shooters pain

[formidableone14]

So Ive been shooting alot more lately, approx 5-8hrs a day. Coming with this amount of shooting is PAIN. The worst of it seems to be my bridge hands shoulder followed by a uncomfortable knee pain (same side as my bridge hand) and then normal sore back/hips. Will this pain go away with time? Is my stance messed up and Im putting to much pressure on my bridge hand and forward leg?



I feel as if Im not leaning to heavily or putting much pressure on my arm but it does not seem to make a difference. I will still hurt and require some TLC once i get home.


Any ideas from anyone that may have dealt with something similar?

 

[Ken_4fun]

So Ive been shooting alot more lately, approx 5-8hrs a day. Coming with this amount of shooting is PAIN. The worst of it seems to be my bridge hands shoulder followed by a uncomfortable knee pain (same side as my bridge hand) and then normal sore back/hips. Will this pain go away with time? Is my stance messed up and Im putting to much pressure on my bridge hand and forward leg?



I feel as if Im not leaning to heavily or putting much pressure on my arm but it does not seem to make a difference. I will still hurt and require some TLC once i get home.


Any ideas from anyone that may have dealt with something similar?

I had an old guy tell me a trick that worked for me.

BANANAS

I eat one before I play and one after.

Laugh all you want, but try it once then tell me how it works.

It really works!

Ken

 

[Hud]

potassium!!

 

[Tramp Steamer]

I happen to be somewhat of an expert when it comes to pain. My first wife said I was nothing but a pain in the ass, for years.
Seriously though, if your health is reasonably good otherwise, then I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. A couple of Advil, or Aleve, should take care of your immediate concerns. It's probably the extra strain caused by the extra time you've been putting in at the table.

Caveat: I am not a doctor, but play one on several forums.

 

[Black-Balled]

I get bridge arm pain when I play for a long time. I have some rotator cuff crunchiness in there, so I think the joint is not supporting itself as it should...

When I stretch the problem area prior to play and then repeat every 30 min or so, seems to help.

 

[3andstop]

I think the Aleve is your best bet for the pain. I have Naproxin prescribed to me for similar pain. It works better than the rest. Aleve is the over the counter version of Naproxin.

I think bananas will work for you like an LD cue shaft,........ or a rabbit's foot. If you think it works, then it does. Especially if you pay 20 buck a bunch for em. J/K.

 

[JoeyA]

Shoulder Pain on Bridge Hand Side.

I too suffer from pain in my shoulder on my bridge hand side. If I lay off playing pool the pain goes away. I have tried massage therapy (once) for the shoulder pain but it didn't help the pain in the long run.

This apparently is a serious problem for people who play a lot of pool. This doesn't happen to me if I play one hour or two hours of pool and the pain only comes after playing multiple hours on consecutive days.

I use Aleve and it works good but it is only a temporary pain eliminator.

I wonder if any of the pool players have sought out the Sports Doctors on this one. It obviously comes from stretching the shoulder muscles and holding your arm very flat for long periods of time. There are probably some exercises that would strengthen those muscles to reduce or eliminate that particular pain.

I wonder if age has anything to do with it. Ok, I don't know the rest of your ages but I never had this pain when I was 40 years old.

I'd be curious if any of you that play a lot, are younger than say, 50 and have that particular shoulder pain.

I have tried hot and cold compresses, massage therapy, and Aleve and the only thing that gets at the root of the problem is playing less.

Thanks for a timely thread.

JoeyA

 

[armoworrior]

I've been playing around 20 years and recently started having wrist and shoulder pain I shoot more with my wrist than my whole arm I need to stop doing that because the pain causes my wrist to rotate and put too much english in my shots

 

[Toncam]

I wonder if age has anything to do with it. Ok, I don't know the rest of your ages but I never had this pain when I was 40 years old.


JoeyA

You got that right Joey, i didnt feel pain when i was 40 like i feel it now. I get the shoulder/ hand thing myself if i play consecutive days also.
I also got back problems but those i can handle through stretches.
The shoulder pain might be helped by grabbing a side of a doorway and with the bad arm and pulling on it stretching the muscles. Check out Youtube for shoulder stretch excercises, i found a few there that saved me a lot of aggravation.
Sucks getting old.

