Choose: shoulder or playoffs?

[JWilster]

I pulled something in the back of my shoulder while playing. Serving became very painful after a while and I had to stop. It's kind of below and to the right of the shoulder blade.

I read in this forum I should take a couple of weeks off and then do strenght exercises for the shoulder.

BUT, I am right in the middle of league playoffs! So the dilemma is, should I try to play through the pain and possibly aggravate the shoulder or should I withdraw and give up on favorable draw where I was looking to go deep??

Any thoughts?

[Andres Guazzelli]

Shoulder.
I had the same problem, but it wasn't just a pain, but a ligament, tendoms, and cartilage tear.

My advice: health first. You can go to the playoffs next year, and if your shoulder is ok, you'll play better.

Protect the shoulder.

[Andres Guazzelli]

This is what happens when you don't:

http://f-mercury.com.ar/pics/shoulder.jpg

[Marius_Hancu]

check my signature here:

Great fitness sites
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=33800

esp the Shoulder Pain section

you might well have a rotator cuff tear, you must take a break.

[Pomeranian]

Take a break, even if it's the league matches. Seems pretty serious if it became so painful you had to stop. I think you may already have caused some damage. Any more and you might severely damage your shoulder.

Health first. Make sure you get it checked out by a doctor and take complete rest, no tennis. You have to prevent this type of problem reoccuring. When you can get back to tennis, if you feel a mild pain, you should be stopping. Trying to play through until it's so painful you have to stop is horrible.

It's either play during the league matches and probably losing or having to forfeit due to the pain arising again causing serious damage to your shoulder. Also making your tennis damaged for a long time if not permanently. Or to take a rest, get your shoulder back at 100% and do conditioning to prevent this from happening again.

I think it's your best interest for your tennis and your health to take a break.

[Mountainman]

Yeah I had that problem too. I found out that serving with a rounder arc promotes this kind of injury.

[tonyjh63]

Suck it up, shake it off! Your team is counting on you! Just kidding...Really, if it hurts that much, you may as well take some time off, as you probably won't be able to play to your usual standards, and may wind up hurting your team, not to mention really messing up your shoulder.

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

This is what happens when you don't:

http://f-mercury.com.ar/pics/shoulder.jpg

I 2nd that, except mine wasnt an open surgery, i had the luxury of having my rotator cuff repaired via arthoscopic procedure.

save your shoulder man, seriously

[Andres Guazzelli]

I 2nd that, except mine wasnt an open surgery, i had the luxury of having my rotator cuff repaired via arthoscopic procedure.

save your shoulder man, seriously
I didn't have that luck. I had the ligament broken, the tendom broken, the cartilage totally teared, and the capsule totally shred, but the rotator cuff was perfectly fine :mrgreen:

Anyway, I needed some bone grafts and a 40% titanium implant, but my right shoulder has been better than ever.

The bad thing is I injured my left now, that's what made me quit professional basketball 7 months ago :cry:

My advice: Save your shoulder. Without your shoulders, your arms are useless. And you wanna use your arms, right?

[theace21]

Do you want to continue playing in the years ahead?

If you answer YES - see a professional.

[devilish_duke]

Save the shoulder... you're not a pro tennis player and you have other things you need to do.

[dennis1188]

After I play usta, two matches and a team practice (per week), my sore shoulder gets packed in ice after each session. I get this black bruse on the side of my shoulder (pounding those hard kick serves), I rub it w/ ointment. The blackness goes away in approx. two days, and again to the courts.I'm, learning to keep my weekly 'pitch count' low.