Pool related pain and injuries

I shoot right handed and man do I ever have an injury list for you:

-right knee from stretching to reach shots instead of taking a granny.
-right elbow non pool injury which is aggravated by breaking and IDIOTS who don’t know how to shake hands properly!!
-left shoulder probably from getting up from the table
-right foot non pool injury that playing makes a lot worse
 
Obviously none of you are the master of being a moron like I am . I had a few went playing , and did not raise my hand on the break . Right hand pointer finger 4 stitches and a broken knuckle .



TALK ABOUT POWER :D


( As for the cue ball , it almost made it to the rack but stopped short. awesome )
 
I have ankylosing spondylitis with some fused vertebrae.

Recently, I think due to pool and work station setup, my right shoulder (shooting hand) has been really stiff and sometimes very painful. I take Aleve and need 30 minutes on the table to loosen up the shoulder before I can play. Some days I don't even bother playing due to pain.

On rare occasssion, the pain will move to my bridge hand shoulder.
 
Here are a couple more:

Headaches do to muscle pain in the neck and shoulders both left and right due to too much pool. Most likely to occur in practice since while playing there are some breaks when one can straighten out for a longer moment. Pinched nerve here and there.
 
Not entirely true, Hal

I have developed a rash around my elbow from having my arm on the table so much, plus I have a little round wart there that gets irritated from it.
 
ajohnson13 said:
FWIW...

I once popped my shoulder out of socket. I was wearing shoes with no traction, and playing on old carpet. On the break shot my foot slipped and the table caught my fall, and my shoulder popped right out. Hurt like hell, but I finished the tourney anyway.

Now that is one I have never heard of. A dislocated shoulder from pool. Definatley a worth while story.

Great answers so far! Please keep them coming.

MR8Ball, I sent you a PM!

As expected, a lot of bridge shoulder pain (which I have commented extensively on in other threads, and can probably find a link to if anyone wishes). In general, when you are getting this pain, you are most likely impinging your rotator cuff. That really is not something you want to ignore, as it can certainly worsen. Most of the time it comes from putting too much pressure on your bridge arm when it is flexed above 90 degrees. It will usually benefit from control of the inflammation, as well as doing some specific stretches and warming it up before playing, as well as some basic rotator cuff strengthening exercises. You will really need to adjust your shoulder positioning though, or it will just return.

Back pain is no real surprise here either. The foward flexed posture of a pool stance can be difficult on the low back. Often times people with bridge shoulder pain take pressure off their bridge arm, requiring the low back to take more stress and irritating it. So they can go hand in hand. Low back pain can be caused by a number of different things, so the answers may be a case by case basis. If your pain is coming from a disk injury though, it can often help to backward bend (hands on hips and gently bend back in a comfortable pain free motion) before, and periodically during shooting to help control the position of the disk. Of course any pain brought on by that movement would suggest that it is not right for you.

AV,
I saw you comment on MFR in another thread. i am glad it worked well for you. It was VERY popular in the mid to late 80's, but lost some of its popularity by the mid to late 90's. It is certainly still used today, but not as much. It works very well for certain soft tissue based injuries like what you described. The courses taught by one of its main originators have a "hoky" type feel to them, and the theories of how it works have not been well proven, so many shy away from it. It has its place in a well rounded therapists repatouire.
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I used to get severe headaches that went away within an hour or two after I left the pool hall. Finally found out that was from the 2nd hand smoke. I was very allergic to it. This was a surprise to me, as I was a smoker, although I smoked outside for the last 16-17 years I smoked.

I sometimes have problems with a bad wrist I damaged during a fight with a snowman. (I rolled the thing really big, then decided I wanted to move it just a couple inches further...) When my hand works, it works great. Sometimes, it lets go and the pool cue goes flying over the table, or it twists and causes me to miss the cue ball, or shoot it way off to one side. It is frequently numb. When it is numb, there is no control. I learned the best way to try to control it is to have a very light cue and hold it very lightly. When my wrist is at it's worst, I simply rest the cue on my fingertips and gently make my shots in a manner that will not give the cue enough momentum to leave my hand, once it hits the cue ball.

Probably the worst pain is my feet. I have an older-style piered home with a wood floor. I spend most of my time in this home and outdoors. The wood and the ground have a certain amount of give in them. The pool hall has a concrete floor. This causes back pain, knee pain, and excruciating foot pain and burning for me. I think a lot of guys probably don't realize the floor is causing a lot of their pain. It took me a long time to catch on. Concrete floors are pretty well known for causing problems, though. I'm amazed so many of us have homes with concrete floors. Maybe that's what has caused us to become so sedentary and overweight... too much pain to be on our feet, even in our own homes!

