Mobility Exercises are a MUST DO!

[dak95_00]

I'm 52 and in okay shape. I've had meniscus repair surgeries in both knees. I had plantar fascia release surgery on my left foot. I've also had two micro-discectomy surgeries between L4 and L5. I'm 5'8" and approximately 180 lbs. I mostly play doubles at 4.0 USTA.

So my 24 y/o daughter received her degree in exercise science and had me start doing shoulder mobility exercises about a year ago. At first I was very stiff and couldn't do much. Now I can easily do the entire exercise and for the first time since I was 15, I have no pain in my shoulder. I can serve as hard as I want and no pain. When I was 15 I hurt my shoulder from not warming up properly and that pain lingered for many years. It got to where I just never even attempted to serve hard. Now I can hit spin and pace! I have no pain in my shoulder!

This got me thinking about the plantar fascia pain I had been experiencing since 2004. I even had surgery to hopefully eliminate the pain probably 5 or 6 years ago. It worked so so but I would still have pain. My daughter told me to stop wearing my custom orthotics which I have worn for almost 20 years. Three weeks ago I started gently rolling the bottom of my foot over the handle of a round dumbbell. I just go gently back and forth under my foot. I use a dumbbell because it's easy to roll under the entire foot and my foot fits perfectly in the middle. After I roll my foot back and forth 10 times, I then do one more where I place more weight on the foot and the handle to break up the area. After three weeks, I am now waking up and taking my first steps out of bed and I am not in pain!

The only issue I am currently noticing is my left ankle is stiff. I'm going to continue the shoulder and foot mobility exercises and start doing some ankle exercises. I CANNOT BELIEVE the progress I have made recently and am sharing in case you have also had issues in the past. Best of luck!

 

[Ronaldo]

Need to discover those shoulder mobility exercises as I tore my rotator cuff for the third time last winter and even after rehab I cannot throw a ball, serve, or even hit/attempt an overhead. Even hitting a forehand is difficult. Tried hitting one and the ball flew over the fence into a creek. Luck bettah be a lady someday

 

[Yiuh]

Post the shoulder exercises! I’ve been noticing some soreness after serve practice and would love a few things to incorporate.

 

[dak95_00]

This is the exercise. I still use a wide old round curtain rod. I can go narrower but I’m too old to be trying too many crazy things.

When I started my daughter just had me go up from the front as far as I could. It was awhile before I could go all the way over and back. It’s important to keep arms straight. There’s no way I could ever have my arms as close as this demonstrator does it. The benefits are from just doing the exercises. No need to go crazy and overdo it. Yes! You could overdo it.

 

[Ronaldo]

Sweet pea, tried to perform the above using a thera-band, failed.

 

[Injured Again]

There's been a set of exercises known as the "thrower's 10" or "thrower's 12", depending on how many exercises they include. It's a great set of exercises for shoulder health, and by using some of those motions in the opposite direction, can stretch the targeted muscles.

 

[WildVolley]

I also suggest dead hanging from a bar. However, if your rotator cuffs are really mangled, you may have difficulty even reaching up to the bar. When I had just one strained shoulder, I'd use a rope over the bar to pull the hand of the bad arm up to the bar. You can free hang or keep your feet on the ground and just weight the shoulder when starting. I find a stretch between 20-40 seconds is good, especially if repeated multiple times during the day.

 

[austintennis2005]

Can people really make the bar go down behind their back? Seems impossible

This is the exercise. I still use a wide old round curtain rod. I can go narrower but I’m too old to be trying too many crazy things.

When I started my daughter just had me go up from the front as far as I could. It was awhile before I could go all the way over and back. It’s important to keep arms straight. There’s no way I could ever have my arms as close as this demonstrator does it. The benefits are from just doing the exercises. No need to go crazy and overdo it. Yes! You could overdo it.

 

[Dags]

There’s no way I could ever have my arms as close as this demonstrator does it.

The guy presenting the video who also demos the narrow and weighted versions specialises in calisthenics and yoga. I watch a number of calisthenics channels, and his flexibility is very much at the top end. Myself, I have a broom handle and it's *just* too narrow for me to make the transition over the top, so I'm currently using a resistance band.

For anyone who fancies a 15 minute shoulder follow along, I'm going to throw in this video:

No equipment required, just some floor space.

 

[socallefty]

I'm 52 and in okay shape. I've had meniscus repair surgeries in both knees. I had plantar fascia release surgery on my left foot. I've also had two micro-discectomy surgeries between L4 and L5. I'm 5'8" and approximately 180 lbs. I mostly play doubles at 4.0 USTA.

So my 24 y/o daughter received her degree in exercise science and had me start doing shoulder mobility exercises about a year ago. At first I was very stiff and couldn't do much. Now I can easily do the entire exercise and for the first time since I was 15, I have no pain in my shoulder. I can serve as hard as I want and no pain. When I was 15 I hurt my shoulder from not warming up properly and that pain lingered for many years. It got to where I just never even attempted to serve hard. Now I can hit spin and pace! I have no pain in my shoulder!

This got me thinking about the plantar fascia pain I had been experiencing since 2004. I even had surgery to hopefully eliminate the pain probably 5 or 6 years ago. It worked so so but I would still have pain. My daughter told me to stop wearing my custom orthotics which I have worn for almost 20 years. Three weeks ago I started gently rolling the bottom of my foot over the handle of a round dumbbell. I just go gently back and forth under my foot. I use a dumbbell because it's easy to roll under the entire foot and my foot fits perfectly in the middle. After I roll my foot back and forth 10 times, I then do one more where I place more weight on the foot and the handle to break up the area. After three weeks, I am now waking up and taking my first steps out of bed and I am not in pain!

The only issue I am currently noticing is my left ankle is stiff. I'm going to continue the shoulder and foot mobility exercises and start doing some ankle exercises. I CANNOT BELIEVE the progress I have made recently and am sharing in case you have also had issues in the past. Best of luck!

Surgery should be a last resort and you should always try physical therapy and a structured recovery regimen first before doing any surgery. If you do a MRI on any older athlete, a case could be made to do surgical intervention on almost any joint if the orthopedic doctor has a quick trigger for suggesting surgery as many do. Surgery has been suggested at one point or another on my neck (cervical stenosis on MRI), shoulder (rotator cuff tear), both knees (arthritis and meniscus issues) and hip (labrum tear). I did only one knee surgery and even that wasn’t particularly effective at that time - the rest of the issues resolved with physical therapy, reducing weight and stress allowing me to still play tennis daily in my mid-fifties.

In most cases, proper physical therapy which includes strengthening and flexibity exercises along with reducing weight (to reduce load on joints) and reducing stress (a lot of pain is psychosomatic) will resolve short-term pain and stiffness issues in many cases. With plantar fasciitis, changing shoes often is also needed as people tend to tightly lace their shoes as the shoes get looser with age and this causes uneven stresses on the foot.

 

[dak95_00]

Can people really make the bar go down behind their back? Seems impossible

Yes! I was skeptical at first too. I just kept working at it with a wide grip. It took a number of days of just going up as far as I could and then it happened. Now it’s easy and I can grip closer but nowhere near as close as that guy.

 

[austintennis2005]

Ok thx but he was mostly doing it with a wide grip