Avoid Shoulder Pain
A common problem that many athletes face are shoulder problems. The most common injury is the rotator cuff tearing. Many do not know what a rotator cuff is. It is a collection of 4 muscles: suprapspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis. Amazingly it is not always the problem when it comes to shoulder pain. Other sources of such pain can be bursitis, tendinitis, an impingement syndrome, a labral tear or fraying (the membranous portion of the joint capsule), misalignment of the clavicle at the ac joint, or the SC joint, misalignment the scapula, or humerus. Regardless of what the problem is, an accurate diagnosis should be obtained by a qualified professional not just your buddy who once had a problem with his. Sometimes that may require a visit to the chiropractor, orthopedist, physical therapist, and an MRI, or common x-rays.
Over training and not letting the body rest or heal after high exertion exercises, heavy weight training, or repetitive type injuries are common for those who train hard. Improper or inadequate warm ups are also a common cause for shoulder injury. Sleeping in a bad position for several hours can also compress and cause shoulder injuries.
To prevent, correct, or reduce such problems, I recommend the following:
1. Proper warm up – It is always recommended to properly warm up the entire body, but especially the shoulders if any upper body activity is going to be performed. I always recommend to patients to warm up the delts, then do Codman’s stretch with a 5-10 lb dumbbell. This is done by dangling a weight from your hand and rotating your body in a circular fashion, slightly bent at the waist so the weight pulls the arm down and out, in a circular fashion. This helps to lubricate the shoulder joint as well as warm it up. I then recommend rotator cuff warm ups of about 10 reps per movement (at least 4). int, ext, fwd, and rear rotation of the shoulder joint. this can be done with a pulley or elastic bands, or even light dumbbells.
2. Align the joints – If the issue is related to alignment, the best option is to have an extremity trained chiropractor determine the exact direction of misalignment then adjust accordingly. It may need taping or a brace to maintain the correction until proper healing has occurred. This ensures the proper structure for the muscles to anchor and be most efficient at moving the arm, shoulder, neck and upper torso.
3. Ice Ice baby - Ice is also recommended after training, or other common linaments or topical crydermics like biofreeze, cryoderm, sombra, and many others. I recommend ones that have a topical cooling mechanism like menthol, but also have homeopathic ingredients like ILEX, Boswalla, MSM, Arnica, and several others. Spraying or applying these after training (sometimes before) are critical to preventing or reducing inflammation that can cause shoulder pain / injuries.
4. Massage therapy and stretching – A well trained massage therapist should be able to identify the areas that are tight, and the areas that are loose, and work them to regain balance. Trigger point therapy, sports massage, and neuromuscular massage are very helpful and feel great.
5. Better sleeping positions - Sleeping on your back puts the least stress into the shoulder, while sleeping on your side, or on your stomach with your arm tucked under your head are the worst positions for the shoulder. If you can’t get a way from those, I recommend sleeping on your side with a pillow between your arms (hugging it) and one behind you. I recommend leaning back on the one behind you on order to make your body diagonal to the bed and not directly perpendicular, thus more evenly distributing the weight of your torso across the shoulders and not just into the one you are laying on.
6. Physical therapy - Other treatments for such issues like bursitis can consist of the above mentioned therapies as well as ultrasound, and other stretches often seen in medical, physical therapy, or chiropractic offices.
7. Surgery – there is a time and a place for everything. Labral tears, and complete rotator cuff tears often do not respond to the above mentioned treatments and need to be fixed by a surgeon. The recovery can be long and painful, but the results are often better than living wth the pain or limited use of the arm and shoulder.
After 10 years in practice I have rarely seen shoulder problems to be just caused by or diagnosed as one specific issue, but rather are a combination of problems. Often several of the shoulder bones are misaligned which cause the inflammation which can lead to the bursitis, or a rotator cuff tear, or a frozen shoulder syndrome. The entire body and shoulder area should be addressed, rather than just one specific issue. Because of the complexity of the shoulder and all it’s parts and its freely movable design, it is important to make sure you have it addressed by an expert.
Please feel free to call or contact me with questions regarding your shoulder or any other musculo-skeletal injuries you may be suffering with.
Dr. Joseph Bogart DC, CCEP
Chiropractic Physician
Certified Chiropractic Extremity Practitioner
6662 Parkside Drive, Parkland, FL 33067
954-340-7545
Parkland Health & Wellness Center
Click the links below to follow PH & WC:
Facebook
Youtube
Twitter
