shoulder active bar®
One cause, many symptoms: Bursitis, impingement and co.
Alarm/warning signals of the shoulder!
Conventional therapies and chances of success
The shoulder active bar® – Description -
What do you have to do with the shoulder active bar® ?
Why is the shoulder active bar® more effective
than other conventional methods of shoulder training?
The same exercise without the shoulder active bar®! Is that possible?
Side effect, a better posture!
Contraindications
Can the shoulder active bar® replace medicine?
What are the chances of improvement?
With which symptoms can I expect improvement?
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FundamentalsYou are on a reputable website with contents that have been compiled in a very responsible way. We would like to give you an understanding of the “shoulder active bar” being the therapy aid to be chosen for the shoulder. However, we are not going to make it as easy for us as it is usually done, when praising “products”. We will substantiate in as much detail as possible, why this is the product and why this aid can actually enable you to get rid of your shoulder problems on your own in the long term. Although the effectiveness of this aid has been proven and has by no means been put into question from a medicinal point of view, a deficiency of information still exists at the time being, hindering the renownedness of the aid among physicians. Unfortunately, this often leads to shoulder-shrugging, when people affected make queries at the doctor’s. This and the simplicity, with which this aid should suddenly bring such effective help naturally arouses sceptism among many of the people affected, who have been treated or given therapy to over months or years, without any success. Unjustified sceptism that can lead to suffering for an unnecessary length of time! The explanations on this website will resolve possible scepticism.

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The shoulder:The movement of the shoulder is more than unique and only possible, because of the shoulder joint being exclusively anchored by muscles and tendons. The rather large ball of the upper arm bone (humerus) is held by the so-called rotator cuff from three directions in the relatively small glenoid socket. In order to always guarantee the function of the shoulder and always to keep the ball in the middle of the socket during all daily movements, all of the three groups of muscle responsible should be as strong as each other. The muscles affected are: on the front of the shoulder the large pectoral muscle (pectoralis major), the pectoralis minor muscle (pectoralis minor), on top of the shoulder, the deltoid (m. Deltoideus) and at the back, the outer rotators (infraspinatus and teres minor). If they are not all as strong as each other, the stronger ones each start to pull the humerus towards its direction, (like the deltoid muscle does, when it pulls the humerus against the acromion, which one calls impingement!) muscular  dysfunction arises.

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Muscular dysfunction, the main cause of shoulder problemsMuscular dysfunction means unevenness in the strength of the muscles of the rotator cuff. This has the effect that the humerus can no longer be held in the middle of its counterpart, the socket.
How does muscular dysfunction arise?As fascinating as the movement of our shoulder is, there are limits. And exactly these limits are the causes of muscular dysfunction of our shoulder. NOTE: a muscle is only strengthened if actively used!
Unfortunately, the human anatomy does only allow us to perform activities in front of or above our bodies. All activities in front of the body lead to continuous strengthening of the front muscles of the rotator cuff. All activities over or above our bodies lead to a strengthening of the upper muscles of the rotator cuff. But behind our bodies – where the back muscles of the rotator cuff are to be found – we can naturally do nothing. And thus, as it must happen, these muscles become weaker and weaker, lose their tension and are no longer able to fulfil their task, keeping the ball at a certain distance to the socket. Even if it is a curious thought, imagine us being able to turn our heads 180 degrees and move our are as we can in front, then we would barely have shoulder problems, because we could then be active behind us, do something, do strengthening exercises and thus strengthen those muscles around the shoulder blade. Shoulder problems would be absolutely rare.