 

[Montana Mike]

Sometimes I get bridgehand pain and stiffness and also have tendinitis in my knee on the same side. When the knee flairs up it gets pretty rough gimping around for a week or so. I sometimes get the shoulder pain too and back is a disaster. Never figured out how to get rid of it either.

Ice helps for the knee if you sense a flare-up coming and I ice my back several times per week but that never gets better. The small over the counter pain patches work ok for the knee to put on the spot that hurts. Not the icy hot or lidocane ones because those won't stick. The patches I am referring to are really small and brown, only about 2 inches squared maybe.

I tried losing weight to ease my back but that didn't help. Going to buy a inversion table and see what happens there but with the shoulder I got a suggestion from a physical therapist to help strengthen the muscles around the shoulder without aggravating it further. It sounds like nothing but it actually did strengthen that area and it is rare to have pain in that shoulder from pool now. It is basically just standing next to a wall or in front of a wall and walking your fingers up and down the wall relatively slowly starting from your waist to over your head [depending on your range of motion]. Sounds like it won't do anything but try it out and you can tell how it could work after 4 or 5 times. I guess they have their patients do that after shoulder sugeries.

Good luck. Hope you find a solution to your pain or discomfort.

 

[genomachino]

I'm better off telling someone what doesn't hurt.

Let's see...........
2 knee surgeriesRight knee
Need surgery on the left. Miniscus is folded over.
one back surgery,Lower back
one right shoulder surgery( I'm right handed)
dislocated. Left shoulder dislocated, No sugery but should have.
Motorhome fell on me broke 4 ribs and whatever else got mashed,I looked like road kill for about 3 months.
I just got rear ended and got whiplash and concusion that still gives me a headache 5 weeks later.

On my good days just some of my body doesn't hurt. But I never know until I start playing.

I know one thing though for sure.

Exercise the muscles around the part that hurts. I do this when something gets real bad.

Too bad that didn't work with the ribs or the whiplash/concusion.

Oh well. We just got to do what we can do.

The toughest part is pain wears you out. Make sure you do allot of cardio . Ride an exercise bike with not much resistence and go real fast for 1 minute intervals. 4 minute medium and then 1 minute go like hell. Do this for 30 minutes.

This will help get the blood to those body parts that need it. You need blood flow to repair or get stronger so it won't hurt.

If I didn't keep working out I'd just end up in a corner and rot away.

That ain't goin to happen.

Best advice is go to the gym.............. .

 

[Toncam]

Exercise the muscles around the part that hurts. I do this when something gets real bad.

Geno, we spoke in a pm and you have definetly been through some pain and you just had another accident recently ? Man, you are tough to deal with all that, no question.
But the key words in the mans post are up above : Excercise and also stretch the muscles. But dont wait for it to hurt before you do it though, make it part of your regimen everyday, its called prevention.
If i had to go through what geno went through, i dont know how i would do it.

The funny thing with people is they just dont want to put the work in prevention wise, everyone wants the instant cure or the trip to the chiropractor or the pill or the operation. They just dont want to spend the 10 minutes a day working on the stretches or the excercises and i cant fathom why. I asked my own doctor about it and he agreed with me totally as have numerous other physicians, they laugh when i say it and they all agree that this type of pain can be avoided or lessened to a great degree by yourself, but they dont care as if everyone did that, their business would suffer, lol.
I definetly dont mean this toward you Geno, i know you put the work in, you have to. But its all the other people i speak to who drive me nuts, lol.
Anyone has low back trouble and they want help, just drop me a PM and i will send you 2-3 videos that will make your life so much easier it aint even funny.
Tony

 

[Black-Balled]

best advice though, go see a Dr.

While I agree that- generally- stretching and strengthening are good, they can be bad too.

My wife had a sore arm and stretched it for a few days, after a week, it wasnt any better, so she went to Dr. Dr told her she tore it, likely by over-stretching.

Drs know stuff...who'da thunk it?

 

[JoeyA]

Geno, we spoke in a pm and you have definetly been through some pain and you just had another accident recently ? Man, you are tough to deal with all that, no question.
But the key words in the mans post are up above : Excercise and also stretch the muscles. But dont wait for it to hurt before you do it though, make it part of your regimen everyday, its called prevention.
If i had to go through what geno went through, i dont know how i would do it.

