Shoulder Pains and No Gains?
Shoulder pain can come in many shapes and forms - have a read below to learn more and how physio can help.
Physio For Shoulder Pain
Are you experiencing shoulder pain after or during your gym workouts? Is it stopping you from achieving your goals and participating in your favourite HIIT class? You're not alone! Shoulder pain is a common complaint among gym-goers, and it can be caused by various factors. However, the good news is that physiotherapy can help alleviate pain, restore function and get you back to hitting PBs. In this blog post, we'll explore gym-related shoulder pain and explain how physiotherapy can be an effective solution.
What Causes Gym-Related Shoulder Pain?
There are several reasons why gym-goers experience shoulder pain. Here are some of the most common causes:
1. Rotator Cuff Strain: The rotator cuff is a group of tendons and muscles that surround the shoulder joint. When these tendons and muscles are strained or subject to repetitive stress-loading, it can cause tendinopathic changes leading to pain and weakness. This can also occur through over-training and sudden increases in your training loads. A bulletproofing shoulder program will help prevent this from occurring.
2. Impingement Syndrome: This occurs when the tendons of the rotator cuff become compressed between the bones in the shoulder. Sometimes we develop this due to muscle imbalances, poor motor patterns, bad technique with our lifts, muscle tightness or poor mobility. Sometimes this can occur after another injury somewhere else in our body and has led to us overloading the shoulder! But don’t stress, impingement is generally easy to fix with physio and rehab.
3. Acromioclavicular joint pain: This usually happens in sport when an athlete falls on the point of the shoulder or receives direct contact to the joint. But in the gym, this joint can become painful from repeated overhead work like snatches, military press and handstand push ups if your muscle strength and balance isn’t up to scratch. The pain will be localised to the AC joint and can refer to the distal clavicle. This one can be tricky if left too long and is allowed to progress to osteolysis or arthrosis.
The AC joint may seem small, but the pain from it can be big!
Physio Exercises and Treatment For Shoulder Conditions
If you're experiencing shoulder pain from the gym, physiotherapy can offer pain relief with manual treatment, mobilisation, dry needling and massage. An exercise program targeting your individual needs and deficits will then be needed to get you back to pain free lifts. At Gravity we can integrate our rehab into your strength and conditioning program so that you don’t lose all your hard work and can continue working out. Here is a rundown of the ways physiotherapy can help:
1. Manual Therapy: This involves hands-on techniques, such as massage treatment and mobilization, or even cupping, to reduce pain and stiffness in the shoulder joint, thoracic spine and trunk.
2. Rehab Exercise and Strengthening: Your physiotherapist will prescribe exercises that strengthen the muscles around the shoulder, scapula, thoracic spine and trunk, wherever we have identified a deficit in your kinetic chain, which will improve your performance, pain and function, while also protecting you from future injuries.
3. Dry Needling: This uses acupuncture needles to stimulate blood flow to the damaged tissues, reduce tension and promote healing via neural pathways, which can help speed up your recovery.
4. Postural and Thoracic Strengthening: Poor posture can put excessive pressure on the shoulder joint, leading to pain and stiffness. Physiotherapy can help strengthen your postural muscles, which can take pressure off the shoulder during exercise by improving your base of support.
Why Choose Gravity?
At our physiotherapy clinic, we have an experienced NRL physiotherapist who specialises in treating gym-related shoulder pain. We use the latest techniques and equipment to provide effective treatment, and we work closely with our patients to develop personalized treatment plans.
If you're experiencing shoulder pain during or after your gym workouts, or just feeling that your shoulder is holding you back in your lifts, Gravity physiotherapy can help. Contact us today to schedule an appointment and take the first step towards pain-free shoulders that can lift for days!
Shoulder rehab, physiotherapy treatment and exercises will get you back to what you love.