Oh yeah... for a lot of my pain... especially back pain... I've found that Icy Hot back patches work great!
 
I have bad eczema on my bridge hand that gets irratated by playing, especially if I'm breaking a lot. The web of my hand breaks out into a bunch of tiny blisters which can make playing painful. I wear a glove now and that seems to help but I still sometimes have to go to my doctor for a topical ointment if the breakout is really bad and won't heal.
 
I busted my big toe, how??

I dogged a nineball hill hill for a dime and slamed my stick down to the floor.... But instead of hitting the floor I smashed my big toe and could not walk on it for three days................What a fish and jerkoff I am...LOL :o
 
Had Severe Pain In Left Shoulder Blade And Pool Agravated It, Diagnosed As Stenosis Of C2 C3 Had To Wait 2 Months For Appt To Pain Clinic For Cortisone Shots So Took Accupuncture And Afte A Few Weeks It Went Away, Pain Clinic Dr Said I Don't Need Shots And Was Very Interested In The Accupuncture , Also Have Sciatic Problems Once On While So Use Accupuncture!!
 
Maldito, how many sessions of acupuncture did you have before you got relief? I've got stenosis in C5 and have been thinking of trying it.
 
it took me 12 treatments but it worked it was expensive at $80
treatment, i got treatment in pa where i live now, i also suffered many yrs
from trigeminal neuralgia but i used accupuncture several times and it went away but the stenosis is tough to treat , the accupuncturist said he could not cure it but it worked, when i had the trigeminal neuralgia i lived in ny so i am going to look for the accupuncturists' name an phone # and will get it to you , don't know if u have one lined up, usually accupuncture will kick in after a few treatments and u get some relief, so u will know if it works .
 
Shoulder pain on bridge hand

I'm 62 and just recently suffer with shoulder and upper arm pain on my bridge hand, I've tried everything and it hasn't gotten better in 6 months.
I tried accupuncture and don't believe that nonsense that says the accupuncture doesn't hurt - it's torture. Went to physical therapist for three months - no relief, will try cortisone shots next, please wish me luck. :D :mad: :D
 
I strained my back picking up a guitar amp and have had trouble ever since. I used to get severe back pain if I ran anything more than a rack. If I ran a full rack, of 9-ball, my back would be letting me know it's time to sit down, but I'd forge ahead and break anyway and start my next run. By the third ball or so it was bad enough that I had to sit down for a minute or 2 to let it subside.

Cure: Well, I started going to the gym doing 3 weight workouts a week, every other day, alternating upper body, lower body, upper body, and then reverse it the following week. The days in between the weight training I did, do, some sort of aerobic exercise like cycling or walking. I follow a pretty good program and am careful of not overdoing it. Basically, I'm in the gym 6 days a week. After the first month on the program my back problems were nowhere to be found. Add to that my blood pressure went from 128/84 to 106/68. I know it sounds like a lot of time in the gym but it's actually less than 4 hours a week. I have way more than 4 extra hours a week to dedicate to my health. I highly recommend a training program for anyone....but then again I don't want to be preachy about it.
MULLY
I follow -------------> www.bodyforlife.com
 
jungledude said:
I'm 62 and just recently suffer with shoulder and upper arm pain on my bridge hand, I've tried everything and it hasn't gotten better in 6 months.
I tried accupuncture and don't believe that nonsense that says the accupuncture doesn't hurt - it's torture. Went to physical therapist for three months - no relief, will try cortisone shots next, please wish me luck. :D :mad: :D
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Wow, I've had acupuncture and thought it felt great. I couldn't even feel the needles going in and when they hooked up the electrodes....wow.
MULLY
try some light weight lifting and build the muscles up. You're not too old for it, don't believe what anyone tells you about that nonsense.
 
A common problem with pool players is the lower back. The Mosconi stance is one that throws the hips out of alignment and can cause lower back pain.

I changed my stance about 20 years ago and it really helped my lower back and didn't seem to hurt my game.

I bend both knees and stand directly towards the table, keeping my spine almost upright.

Danny
 
Left knee...I'm right handed.

I switched to new shoes and both my knees started to hurt after play. Went back to old shoes and ok until...

I... discovered if I break too hard I put some kind of pressure on my left knee so that it hurts on the inside (toward the right knee) of it.

My "cure?" Wrapped the knee, massaged it when in the chair, quit breaking so hard, and the snowfall finally stopped so I could rest the knee long enough to let it heal. It still tells me it hurts but not as bad as before.

Jeff Livingston
 
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