The funny thing with people is they just dont want to put the work in prevention wise, everyone wants the instant cure or the trip to the chiropractor or the pill or the operation. They just dont want to spend the 10 minutes a day working on the stretches or the excercises and i cant fathom why. I asked my own doctor about it and he agreed with me totally as have numerous other physicians, they laugh when i say it and they all agree that this type of pain can be avoided or lessened to a great degree by yourself, but they dont care as if everyone did that, their business would suffer, lol.
I definetly dont mean this toward you Geno, i know you put the work in, you have to. But its all the other people i speak to who drive me nuts, lol.
Anyone has low back trouble and they want help, just drop me a PM and i will send you 2-3 videos that will make your life so much easier it aint even funny.
Tony

Tony,
You're spot on with the advice about exercising to prevent injury or pain. Thanks for reinforcing what we already know.

best advice though, go see a Dr.

While I agree that- generally- stretching and strengthening are good, they can be bad too.

My wife had a sore arm and stretched it for a few days, after a week, it wasnt any better, so she went to Dr. Dr told her she tore it, likely by over-stretching.

Drs know stuff...who'da thunk it?

I wonder if I am overstretching my shoulder. I mean, how can you tell. Yeah, I know. Go see a doctor.

While I am not a doctor, I once played pool with one.

 

[Pidge]

I'm 22 and I've had the same problem in my left bridge arm ever since I dislocated my shoulder. Over the past 6 months its gone away, even when I'm putting in 6+ hours a day. So I wouldn't say its anything to do with age.

I put it down to a flexibility issue. Been hitting the gym for the last 7 months after I recovered and that could also be responsible for the pain going. Just warm up before you play. It sounds stupid I know, but stretch the whole body, not just the shoulder. Even darts players have to warm up...any they just stand there and move their lower arm!

The pool stance isn't natural, so loosening the body before a long session can only help.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

One thing I know for certain - pain really makes your game suffer.

 

[JoeyA]

I'm 22 and I've had the same problem in my left bridge arm ever since I dislocated my shoulder. Over the past 6 months its gone away, even when I'm putting in 6+ hours a day. So I wouldn't say its anything to do with age.

I put it down to a flexibility issue. Been hitting the gym for the last 7 months after I recovered and that could also be responsible for the pain going. Just warm up before you play. It sounds stupid I know, but stretch the whole body, not just the shoulder. Even darts players have to warm up...any they just stand there and move their lower arm!

The pool stance isn't natural, so loosening the body before a long session can only help.

Thanks for posting your age and experience with the shoulder/bridge arm.

 

[Tramp Steamer]

I think Joey knows what I'm talking about here. A players overall health can be a prime factor in not only developing pain, but how they are able to deal with it, as well.
About two years ago I was fifty-five pounds heavier than I am now. I suffered from joint pain, my feet ached after only a couple of hours at the table, and my blood pressure was sky high (which can present it's own host of problems). Basically, I was a wreck.
Since then I have cleaned up my act, at least nutritionally. By employing a much healthier diet (no sugar is key here) I dropped the pounds and improved my health considerably. The pain in the knees and legs has gone, thereby increasing my stamina. The bone spur in my right foot has disappeared along with the accompanying tendonitis. And, my blood pressure returned to a near normal level.
In conjunction with a drastic change in eating habits I began using nutritional supplements, as well. Since I have had heart health issues in the past I began taking fish oil, garlic, coq-10, and olive leaf extract, among others. Not only has my heart benefited from the weight loss, supplements, and better eating, but my general health has made a dramatic change, too.
I feel much better now and that translates into longer, and hopefully better, One Pocket. :smile:

 

[Buckzapper]

Elbow, wrist and shoulder pain is what many of the guys at the poolroom suffer from, but they also confess they are chronic masturbators.


Seriously, it sounds like tendon inflammation. I've had it in the elbow of my bridge arm. Ketoprofen is a prescription pill that will take it right away. It works amazing well if you get Sciatica. The pain is all gone in 30 minutes and it doesn't come back.

 

[Petros Andrikop]

As a doctor and pool player please allow me to offer a few words:
1. Stop playing until symptoms disappear, get enough rest.
2. Visit a specialist if they don't even after resting for a few days.
3. Consult with a pool instructor or an experienced player about your stance, position of your hands etc. Remember that stability is one thing but avoiding any muscular tension is also essential.
Have a good recovery!
Petros