external rotation and lower trapezius

hey, my physio recently told me i was internally rotation dominant, which i was wondering was the reason that i am struggling to work the lower trapezius as this externally rotates the arm (i think) and when i do face pulls i feel most of the tension in my bicep as i cannot rotate my elbows past my face. i was also wondering if i work on external rotation will it increase flexibiblity on the shoulder so for example i could reach behind my back and hold my hands together with straight arms as i cannot currently do that atm. ive currently done one session of lying external rotations and i felt that the muscle behind and under my shoulder had been worked (near my scapular) also during the excercise i felt a lot of tension at the top of my upper arm, is this normal?

All answers will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

The tension you felt is your rotator cuff being worked... very normal, don't over do it.
Def stretch it out.. 19 year old females shouldn't have super tight external rotation in my opinion.
Also stretch your pecs, getting your hands held behind your back with your arms straight is really more of a pec stretch than an exercise in external rotation.
Keep working the external rotation exercises, start with minimal weights as the muscles are only small... concentrate on form - only pivoting from the shoulder and not letting the upper arm move from the axis it is working from.

good luck,
pudding

Hi,

As mentioned by the previous contributor rotator cuff has to be focused upon. Shoulder Stability training is a must. Stretching of pectoralis would help. Lats strengthening might help but avoid lat pull down during initial training, instead go for seated rowing. Strengthening of middle fibers of trapezius would help too.

Regards,

Ramakrishna.

would dumbbell rows be a decent excercise, i think that face pulls have helped me out a little as when i do dumbbell rows i actualyl feel my scapular coming down and working a little more, but it sort of struggles my scapular feels like it moves down pretty jerky? is this because my lower traps stil need a bit more strengthening?