In both of my shoulders and my back, I have alot of knots in my muscles. In my left shoulder in between my neck and shoulder, one of the knots is HUGE. Recently it has been causing me alot of pain when I play pool. Sometimes even playing for a half an hour causes me enough pain that I need to stop. Has anyone else had similar problems playing pool because of knots in your neck/back muscles? I am planning on getting professional help to get rid of all of the knots in my shoulders and back. I am not sure if I should see a massage therapist, chiropractor, or is there another type of profession that specializes in removing knots? Thanks.
Neck Problem
- Thread starter LastTwo
- Start date
drivermaker
Banned
LastTwo said:
I'd say go with a Geisha that specializes in pool players.
Next to that, definitely a massage therapist. Most chiropractors now have a massage therapist working with them in their office and will shuffle you over to them for a problem like that.
Advice ...
As someone that has had a messed up back before,
go to a chiropracter. You could have a misalignment
of your spine, or a pinched nerve in there. A chiropracter
will do more for immediate and long term relief. My left
shoulder blade area, my wing muscles, and my rotator cuff
were really messed up after an accident. I went 2 years
to a chiropracter, and he finally got me straightened out.
I had lost over 70% of strength in my left arm. He was
cheaper than the Bourbon I was going through before
going to him. Insurance will pay most of it.
As someone that has had a messed up back before,
go to a chiropracter. You could have a misalignment
of your spine, or a pinched nerve in there. A chiropracter
will do more for immediate and long term relief. My left
shoulder blade area, my wing muscles, and my rotator cuff
were really messed up after an accident. I went 2 years
to a chiropracter, and he finally got me straightened out.
I had lost over 70% of strength in my left arm. He was
cheaper than the Bourbon I was going through before
going to him. Insurance will pay most of it.
R
Roll-Off
Guest
Also, make sure you're drinking plenty of water. Dehydration could cause some cramping. Do some stretching exercises as well.
Disclaimer - I am not a doctor, although sometimes I claim to be one. My information comes from late-night library internet searches. And of course, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Good luck.
Disclaimer - I am not a doctor, although sometimes I claim to be one. My information comes from late-night library internet searches. And of course, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Good luck.
I have slight scoliosis and mild kyphosis in my spine. After an injury in the military my back problems became really bad. I go to physical therapy for it. The muscles in my neck and back are so tight, they put me on electrolysis once a week (although I haven't gone in 2 weeks). The electrolysis helped loosen the tightened muscles, but I don't think it gets rid of the knots. I asked my therapist what to do about the knots in my muscles, especially the big one in my shoulder which has been causing me pain off and on for the past few months. She said to go and see a "specialist in that kind of thing, probably a masseuse". Before I took physical therapy I thought I would see a massage therapist as part of it, but I guess not. I was hoping they could cure all of the knots in my muscles, but all they can do is the electrolysis, and I do all types of exercises there for an hour. Right now I am still trying to figure out if my health insurance will cover a visit to the chiropractor. From what I hear they can be pretty expensive. I have insurance for the rest of my life because I suffer from chronic back pain, so I am wondering if they might cover a visit to a massage therapist if I lost some of the pain is because of the knots in my muscles. I hope so 
I would suggest that you go to a certified instructor (BCA-type) and see if your mechanics have slipped.
The reason why I say this is because after playing for about an hour, my neck and shoulder would start killing me. The culprit was that I was putting too much weight on my bridge arm. A Master BCA instructor caught this one, gave me a corrective action, and voila! if I start to feel the ache again, I correct myself.
Then I started having problems on the other side with my cue hand. Sight unseen, this same instructor told me to check my foot alignment to the shot and guess what? Problem resolved.
Of course, if your pain is not completely pool-related, then also go see a professional therapist.
Barbara
The reason why I say this is because after playing for about an hour, my neck and shoulder would start killing me. The culprit was that I was putting too much weight on my bridge arm. A Master BCA instructor caught this one, gave me a corrective action, and voila! if I start to feel the ache again, I correct myself.
Then I started having problems on the other side with my cue hand. Sight unseen, this same instructor told me to check my foot alignment to the shot and guess what? Problem resolved.
Of course, if your pain is not completely pool-related, then also go see a professional therapist.
Barbara
drivermaker
Banned
LastTwo said:Right now I am still trying to figure out if my health insurance will cover a visit to the chiropractor. From what I hear they can be pretty expensive. I have insurance for the rest of my life because I suffer from chronic back pain, so I am wondering if they might cover a visit to a massage therapist if I lost some of the pain is because of the knots in my muscles. I hope so
Most insurance now covers chiropractors. You might have to check with your insurer to see if they have pre-approved chiropractors on their list or whether they'll cover all of them. And I would venture to say that ALL chiropractors in this day and age accept insurance.
Mechanics/Balance
Barb, I have to agree with you on your approach. Since your doing a highly repetitive type of behavior, if your body mechanics are off, causing lets say you to "tense" up on your bridge hand or something else its definitely an area to be fixed. especially if it happens specifically playing pool.
Barbara said:
Barb, I have to agree with you on your approach. Since your doing a highly repetitive type of behavior, if your body mechanics are off, causing lets say you to "tense" up on your bridge hand or something else its definitely an area to be fixed. especially if it happens specifically playing pool.
LastTwo said:I have slight scoliosis and mild kyphosis in my spine. After an injury in the military my back problems became really bad. I go to physical therapy for it. The muscles in my neck and back are so tight, they put me on electrolysis once a week (although I haven't gone in 2 weeks). The electrolysis helped loosen the tightened muscles, but I don't think it gets rid of the knots. I asked my therapist what to do about the knots in my muscles, especially the big one in my shoulder which has been causing me pain off and on for the past few months. She said to go and see a "specialist in that kind of thing, probably a masseuse". Before I took physical therapy I thought I would see a massage therapist as part of it, but I guess not. I was hoping they could cure all of the knots in my muscles, but all they can do is the electrolysis, and I do all types of exercises there for an hour. Right now I am still trying to figure out if my health insurance will cover a visit to the chiropractor. From what I hear they can be pretty expensive. I have insurance for the rest of my life because I suffer from chronic back pain, so I am wondering if they might cover a visit to a massage therapist if I lost some of the pain is because of the knots in my muscles. I hope so
I have scoliosis too. The thing with the knots is that it is nearly always indicative of misalignment of the spine. It goes like this. Muscle spasms/knots will cause the spine alignment to go and and spine misalignment can cause muscle spasms. A good chiropractor will be about to tell where the problem is, where most massage therapists are just treating the symptoms. It depends on where you live, but except for the xrays, chiropractors do not cost very much. If you already had xrays done and they are fairly recent, you can take them with you, and most chiros will honor them.
Laura
Bluewolf said:
I think you got that right. It's funny but I just went to my chiropractor last night because of knotting by my left shoulder/neck. He determined that the neck was misaligned causing the ligaments to tighten causing the knots and pain in the area. He loosened the ligaments all down my left side wherever there was tenderness and then gave me exercises to put everything back in line. He said it would take about 10 days of 2 minute exercises twice a day and that it would align gradiently starting from the lower spine, up the spine and finally the neck. Today is the first time I am without pain or knotting in about 3 weeks.
Wayne
That kind of thing happens to me from time to time. When the equipment rules were developed people were much shorter on average. It would help if the regulation height of pool tables could be adjusted accordingly (about 2 to 3"). I also think basketball hoops should be made about 12" higher. My table is 3" higher than is allowed. It really helps.