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Preventing a shoulder injury from happening

Original Post
JeffL · · Salt Lake City · Joined Jun 2012 · Points: 65

I've recently increased my sport/gym climbing level by 3 or 4 grades and am starting to notice that my left shoulder is not always happy. It's almost never in pain, but I want to start right now in correcting the problem so that it doesn't become a bigger problem.

Can anyone recommend exercises that will strengthen the entire area? I've started doing push ups, I'm not sure if they are helping or making things worse. I've never felt a sharp pain, just something dull, usually after climbing or training. I feel like my body is giving me warning of something more serious to come if I don't fix the issue.

I can sometimes here a pop in the joint as I stretch it out, away from my body and slightly over my head.

Kelly P · · The Bubble, CO · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 10
trainingbeta.com/rest-day-s…

:) just need some resistance bands
bking7 King · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2011 · Points: 5

Coming off of a rather stellar AC separation, and the subsequent PT, I'm a bit more aware of my shoulders than I used to be. In recovery mode I've been warming up followed by stretch and band work: external and internal rotators, posterior delts and rhomboids before I climb. Scap punches to cool off. Biggest thing that my other broken friends agree on is not climbing on a tired joint.
My experience is that there's no one exercise, you want to prevent an injury, investing in your rotator cuff and the associated muscles along with appropriate rest might spare you some pain.

El Duderino · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 70

If you're too cheap to buy a resistance band: theclimbingdoctor.com/portf…

kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608

I once tried to do general injury-prevention strenghtening of my shoulders, following the "antagonist" theory. My own finding is that articulation motions the shoulder joint is rather complicated, and many of those articulations are sometimes used for climbing moves.

Which means that training every "antagonist" move (the same articulation but in the opposite direction) requires lots of different exercises. I tried doing the full set, and after a short number of sessions decided that it took way more time than I could spend on it -- I'd say more time than anybody but a full-time professional climber.

Then I read apparently smart knowledgeable people saying that the "antagonist" theory didn't really work for most motions in most sports. So I abandoned doing all those exercises. Nothing bad happened to my shoulders for years after that decision.

The one exercise lots of climbing experts are recommending now for shoulders is some sort of scapula retraction -- so I do two varieties of that sometimes.

I also do wrist pronation/supination, because I once had elbow tendinosis - (but I don't see that articulation as an "antagonist" to a climbing move).

My suggestion: If you're noticing some specific pain, find an exercise that strengthens specifically for that -- and if you can't figure it out yourself, then see a trained Physical Therapist.

. (So I'm coming to think that unneeded strengthening of non-critical shoulder muscles is typically a waste of time, and successful growth of those muscles adds extra weight to be hauled up every climb) .

Ken

Lee Harris · · Cleveland, TN · Joined Feb 2009 · Points: 30
Climbing.com shoulder rehab

I started following this very basic program about two weeks ago after almost a year of instability and pain in both shoulders. I had been under the impression that general shoulder training with weights would be sufficient, however my pain and mobility actually worsened with traditional dumbbell exercises.

It seems a little silly, but I feel much more stable in my shoulders already. Also, no equipment required and very little time commitment.
SM Ryan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 1,090

The key is good form.
The one at training beta specifically calls this out-
In every exercise, you'll be pulling your shoulders back, like you're plugging them into their sockets, and drawing your shoulder blades down your back. Don't worry about pulling them together, just stay focused on those huge muscles and make your movements with control. Keep the sides of your neck super long while you move.

Seriously, this is key. I see people at Momentum Millcreek doing all of these shoulder exercises without proper scapular activation. which I would guess is just making the problem worse..

Other ideas- Batwings (Dan John).

