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Round Shoulders

One of the things I am asked the most is "how to fix rounded shoulders"

It's not only horse riders that want to know "what can I do about round shoulders", it's teachers, people sitting at desks, children at school, people in the workplace.   From my own observations, nearly everyone is round shouldered, and the older we get, the worse it is.

1.  Your position is more unstable

Have a look at the horse rider's shoulders in our photo right.  When we test out this position both on and off the horse, with "round shoulders" the horse rider can be more easily pulled forward, dangerous if the horse suddenly stops.

A round shouldered rider is definitely more unstable (and therefore less confident!)

 2.   It puts weight on the forehand

At many demonstrations around the world, I get a saddle stand, and put four bathroom scales under each of the four "feet".  I then ask the rider to slump their chest, (which makes them "round shouldered") and instantly it puts more weight on the two front bathroom scales, or on the two front "feet".   This is called "on the forehand".

Round shouldered makes it more difficult to do sitting trot and canter - not only because the rider is out of position, but also because the additional weight on the horse's shoulders make it a more bumpy ride.

And, it's the same for jumping.

 3.  Round shoulders can create Pain! 
        Especially at the desk, or in the car

The biomechanics of the shoulders can be quite complicated, so let's make it easy...If you were wearing a pair of old fashioned grandpa-braces to hold up your pants, and you are slumped through the chest (round shouldered), the braces would pull tight at the back, and be floppy at the front.

Now imagine those braces are your major back muscles the ones from your neck to your "dimples" - the dints each side of your butt (or sacroiliac joints).   If you are slumped through the chest (round shouldered) this pulls and pulls at the long back muscles over a period of time, and the insertion points especially of the muscles get very very painful.  That is one of the many reasons that you can get lower back pain, and certainly, I believe, one of the most common reasons.

And, speaking from experience, no-one wants back pain.    We all should be working on improving our rounded shoulders (or slumped chest!).  So, if you're young and you aren't hurting yet, then you must protect your body from long term damage.   And, if you're old like me, it might be the only way to lower stop pain that can be the end of your riding career!

 4.  It's UGLY!

If the top three are the major reasons why "round shouldered" is a problem...then there's got to be one more!   It looks UGLY!    There's nothing worse than rider's shoulders pulling at the seams of the show coat or tail coat.  Quite frankly...it looks terrible.

 How to fix rounded shoulders...

This DOESN'T work....

"How do I fix my round shoulders?" is one of the questions I'm asked most often.

You've all heard  things like..."shoulders back'", or "sit up", or variations of doing something with your shoulder blades to improve round shoulders.  I have said that to hundreds of riders all over the world myself, and I spent years trying to get people to 'bring their shoulders back' and all it did is make them stiffer and stiffer, and they eventually flopped back into round shouldered slumping anyway.  They just couldn't maintain it.

So...what can I do about round shoulders?

This DID work....(except for 1 rider!)

Try this as you're reading from your computer.

Q. Stand up...relax, and stand normally.   Are your thumbs over your toes or over your heels?   If they are directly above your toes, they you are slump chested/round shouldered, and putting more weight on the two front feet of the horse.

Q. Now, imagine that you had a BLACK FRILLY BRA and in the front of the bra in the middle of your chest, in between the bra cups was a little white bow.

Now, RAISE the white bow up towards the ceiling.  

Now...double check.   I bet that raising your "bow" makes your hands go back over your heels which means you're not round shouldered any more, and putting far less weight on the forehand.

Pulling the shoulders back, clamping the shoulder blades, squeezing your pony tail in between your shoulders ....anything like that DOESN'T WORK.   It makes the rider stiffer, and certainly can't be maintained for hours and hours on end.

Try it yourself!   Try to pin your shoulders back and see how long it lasts!  However when you raise your CHEST, you can maintain it hour after hour.   It might take a bit of reminding, but it definitely can be maintained!

Raise the chest and the shoulders look after themselves!

Who was this rider that
"raise the white bow" wouldn't work for?

I was giving a "train the coach" seminar some time ago and we were working on how to fix round shoulders.   One coach mentioned that he would be a bit embarrassed mentioning bras to young girls, so I said to say to them they're in a 'marathon running race', and they have a big number across their chest, and to raise the number.   He has told me since that it works very well.  So does "imagine you're wearing a Nike sports top, with the Nike logo, the TICK, right at the front of the chest....raise your tick".

However, recently I had the privilege of working with a young man who rides with Riding for Disabled.  And, the honour of meeting his lovely coach at the same time.  It was quite obvious that he had a very slumped torso, and therefore round shoulders.   It was then I realised that the "wearing a black frilly bra", or anything along those lines wasn't going to work!

So, I got a bright yellow sticker from my bag, asked him to put it on his chest bone, about half way between his Adam's apple and his belly button, and simply told him to lift it.   And....PERFECTION!

Then, I heard a proud whisper, with a tear from the grandstand...
"Oh my gosh he looks wonderful".  

Honestly little things like that make all the study and 3:00am emails worthwhile!   It was an incredible moment for me.  One of the many times I've been teaching with a tear in my eye to hear such an amazing comment.  

You might be aiming for the Olympics.  You may already be a medallist, so your goals are big, but just remember some people's goals are much smaller.

How to fix round shoulders?
Raise your chest...
let your shoulders take care of themselves!

And, if it worked for my Riding for Disabled friend, and he could maintain it with perfectly normal looking shoulders in just a few minutes of instruction....then you can do it too!

Before...

After...

I did NOT ask the rider to "pull her shoulders back" to fix her round shoulders because we can't maintain it for more than a few minutes. 

What I asked was...."Imagine you're wearing a black frilly bra...and at the front of the bra is a little white bow.   RAISE the white bow"

...and look at the terrific result!