Illustration of the “normal” and the narrowed shoulder joint

shoulder muscles
Aussenrotatoren

On the left you can see the ideal condition of the shoulder, viewed from the back. You can clearly recognise a gap between the ball and the socket.
Tendons and bursae have room, the arm can be moved in all directions without “rubbing”. Mainly responsible for the condition staying like this are the infraspinatus and teres minor muscles. If these muscles were also strong (i.e. short), then they would always keep the ball at a reliable distance to the socket.
aussenrotatorenThe ball often rubs against the socket when the arm is hanging. However, when the ball is pulled towards the socket on lifting the arm (see left), bursa sacs and tendons (the supraspinatus tendon at the top, the biceps tendon in front) are squeezed during certain movements (usually forward or side movements). This is where the pains, either on the side, the front or both, come from. As the infraspinatus and the teres minor muscles are used far too little, they become weaker in the course of life, because they are simply not used enough. They are, at some point in time, no longer strong (short) enough to keep the distance of ball to socket. Thus, the distance is reduced, mostly unnoticed, to a point when it comes to jamming in the socket.

Serous damage later and even operations can only be avoided by “isolated strengthening” (shortening) of the muscular weakness as soon as possible. How this can succeed with the help of the “shoulder active bar” will be explained later in the text.

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One cause, many symptoms: Bursitis, impingement and co.The distance between the ball and the bony socket will become so short at some point in time, that first the bursa sacs – a kind of protective pad between the ball and socket– will be permanently jammed in such a way that it will become inflamed (bursitis), usually chronic. Impingement – that has, in the most cases been there for a long time – starts to be a very noticeable, intensive shoulder pain! The shoulder pain can be treated for a while, but the narrowness progresses a little more during this period, as no-one has yet produced a solution to how to stop this process. The bursa sac in the shoulder is then no longer able to keep the high pressure away from the tendons – the supraspinatus- and the biceps tendons – that are also located in the socket (the bursa sac is quite often surgically removed). The tendons come between the hard ball and the bony socket more and more often and are rubbed between them, whereby real holes can be rubbed into the tendons, which is described as partial ruptures. If these partial ruptures become too big, a total tearing of the tendons can happen, even during minimal strain or unimportant movements. These are called rupture of the supraspinatus tendon- and rupture of the biceps tendon, which can lead to extreme shoulder pain. To sew the tendons back on to the ball is mostly very difficult because of the fact that there is no room for the tendons, where they actually run! Up to now, room has been simply made by just milling off a few millimetres of bone from the socket. This is also often done at a stage in which the tendon has not been completely torn, but in order to prevent it tearing. Alarm symptoms over a long period of time usually advance all of the serious damage to the shoulder mentioned above. If these symptoms were taken notice of, the problem could be nipped off in the bud.

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Alarm/warning signals of the shoulder!The first symptoms of shoulder pain are alarm signals that should not be ignored! Shoulder pain that first of all feels like the prick of a needle and later like the stabbing of a knife that can spread to the upper arm, can be produced by succinct activities such as reaching out to grip the steering wheel, lifting the arm forwards, at the desk or on moving the computer mouse, combing your hair or on putting your shirt in your trousers. These relatively harmless symptoms of pain are produced when a narrowness in the socket is already there and when tendons/nerves are put under additional pressure through certain arm movements – mostly to the side and up or to the front and up. If these warning signals were not ignored and one began to get rid of the cause immediately, a lot of the bad damage to the shoulder at a later point in time could be avoided.

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Conventional methods and the chances of success:When the first shoulder pains appear – it is slowly becoming narrow in the shoulder-, they are usually "swallowed" or ignored at first and usually self-treated e.g. with a cream or with tablets. Does the shoulder pain appear more often and become more intense – after months or even years – so that even the non-prescription tablets no longer work well enough – it is now really narrow in the shoulder-, then it’s time to got to the doctor. Usually better or stronger pills are available in order to become “fit” really fast, possibly an injection and if it starts all over again after a few weeks – the non-pain phases are now alarmingly short -, another injection, until all of a sudden the injection no longer works! Due to this steady suppression of the warning symptoms over the years, an unbelievably large amount of valuable time has been lost, which has usually lead to an extremely narrow situation in the shoulder joint. One is not told at all that none of the pain-suppressing measures actually improve the causes of the shoulder problem– the muscular dysfunction – in any way. And the ridiculously small amount of physiotherapy that is paid for by the health insurance changes absolutely nothing. Over the months and years, one has done nothing other than suppressed or completely covered up the progress of the illness and has lead the brain to believe everything is alright, all with the help of medicine. This is fatal and destructive to the shoulder, as the patient is making movements and activities under this influence, such movements he would never ever do or be able to do with an intact alarm system.
The shoulder pain has now become an almost permanent state of affairs!

