How do you take care of a bad shoulder?

[SystemicAnomaly]

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The human shoulder is extremely versatile -- I believe that it is capable or many more articulations than any other joints in our body. It is this versatility that makes it so vulnerable to injuries. It appears to be true that tennis serves, overhead badminton strokes, volleyball spikes and overhand throwing motions are all particularly stressful to the shoulder.

[Cindysphinx]

OK, I've been doing the stretches in dcottrill's link every day, usually 3x a day. I've been a bit lazier about the strength work, but I've done it a few times.

I think these stretches (and the work my pro is doing on changing my form on my serve) has really helped a lot. I served for about 30 minutes on Sunday and played 2 hours of doubles yesterday, and the shoulder feels OK. ROM is good, no pain when I serve or afterward, better pop on the serve.

There is one very weird thing. The *outside* of my shoulder hurts. Almost like I have a sunburn or bruise on my skin in the front and on the side. It doesn't hurt if I leave it alone and stop poking at it. It doesn't hurt when I serve or stretch, just when I push on it.

Anyone ever hear of this before? Is this just a side effect of the stretching?

I have an appointment with my OS in about 10 days, but I was just wondering if any of you shoulder pain patients have experienced this.

[tennistim777]

Originally Posted by dcottrill

I have some minor shoulder issues too. I find that these exercises help me to stay in the game.



http://www.athleticadvisor.com/image...mpingement.pdf

Very nice link!!!! Thank you!!!

[seb85]

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

There is one very weird thing. The *outside* of my shoulder hurts. Almost like I have a sunburn or bruise on my skin in the front and on the side. It doesn't hurt if I leave it alone and stop poking at it. It doesn't hurt when I serve or stretch, just when I push on it.

The question is how much does it hurt? a lot of the tendons that control shoulder movement attach to the outside of the shoulder and it is quite normal for it to feel a bit funny when you are poking it. if it really hurts then something is wrong.

It sounds like you're going down the right track with your treatment. Aside from stretching, working on your form is probably the single most important thing. Ignore anybody who tells you that at XXX level your form will be fine- even the pros work on their technique.

Apart from working on your flexibility, I would recommend a certain amount of gym work, especially whilst you are recovering. I had extensive PT for a shoulder issue that turned out to be a trapped nerve. Regardless of the cause of pain, making sure all the muscles around the shoulder are balanced must be a priority to enable the shoulder joint to transmit force effectively from your core body to your arm. I recommend the 'thrower's 10' set of excercises. You can find it pretty easily using google. It takes about half an hour to go through the set. I did it every day whilst on rehab but now only do it once a week.

Aside from the rehab, a change in my pre match routine made a huge difference to my overall conditioning. I thoroughly recommend the dynamic warm up that can be found on the USTA website. It takes about 8 minutes to go through it before a session and it has made such a huge difference to not only my recovery but also my speed around the court.

Static stretching should be for after excercise or at times not related to excercise only. *Stretching is not the same as warming up*

Good luck with your tennis. Hopefully if you nip your problem in the bud now it wont turn into anything more serious

Seb

[Cindysphinx]

Seb, do you have links for any of this?

I do free weights twice a week in an upper body class. Much of what we do duplicates what was in the link posted above that I'm not following. But if there's something we're not doing, I'd like to know about it.

As for the shoulder pain when I poke, it's not bad. I would never take an Advil for it. It's just something I noticed that I hadn't noticed before.

[seb85]

Cyndy, this is the program of excercises that my physio gave me

http://www.drloweshoulder.com/pdf/th...%20PROGRAM.pdf

and the dynamic warm up is:

http://dps.usta.com/usta_master/usta...oc_437_217.pdf


Yeah the poking shoulder pain doesn't sound like anything serious. If youre worried about it though i would see a doctor or a PT.

Seb

[Cindysphinx]

Thanks, Seb! I'll have a look at these.

OK, I canceled my doctor's appointment and am pronouncing myself miraculously cured.

The pain inside and outside the shoulder is gone, before during and after play. No pain at night, no Advil at all. Three hours of tennis last night, decent serves (although I kept forgetting some of the technique stuff I've been told to do). No problem.

The key is those stretches.

I feel like I've been to a faith healer. Thanks, everyone!!!!