Surfing Waves

I have had ever increasing shoulder pain for a while now. It's really been a problem for my surfing, especially when I'm trying to hang onto my board in a turtle roll. Anyway, I think I finally found a remedy/strengthening solution. For anyone else suffering from shoulder pain this might help (check your shoulder out with a doctor of course). I can hang from a bar with my feet off the ground without pain. My grip starts to weaken after about a minute. If you try hanging from a bar and feel pain, then I'd talk to a doctor before going any further with this stretching/exercise technique. Hope it helps.

this is a good exercise - hanging around for a minute after surfing or swimming or lifting is always worthwhile

where in your shoulder does it hurt - front or back?

dtc wrote:this is a good exercise - hanging around for a minute after surfing or swimming or lifting is always worthwhile

where in your shoulder does it hurt - front or back?

There are two places it consistently hurts: my left arm straight up over my head and the other is when I try to touch the center of my lower back with my left hand going above my pelvic bone. I have other pain that comes and goes depending on different arm movements. Some of it is neck pain and some shoulder pain. The muscle soreness and stiffness I can live with. It's the bone on bone pain that makes it hard to enjoy surfing. I've started hanging from a pull-up bar and it has made a huge difference. I've also had to change my sleeping posture (no more sleeping with my arm crooked above my head).

I had it as well....it's a posture issue and through stretches all the areas (which are connected) posture improves and the shoulder opens up, freeing up movement and taking stress off the joint so it doesn't "grind" or feel like there is some "junk" up in there (his words ).....I managed to manage it via stretches and rolling a ball on the shoulder (one of the exercises from youtube I found from our own Surf strength coach spammer - exercises are legit)....it flares up when I slack off the stretches and goes away nearly completely when I stick with them. I have a ball in my glove compartment and sometimes do a quick roll just before going out in addition to the regular schedule I keep for all stretches in the evenings.

BTW, part of my routine are bar hangs like you discovered.....that alone sorts me out pretty good.

Big H wrote:BTW, part of my routine are bar hangs like you discovered.....that alone sorts me out pretty good.

That's good news. I was hoping to hear from somebody who solved the problem. I have to say that the bar hanging is working wonders so far. I'm also stoked that it has the extra bonus of decompressing the spine. I'm going to try the 7 minute challenge and see how it goes .

http://www.idoportal.com/blog/hanging

I'm kind of in the yes-we-were-apes-swinging-in-trees-once camp so hanging from branches is a good thing. Time to find the inner primate.

Just a suggestion. I'm not a medical professional so I can't be responsible for your own misdiagnosis but...

I've had some wrist/elbow/shoulder pains this past summer that I'd assumed was caused by the way I was using my right arm. It turned out it was from the neck muscle injury (whiplash) while going over the waves carelessly. There is a website about referred pain and trigger points that has helped me pinpoint which muscles were causing the pain so I could target the stretches. It took me some trial and error (I've misdiagnosed my problem at first) but once I found the the trigger point muscles and the correct stretches for them I was pretty much pain free in a week.
http://www.triggerpoints.net

saltydog wrote:Just a suggestion. I'm not a medical professional so I can't be responsible for your own misdiagnosis but...

I've had some wrist/elbow/shoulder pains this past summer that I'd assumed was caused by the way I was using my right arm. It turned out it was from the neck muscle injury (whiplash) while going over the waves carelessly. There is a website about referred pain and trigger points that has helped me pinpoint which muscles were causing the pain so I could target the stretches. It took me some trial and error (I've misdiagnosed my problem at first) but once I found the the trigger point muscles and the correct stretches for them I was pretty much pain free in a week.

Thanks for the advice. You're right. It's easy to misdiagnose yourself. That's why I got an appointment with a sports medicine doctor and I'm getting an x-ray. I should have some better information once I get it checked out. It's always good to get yourself informed on that area of the body first so you can determine whether your doctor knows what they're talking about.

Another thing that I've found helps with shoulder pain is getting a baseball/lacrosse ball/tennis ball and wedge it between you and a wall. Lean against the wall and roll your shoulder. Apply pressure as needed. This really helps any muscle/tendon/tissue tension.

SurfShape wrote:Another thing that I've found helps with shoulder pain is getting a baseball/lacrosse ball/tennis ball and wedge it between you and a wall. Lean against the wall and roll your shoulder. Apply pressure as needed. This really helps any muscle/tendon/tissue tension.

It was your video that got me doing this....I keep a hard rubber practice softball on my desk and one in my car.....secretaries get a kick out of me in the corner rolling my shoulder a couple times a day......

Thanks for sharing the video.

Yoga helped me with shoulder pains. Just try all positions you can find/think of/do and keep the ones that stimulate the specific pain. Then do that exercise with an intensity or stretch that just touches on that pain and let the deep breathing do it's work.

But always use common sense, if the pain gets worse see a doctor.

I’ve started yoga stretching as well and have taken a lot of stress out of my shoulders (3mos now).....my range of movement is greater and more free. Found the exercises on YouTube.