What Are Dead Hangs? What Are the Risks of Shoulder Pain and How Can I Do Them Safely?

You may have seen articles in the media or fitness influencers online telling people to do “dead hangs,” which are hanging from a bar—usually with your feet off the floor. The goal is usually to improve upper-body strength and shoulder stability, or to stretch the muscles around your shoulders.

But what does the science say? Is dead hanging good for shoulder health?

As with many things health and fitness-related, it’s not an simple yes or no. It really depends on why you’re doing it, your individual biology, and how you do it. For some, deadlifts can pose a risk of musculoskeletal injury.

Shoulder: a relatively unstable joint

Dead man hanging power improves grip strength and endurance in climbers. This suggests that if you are well adapted to this type of exercise and have very good upper body strength, deadlifts can benefit your hands and forearms.

But while dead hangs may be OK for people with good upper-body strength and no shoulder issues, they can be risky for others. People with shoulder hypermobility (excessive shoulder movement) or shoulder instability (such as people who dislocate their shoulders easily) may need to be careful.

The shoulder joint is, by design, a relatively unstable joint. It has a gigantic ball-shaped bone called the humerus, which sits in a relatively miniature socket called the glenoid.

The passive (non-muscular) tissue around these bones (the joint capsule, glenoid labrum, and ligaments) creates a gigantic space around the shoulder joint – allowing you to move your arm through a wide range of motion.

Because there is not much passive support in the shoulder, dynamic muscle coordination and strength are primarily needed to maintain stability.

Coordination of the muscles around the scapula helps keep the socket in place, and the rotator cuff and deltoid muscles assist control the “ball” inside the socket during movement.

All of this means that the dead hang, if not performed correctly, can pose a risk to those with shoulder hypermobility.

Excessive shoulder mobility

Some people have excessive joint mobility due to increased elasticity of joint tissue. This is called hypermobility and can affect the shoulder or all joints.

The overhead position in a complete hang puts you in a position where, inside your arm, the ball is being pulled away from the socket. Hanging with your full body weight can, in hypermobile individuals, cause even greater tissue stretching.

People with excessive shoulder mobility are more likely to probably develop a painful shoulder instabilitywhen the ball frequently falls out of the socket.

Shoulder instability can be caused by an acute injury (such as a dislocation), or it can develop over time due to loss of muscle control resulting from micro-trauma (such as during rowing in a pool).

Shoulder instability is associated with decreased strength and coordination in the shoulder muscles. In people under 40 years of age, it is often misdiagnosed as “rotator cuff pain” or “shoulder muscle strain.”

What can I do instead of resting on my laurels?

Dead hangs require good base strength, can pose a risk of popping the ball out of the socket in some people, and stretch passive tissue. They are not the best exercise for people with hypermobility and shoulder instability.

So what is the alternative? The treatment is known as Watson instability program he had a good one results to address the problem of shoulder instability caused by injury, as compared to a general shoulder strengthening program.

This program focuses on gaining control of your scapula (such as the upward rotation you get when reaching for a high shelf). It involves recruiting the muscles of your scapula and shoulder joint to improve contact between your head and your socket.

Building shoulder blade control and strength can assist strengthen wider shoulders.

Still want to try hanging on to a dead spot?

If you decide to perform a dead hang, remember to:

• start with miniature increments; hold for just ten seconds or less at first, then augment the tempo

• don’t let yourself get too tired; the shoulder joint can become less stable when it’s tired

• try to get off the box under the bar instead of jumping on the bar

• keep some “dynamic” tension in your arms while hanging; hanging completely passively can have its risks.

Our team is conducting a study called the Watson Instability Program. We are investigating changes in the brain in patients with multidirectional shoulder instability.

If you are a woman aged 18-35 with non-traumatic right shoulder instability and would like to benefit from six months of free physiotherapy as part of the Watson Instability Treatment Programme as part of our study, please contact us or read more about the study Here.