Do you all feel it too? That warmer breeze at night, the longer days, the sound of ice cream trucks out and about at Solana beach. Summer in San Diego is in fact just around the corner. With this being said, beach volleyball, surfing, lacrosse and many other summer sports are about to begin! With the promise of partaking in your family Fourth of July volleyball game comes the possibility of a shoulder injury from trying to spike that ball over Uncle Benny’s head. But hey, let’s not let that troublesome shoulder pain keep you off the court, we here at BBK have all the shoulder tips and tricks you will need to have an injury free summer!
Why Do We Get Shoulder Pain?
Maybe you have dealt with shoulder pain in the past, or maybe you are dealing with a stubborn bit of shoulder pain now. Regardless, it’s important to understand why you could possibly be dealing with shoulder pain.
Shoulder pain can be caused from a variety of things including…
Weak muscles,
Repetitive loading
Referred pain from the neck
Poor mechanics of the shoulder joint and shoulder blade
Damage to a structure within the shoulder joint and surrounding musculature
Phew, seems like a lot huh? And it is, but only because the shoulder joint is so cool and does so much for us! The shoulder is a ball and socket joint which means that it moves in many planes of motion. With this increased mobility means that all the muscles surrounding the shoulder joint and the shoulder blade need to be working appropriately to help to control each overhead reach, spike, stroke, and throw. Typically, we see with overhead sports such as swimming, surfing, volleyball, lacrosse that these athletes experience shoulder pain from repetitive overhead motion and poor mechanics through the joint. A study published in 2016 found that poor biomechanics of the shoulder joint were found in 61% of overhead athletes as compared to non-overhead athletes (1).
Overhead motion is complex and involves the shoulder joint and the shoulder blade to work in a variety of ways, one of those ways being rotation of the shoulder joint itself. This rotation movement involves the work of a set of muscles called the rotator cuff. These muscles are small but mighty…if appropriately trained. Strengthening these muscles while also strengthening the shoulder blade muscles in a functional way can lead to a healthy and happy shoulder, and a fun injury free summer. So let’s stop talking about strengthening these muscles and show you a few great exercises to best strengthen the shoulder joint!
Need a little motivation to get your strength training in? Join us Friday mornings for our Virtual Strength and Conditioning Class.
Best Exercises for Overhead Athletes
1) Supermans: Lay on the ground on your stomach. From here bring the arms into a “field goal” position with your palms facing down. Lift the arms up off of the ground by pulling with the shoulders blades. Keep the arms a few inches above the ground as you slowly straighten your arms as you reach into an overhead “y” position. Return to the starting position and repeat.
2) Prone Shoulder I-T-Y: Laying on the edge of the couch with one arm dangling off the side bring your arm overhead into a “y” position with the thumb pointing up. Return to the arm dangling at the side. Next, bring the arm out into a “t'“ position with the thumb pointing up. Return to the start position. Lastly, bring the arm straight back towards your pocket in a “i” position with the pinky pointing up. Return to starting position and repeat.
3) Quad Thread the Needle : In a hands and knees position, reach with one arm under and through the opposite hand and knee “posts.” After reaching all the way through, rotate that same arm up and around so the finger tips are reaching towards the sky, let your eyes follow your hand. Repeat several times and do the same with the other arm.
Ready to Play!
It’s important to take the time to prepare our body for movement. Our body is capable of doing amazing things but we need to take the time to strengthen, stretch, and mobilize…yoga anyone?
Shoulder pain still got you down? Never hesitate to reach out to us here at BBK! Our main priority is to keep you healthy and happy so that you can continue to partake in whatever summer verb it is you want to do! Shoulder pain is treatable and with an individualized treatment plan, you will be back at it in no time! Since we are a mobile physical therapy clinic, we come to you! Let’s solve that shoulder pain together! Ready to chat with one of our Doctors of Physical Therapy? Click here!
Here’s to happy and healthy shoulders this summer, and keeping that winning record at your family Fourth of July BBQ!
-Your BBK Family
References:
1) Burn, M. B., McCulloch, P. C., Lintner, D. M., Liberman, S. R., & Harris, J. D. (2016). Prevalence of Scapular dyskinesis in overhead and Nonoverhead athletes. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 4(2), 232596711562760. doi:10.1177/2325967115627608