It’s amazing how many people I see that have sustained a shoulder injury at the gym through a lack of awareness and education (usually no fault of their own), improper exercise selection, poor lifting technique and going too heavy.
Just the other day (April 2009) I was consulted by a young man with shoulder pain located in and around the AC joint after doing heavy gym exercises, specifically bench press and dips. His symptoms were quite severe and upon observation of his shoulder X-ray I was alarmed to see that the end of his clavicle (collar bone) had disintegrated. He had pushed his shoulder that hard that the body had started a process of osteolysis.
What mistakes are you making at the gym? I have seen literally scores of clients with gym related shoulder injuries this year (2010) alone.
Could you be setting yourself up for an injury?
Do you know the Top Ten Exercises to Avoid at the Gym?
Have you heard of “Safe Zone” Training?
Want to know How to Avoid Shoulder Injury?
Get Shoulder’s For Life!
Dec 11
10
Shoulder Physiotherapy For Dummies!
Why is it, that the human shoulder baffles so many?
Disorders of the shoulder are extremely common and episodes are often persistent and recurrent.
Studies have reported the prevalence of shoulder pain to range from 30% of people experiencing an episode at some stage during their lives to 50% of the population experiencing at least one episode annually.
The often forgotten and under-estimated Sleeper Stretch is most probably The World’s Easiest Exercise for the shoulder. As a result of trauma, over load, degeneration or repetitive overuse the cuff tissue and/or surrounding capsule can become tight and inflexible. This is not always the case and some evidence suggest that the across body stretch leads to better results when posterior shoulder structures are tight.
What I am trying to give you here is a simple but effective stretch that if done correctly, consistently and appropriately may help to alleviate signs and symptoms like impingement, a loss of range of motion, night time pain or ache, loss of muscle power and performance.
I usually combine this stretch with the across body stretch to give both an alternative if one or the other is difficult or painful to perform; or at-least as another option so that you can perform one of these very important stretches easily throughout your day or after activity.
Don’t let that Niggle become a Nightmare!
Posted in Shoulder Stretches by .
Jun 10
30
Living with Shoulder Instability
Shoulder Instability can be a scary and often debilitating shoulder complaint arising from a lack of control at the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint. Stability at the shoulder is vital for normal hand and arm function so when it is disrupted this impacts greatly on an individuals ability to participate in any number of normal activities.
Subtle signs of shoulder instability are pain during or after activity, fatigue, weakness, a feeling that the shoulder could pop out, a loss of power in certain arm positions especially when lifting or loading the shoulder awkwardly e.g. throwing a ball, lifting a weight overhead at the gym etc. You might have experienced something like this?
Posted in General Information Patient Education by .
Mar 10
27
Click, Clunk & Pop…Oouch!
It is not unusual for the shoulder joint to make some wierd noises, but what noises are considered normal and what are considered abnormal?
Good question.
In my experience, a non painful click within the shoulder joint here and there is not an abnormal sign and it doesn’t necessarily indicate a shoulder injury or dysfunction.
However, in saying that varying degrees of clicking (shoulder joint crepitus) especially if painful or worse still a clunking painful shoulder have been demonstrated in shoulder conditions such as rotator cuff dysfunction post strain or innocuous injury, osteoarthritis of the shoulder, subacromial impingement, full thickness rotator cuff tears, long head of biceps and labral lesions and glenohumeral instability.
Posted in General Information Patient Education by .
Nov 09
10
Are You Freezing, Frozen or Thawed?
Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis as it is sometimes referred is characterised by a painful and stiff shoulder. Frozen shoulder is reported to affect 2% – 5% of the general population increasing to 10% to 38% in patients with a systemic condition like Diabetes Mellitus.
Individuals with primary frozen shoulder are usually aged between 40 and 65 years and the incidence appears higher in females than males. The occurrence of symptoms in one shoulder increases the risk of having it in the opposite shoulder by 5% to 34% and experiencing symptoms in both shoulders at the same time occurs as often as 14% of the time.
Posted in Patient Education Shoulder Stiffness by .