Also avoid those high gaston moves. If you are climbing at Momentum Millcreek this seems to be a signature move in the bouldering area and a really good way to get injured.

beensandbagged · · smallest state · Joined Oct 2013 · Points: 0

might want to take a look at this orthoinfo.aaos.org/PDFs/Reh…

The Climbing Doctor · · Los Angeles, CA · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 5

Shoulder motion is very complex. Strengthening the antagonist muscles does very little if you don't correctly use them while climbing. The most prudent way to go about addressing injuries is to find the movement pattern that created the injury, strengthen the muscles that antagonize the movement, learn how to activate them while climbing and then change your movement by modifying your climbing technique. If you haven't watch a video of yourself climbing, then you are missing a major piece of the puzzle.

I have included some resources that I have published on the matter below:

Wall clocks:
theclimbingdoctor.com/portf…

Change how you move:
theclimbingdoctor.com/portf…

1 hour podcast (trainingbeta) on changing movement patterns climbing:
theclimbingdoctor.com/portf…

1 hour podcast (enormocast) on climbing injuries and prevention programs:
theclimbingdoctor.com/portf…

kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608
The Climbing Doctor wrote:Wall clocks: theclimbingdoctor.com/portf…
That exercise (and others on the website) seems to be cleverly well-designed to target articulations likely for climbing injuries. Thanks for figuring it out, and sharing it here.

To me this "wall clock" exercise seems different from the more obvious antagonist exercises we've been told about for lots of years past - (which have served to discredit the antagonist-imbalance paradigm for me and others).

So now I have to dig my Thera-band out of storage -- or else think of a clever way to use some dumb-bell exercises to accomplish similar strengthening. What I like about dumb-bells is that my strengthening can be measurable (and thus measurably progressive and incremental).

I'm looking to explore some of the other ideas on the ClimbingDoctor.com website.
(I don't see why it's necessary to believe in the antagonist-imbalance paradigm in order to benefit from recognizing and using exercises well-designed to be specific for climbing.)

Ken
El Duderino · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 70

I was just wondering whether y'all had a recommendation for a Thermaband Resistance color to for the wall clock exercise. It appears that the exercise is being done with a red band. Also, how much should you be elongating/stretching the band at each position? Doubling the length, or is it based on what you can done? Finally, is there a particular length that the band should be?

kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608
scienceguy288 wrote:I was just wondering whether y'all had a recommendation for a Thermaband ...
I guess in theory you should be able to get the "correct" resistance with any elastic band -- by pre-stretching it so some appropriate length.

But that still leaves the usual puzzle I find with the "antagonist imbalance" paradigm:
How much strength is enough - (to correct the supposed "imbalance").

One might guess that a Physical Therapist making a careful application of the "antagonist imbalance" paradigm would first measure the strength (in Newtons or pounds) and Range-of-Motion (in angular degrees or centimeters) of the primary ("agonist") muscle(s).
Then measure the current Strength and RoM of the opposing "antagonist" muscle(s) ...

Then of course tell me what my Goal measurements should be for strength (in Newtons) and RoM (angle). Presumably goal Strength for the antagonist would be some "safe" percentage of the measured Strength of the primary "agonist" muscle(s).

I'd hope that I could measure my progress by putting a strain gauge (I do own one) on my exercise elastic. But perhaps I'd need to visit the PT office say once a month for proper accurate measurements. One of the reasons I prefer dumbbell exercise to elastic is to make it easier to measure my progress.

Then when my antagonist muscle reached its Goal strength, I could shift my exercise for it from "increase" mode into "maintenance" mode (presumably fewer sessions per week?)

Without those measurements, presumably you just keep using the elastic by "feel", keep increasing the resistance to build more antagonist strength forever and ever. Because who could know when you're reached the level which is "safe".

I hope I'm missing something here.

Ken
Guy Keesee · · Moorpark, CA · Joined Mar 2008 · Points: 349

Im no Doctor, but I find that warming up before cranking v?+ is key. I see a ton of kids who never warm up and after a bit they have injury issues.

10 min of jumping jacks or a 20-30 brisk hike will do the trick. ... get the blood flowing.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Injuries and Accidents
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