After an odyssey of doctor after doctor that partly goes on for years, the shoulder pains can, at some point in time, no longer be numbed or endured and the end of suffering has to be found in an operation. Unfortunately, the chances of success of shoulder operations, depending on the severity of the illness are alarmingly low. This can be verified by a little surfing on the internet.

All of the conventional therapies...and physiotherapeutic exercises to strengthen the outer rotators are necessary without a doubt, when concerning the mobility of the shoulder and keeping it mobile. These exercises, however, guided by others, demand too little muscular activity by the patient, through which no effective muscular change can take place. As well as that, all of these methods allow the other stronger muscles that surround the shoulder, to actively take part in the exercises necessary to strengthen the outer rotators to a great extent. These so-called synergists (helping muscles) are the m. deltoid (delta muscle) on the upper side of the shoulder and also the m. pectoralis (chest muscle). This could also be called “integral” supported movement. This „ integral aspect“, which is certainly very important in many cases, has, however, a rescinding effect on the effectiveness in the special case of the shoulder. Due to the intensive muscular support, almost all of the work is taken away from the target muscles that are in need of help. The reaction is almost no strengthening, on the contrary, we even strengthen the helping muscles.

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'The shoulder active bar' - Description –The shoulder active bar is, on reducing it to its basic function, an “arm holder”. The exercise bar has a certain amount of elasticity and can be bent a little, which is physiologically very important. It is covered with a very soft medicinal foamed rubber that is 12mm thick, so that the arms can rest on it comfortably. One essential function of the exercise bar is the reliable supporting of both arms at the side of the body in the so-called abduction. – No therapist is able to hold the patient’s arms so still, let alone both at the same time.–. Simply putting on the exercise bar means a reduction in shoulder pains for most users. The reason for this is the immediate relief of the strain on the shoulder joints, with a light tilting down of the ball away from the socket. You can try it out for yourself immediately and see how good it is to put your arm on a soft pad next to you that is a little higher or if your partner holds up your arm to the side and you let your arm “fall” into this “support”. Shoulder pains often ease off considerably in this way!

shoulder active bar
The shoulder active bar is, however, also a “shoulder muscle isolator”! This characteristic is one of the decisive factors for therapeutic success of this piece of equipment. If the arms rest firmly on the shoulder active bar, then only the actual exercise movement is possible – the outer rotation –, to strengthen the outer rotators fully. Movements of the upper arms either horizontally or vertically are no longer possible. That means, among others that the chest muscle responsible for horizontal movement is no longer able to actively support the exercise movements. The total prevention of the vertical movement of the upper arm at the same time, prevents the active support of the deltoid muscle during exercise.Ideal prerequisites have been made to remove the above-mentioned muscular dysfunction.


The right shoulder active bar for everyone The shoulder active bar comes in various models. In a stage of illness, in which mobility is very limited, one can start therapy with the “ACUTE” model and on improvement change to the “STANDARD” model. We also have an especially small model of the shoulder active bar for petite people, the “S” model or the “L” model or the “STRONG” model for very corpulent or big people.

Even though the therapeutic use should be in the foreground,
further factors are essential: The time factor.
You can do the training at home whenever you have time, as often as you want to and you do not have to leave the house. You can even take the bar to work and train during a break.

