Anyone here familiar on how to treat shoulder injuries?

[Kelgar]

For roughly the first time in 4 years, I picked up a tennis racket to play again. I stretched my shoulder for about 10 minutes prior to playing and still pulled it three damn times today. 2 times on an overhead smash, 1 time on a serve (all winners btw!).

The third time effectively put me out for the day (probably a week). Each and every time my posterior deltoid wound up being jerked over what felt like tip of the clavicle or the rotator cuff and then popped back into place after a few seconds.



The pain is pretty much isolated to the rear deltoid. I lift weights 2-3 times a week and try to keep a balanced routine, (ie bicep sand triceps, chest and back, anterior/medial/posterior deltoids, etc)but I'll admit that I don't work my posterior delts as much as the other shoulder muscles because the lift is somewhat awkward. Basically I just want to know if this is the most likely reason why I pulled my muscle.

[Gnomies]

I basically have the same problem, had to wear a sling for a bit, they said that would heal it...but it consistantly pops out over and over, so my guess is surgeory.

[Tegellan]

Having just had extensive surgery in my right shoulder this winter, I know quite a bit about this from my physio therapy. My problem stemmed from a snowboarding years back, but there are some consistent reasons for these kinds of things.

First off, most people focus on the front muscles (like you admit to yourself) when training. The shoulder is an extremely complex joint and you have 5 muscles (if memory serves me) balancing the pull in all directions to keep the joint in place, plus you have a large bone and a small cup holding it (don't know the proper english terms there). What this means is that it is easy to unbalance the joint by making the frontal muscles too strong. This leads to the condition you describe.

What you need to do is to actually train your back muscles more than your frontal muscles, I try to do 2 back exercizes for every front exercize I do. Was told by my therapist that is the proper amount, since you generally use your frontal muscles more and they don't need as much training.

I am afraid that you need to see a doctor about this, it is possible that you have no permanent injury, it is also possible that you have damaged the joint and need surgery like me. And believe me, surgery in the shoulder sucks beyond words, I was unable to use my right arm for almost 3 months because of it.

[Rasspotari]

a good exercise i´ve always done and do now at the gym, and that´s having a pole weight, not 2 freehand weights that is, bend your knees, lean a bit forward, have you fist upsidedown on the grip, and then the lift is somewhat along your thighs towards you body.

another one is gripping a pole weight, by the center, fists facing downwards, standing straight with some space between your legs, and pull it up, so as to almost touch your chin with you fists. you dont need heavy weights unless you want to strengthen your backshouldermuscles a lot, and then only once you´ve gained a little proficiancy on those muscles.

and of course the 3rd and most commonly used is a row machine, you could use single freehand weight , knee on a benchpresspad, one foot on the floor, one hand on the pad as well and pull up towards your chest, that does excercise more muscles as all freeweight excercise do but i find the rowing machine to be more to the point on those muscles you want to exercise.
and also when doing the rowing machine exercise, try and concentrate on using your upperback muscles, a lot of people tend to use the biceps too much when doing this one, a good idea is to imagine that the you have no lowerarms , and you just have 2 stubs, that are attached to the handles, and then lift by pressing the stubs backwards. sorta strange discription but that´s how i got it to do the best work for me.

pudr

[*~*stragi*~*]

tegellen was a big ryssfemmor user

[noel]

Kelgar,

RICE

Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

Rest it for a week, stretch it pretty regularly, and work it slowly through its full range of motion a few times a day. When you go back to play again, don't get all crazy right away. Ease yourself back into it.

[kyoukan]

it might be symptomatic of a more serious problem with your shoulder. if you regularly excercise (and include your shoulders your shoulders and back) and stretch properly before playing then there is no reason you should be injuring yourself 3 times in one match. I'd go see a doctor if you're insured and get him to look at it. if he wants to give you cortizone then get a new doctor.

[noel]

It was the first time in 4 years that he'd played.

My experience with similar sports is that though you can work out and increase your overall strength, the sport-specific motion can use muscles etc. in ways that are difficult to simulate in the weight room.

[Trias]

go to a chiropractor that uses the "new chiropractic" practices and specializes in joints

i am serious, i have back and shoulder injuries from playing hockey for years and i have a therapy program that has helped me extensively and i've only been going for a short time now

[Trias]

also, my friend that is a professional motocross racer has had MANY shoulder problems and goes to the same doctor and he has also had many surgeries on his shoulder

he says he has seen more results in the past year just going for therapy and using the home therapy programs than he ever received from any "successful" surgery

[Kelgar]

Cool.

Thanks for the input everyone. Luckily healthcare is extremely cheap in Taiwan (I had an X-ray taken on my lungs while I had bronchitus and the medication+examination cost less than 20 US dollars in total).

I'll go to a doctor if the pain lasts longer than 3-4 days. Right now, I can lift my arm to slightly past my shoulder level from anywhere from the my front to roughly 45 degrees before there's a significant amount of pain going farther. Hopefully it was purely a muscle injury. If that is the case, then it shouldn't take too long before it gets better.

[Rasspotari]

It was the first time in 4 years that he'd played.

My experience with similar sports is that though you can work out and increase your overall strength, the sport-specific motion can use muscles etc. in ways that are difficult to simulate in the weight room.

maybe so, but i for one haven´t played tennis for about ten years, that alone wouldn´t suggest that i´d injure myself in one match, given i´d stretch etc (my brother read about a report that confirmed that stretching had no effect on the likelyhood of injury, not sure if i will ever skip stretching but just made me think )

but i know you´re not saying that´s the sole reason why he injured himself.

i´d suggest he just moved in some manner that caused an initial injury that opened the door for a couple more, probably should have quit after the first one. but since he posted that picture and wanted input, which we all so lovingly have done. . VV has nuffin buh lub i´d like to suggest that having the whole body in good shape, not just biceps and pecs like way to many guys wanna focus on /shrug , will reduce chance for injury when playing sports, at least compared to a very out of shape body.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

I am suffering from the same thing. Just this year I began being active again. I started lifting last year and just started playing basketball once a week as well as playing softball 2 nights a week.

Last week after making a throw from deep right to second base....POP!

I laid off the weights for the past 5 days, stretch and do shoulder rolls periodically through out the day, and drink an extra glass of water a day.

I ready for my game tonight. Of course, it will rpolly pop again tonight, but oh well

[miir]

Have you ever tried yoga?

Great way to work on your flexibility and strengthen muscles in areas that your weightlifting regimen doesn't cover.

[masteen]

Surgery might not be a bad idea, especially if it's just a little orthoscopic to clean out scar tissue. My dad had this done for his knees, and he's a much happier guy because of it.