Here’s the deal. I have bilateral winged scapulas. I swim like a turd tied to a brick. I am also prone to shoulder injury if I don’t take my elbow straight toward the bottom when swimming I wind up injuring it in short order. Also have generally bad form with early exit, bad entry etc that, when I try to correct it only leads to more injury. My serratus ant.'s don’t seem to be holding my scapula correctly. I am trying to lift weights to correct it (I haven’t had EMG tests to see if there is neurologic damage or MRI to look for any anatomic aberrations as yet). SOOOOO…any recommendations other than overhead pulldowns to try to strengthen the serratus. I have been working with moderate weights for about 2 months now, but I can still tell that things are rotten in Denmark. Going to try weight for at least a few more months then if that doesn’t help, go to the ortho or neuro guys.
LF
first check to see if there is an madical/anatomical problem.
if not 2 exercised i would recommend.
find a corner of the room with some space. stand about 12- 18" from the corner. put a hand on each wall and step/lean in to stretch a bit. then put hands on the walls overhead. (one on each wall, each side of the corner, in line with shoulder, the 'stick ‘em up’ position) do catch-up drill, one hand stays on the wall, one hand comes down. turn torso slightly to the side with hand moving, you must bend ebow 90* to have room to lower your arm. keep forearm horizontal as much as possible. brush thumb past thigh, then the focus is on the recovery! come back up doing finger tip drag a few inches off the wall, lead with the elbow, extend arm/hand all the way up (in line with shoulder) and put it on the wall - don’t cross over. then do other side. do a few sets of about a hundered of these, then, when you’re ready, add weight. either get some ankle/wrist weights or hold something in your hand (a small weight plate or a 16oz can of soup works well). start off doing what you can. when you can do a few sets of 100-150 of these you’ll be in good shape. take is slow, one arm at a time, focus on form not speed, get the shoulder lift to start the recovery, keep the elbow ‘high’
second, get a stretch cord that is not too tough and kinda long. find something about 18-24" off the ground to put it through (you can put an eye bolt in or what i do is put a D-ring througn the pedal on my spin bike). lie on your back and adjust your distance from the connection to do a good stroke with one arm while holding the cord steady with the other. do sets of 10 or 20 with each arm. keep the tension low so you can do a few hundred reps. practice good form, have the cord handle on your hand but keep the forearm in line. adjust you distance from the fulcrum as need to keep good form with lots of reps. (note the tension is hardest at the very end so you will tend to use a lot of tricep at the end, this isn’t like swimming so don’t focus on it. if you cut the stroke a little short its ok. its not perfect!)
good luck