The cost factor.
The units of therapy that are either covered or subsidized by health insurance are limited. Even if ‘the’ shoulder active bar were used there, one would only achieve improved mobility and possibly the beginning of freedom of pain at this most with this budget. However, in order to achieve an effective and most of all constant improvement and the obviously necessary widening of the socket, intensive training over a period of between three and six months, 2-3 times a week, is necessary. After that, the handicapped shoulder would need constant training of at least once every two weeks. These prerequisites can be fulfilled on acquisition of the shoulder active bar.

One could buy 10 or more shoulder active bars from the money required for the additional payments made, due to visits to the therapist.

When it comes to the shoulder, there is one thing you should not be: lazy, as this is usually punished with an operation.


Why is the shoulder active bar more effective
than conventional methods of shoulder training?It is very important to point out here that shoulder problems are a result of muscular dysfunction! This means that the chest muscles at the front of the shoulder and the deltoid at the top of the shoulder are very strong!! The muscles at the back are very, very weak!! NOTE: a strengthening of only the weak muscle areas has to be achieved as effectively as possible.
With all other exercises to strengthen the rotator cuffs up to now, the muscles on top of and in front of the shoulder were being used at the same time. They were either actively necessary to hold the arm in a certain position or they supported the actual exercise actively. One could call this “completely” supported movement. This important complete aspect certainly has absolutely no business being here in many cases. Due to this large amount of support by the “helping muscles”, the target muscles loses part of their job, are not demanded of enough and react with little strengthening and in addition to that, the helping muscles are strengthened, too! The whole thing is a waste of time, the effectiveness is cancelled. There still are people, who maintain that doing the exercises without the shoulder active bar is just as good! Well, isn’t the person saying that, thinking before he speaks? And there are possibly people who even believe that!

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The same exercise without the shoulder active bar! Is that possible?Simply through the lifting of the arms to the side into the necessary training position activates and tightens the deltoid to such an extent that it actually pushes the ball into the socket throughout the period of training. Apart from that, without the shoulder active bar, the arm is able to freely move in all directions during exercise and to get the support of all possible helping muscles during the actual exercises. Not only the deltoid that supports rotation with three heads, but also the small and big chest muscles make a supportive contribution to the outer rotation, so that the actual outer rotation can not count on a noticeable strengthening, as there is no longer much work left over. For a sportsman doing these exercises for prevention or performance purposes, this may work without pain, but the whole thing has no noticeable effectiveness. But should a person with shoulder pains try to do this exercise without the shoulder active bar, he will fail because of the pain. When lifting the arm sideways and on pushing the ball into the socket, the pain becomes so extreme that it is impossible to do this exercise.

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Side-effect, oh yes, an optimal and attractive posture!

rotator cuff musclesA more than welcome “side-effect” caused by the shoulder active bar he combined and partially striking improvement in posture. As the trained target muscles are also responsible for holding back our shoulders, they provide a very visible improvement in posture after about 8 weeks of intensive training, which can usually only be achieved through intensive discipline and the words "shoulders back, chest out". Many customers buy the shoulder active bar because of the major improvement in posture, without even having shoulder problems. These customers, however, are protected from shoulder problems in the future!

Contraindications:• Training with the shoulder active bar could be dangerous for the muscles concerned, if there are illnesses or damage known to the target muscles (infraspinatus and teres minor. In individual cases, however, successful training was absolved in spite of a torn infraspinatus. In this case, the remaining, healthy teres minor took over the function of outer rotation on its own and thus achieved good strengthening, so that the user noticed a very satisfactory improvement of the shoulder problems.  
• Operations on the lymphatic systems in the area of the armpits, over-reaction of the so-called ulnaris- nerves, or pace-makers planted in the chest area.

• And please note: all of our explanations can not replace a visit to the doctor. Self-treatment without an exact diagnosis can cause damage. More in our disclaimer.

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Can the shoulder active bar replace medicine?Customers, whose pains, especially the pains at night, have been reduced to such an extent within the first week of training with the shoulder active bar, call us to tell us excitedly that they need to take considerably less medicine against pain and that it is possible to sleep through the night again. This is possible because a decompression of the socket starts shortly after beginning training. As a lot of medicine prescribed cause considerable side-effects, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract, this is often a very important factor. Instead of having to take anti-inflammatory medicine, it is often more than sufficient to systematically cool down the areas with ice-packs.

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What are the chances of improvement?You can assume the chances of recovery are proportional to the stage of your illness. Therefore, the sooner you start to do something, the greater are your chances of complete recovery. As they say, every day counts!
Various problems often result from a shoulder, which is not intact. These problems can also be considerably improved by using the shoulder active bar.

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With which symptoms can I expect improvement?

Impingement syndrome
Shoulder – arm pains with strange feelings into the arm and hand
Tendinitis calcarea shoulder
Dislocation in the back part of the joint.
Neck tenseness and pains up to headaches.

Impingement syndrome
"Narrowness in the socket" is nothing other than the end of ignoring alarm symptoms (see above!), mostly over years. Numerous other symptoms thus result from impingement syndrome. Just through putting the shoulder active bar on, a minimal biomechanical change in the position of the arm comes into being that leads to the ball tilting downwards and away from the socket. Up to a certain stage of illness, this can make such a difference causing such relief in the socket and thus soothing predominating pain. In this way, the necessary exercise is alleviated considerably. It is even possible to start training in most chronic stages and to really train towards increased freedom of pain! Chronic pain is not seldom reduced noticeably within the first week because a continuous stabilizing decompression in the socket takes place. The reason is that the target muscles become permanently stronger and thus shorter and thus pull the ball further out of the socket, bit by bit.

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Shoulder – arm pains with strange feelings into the arm and hand
Here it is important to know that apart from muscles and tendons, nerves that also lead to the arm and hand run through various channels up in the socket. If there is a narrowness in the socket, it can happen that certain nerves become jammed. It can come to apparent, yet extremely intensive pains or strange feelings like pins and needles in the arm or hand.

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Tendinitis calcarea shoulder
Deposits in the back part of the shoulder joint can appear when the ball is not firmly stabilized in the socket. Thus, there is a “loose joint”. Dysfunction or instability of the shoulder joint is the reason. The outer rotator muscles that become stronger at a fast rate due to training with the shoulder active bar, pull the ball more into the middle of the socket and close the gap reliably bit by bit. Deposits then are more under pressure and if they have not become hard, they can be rubbed and driven out. Deposits in the supraspinatus tendon originate from too much pressure in the socket (e.g. impingement). The supraspinatus tendon is jammed between ball and socket. Inflammation, injuries com into being and more and more deposits develop due to such occurrences. Training with the shoulder active bar ensures a decrease in pressure and helps healing.

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Dislocation of the back part of the shoulder
Dislocations of the shoulder can always happen if a joint is not equally stabilized by the muscle and too much strain is put on it. A person, who is prone to dislocations due to weak muscles mostly in the back part of the shoulder, can take precautions against renewed dislocations by intensive training with the shoulder active bar.

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Neck tenseness and pains up to headaches
Due to the obvious improvement in posture attained by using the shoulder active bar, the position of the head is changed fundamentally, because of the upper body becoming straighter, when you, for example, want to look straight ahead. The head does not tilt as far back into the neck, which is known as a reason for tenseness.

For clarification, please try this out: Let your shoulders hang down towards the front, the same way you do when you really want to relax and then look straight ahead. You will notice, you have to tilt your head quite far back into your neck. That this leads to tenseness in the long run is obvious! Now pull back your shoulders and stand really straight – shoulders back, chest out. Now look straight ahead. You will notice that you hardly have to or possibly do not have to tilt your head back to look ahead. None of the neck muscles are tense and when held like this, they will not become tense and cramp again. The “shoulders back, chest out” posture is manifested by the shoulder active bar!

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• References
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Letzte Aktualisierung am 04.04.2010 nd@schulterhilfe.de