shoulder hurts like hell

Just a few things to try

Omega 3 -trader joes carries one that is odorless, omega 3 is good for you and it supports joint and skin and a healthy heart.
http://www.omega-3.us/

Warm heating pad at night for a week just to help the ache.

Sleep with your shoulders up and try not to sleep on your side that is
bugging you.

Aleve http://www.aleve.com/index.cfm is also something to try.

But the best thing is to go to the doctor and let them take a poke at
you to see if they can find out what is wrong.

Best of luck
mrs.g
:smile:
 
find a gym and use it, You will be surprised how many of your aches and pains go away.
 
Dumb question, but is this the same shoulder you use to wield that giant video camera on?

I hope you figure out the problem soon and get yourself better.
 
I have this same problem, Solartje, and you describe it correctly - it hurts like hell!!! I won't notice any major pain while playing but an hour after I stop, I am hurting for a long time. And even though it is in pain, I don't have any limitation on my shoulder movement. I'm sure this describes what you are dealing with.

I tried standing more upright but that threw off my game big-time. This is not recommended. I also don't recommend using any pain killers unless you need to get through a tournament.

What I found is that this is a muscle problem. My remedy is ice (I know unknownpro and others are against this, but I swear by this). For some reason the shoulder muscles don't like being in the extended arm position for long and will start "burning". Cooling them down with ice will do wonders, believe me. Try it and report back to us your results.
 
Immediately after any injury use ice. Heat will worsen the swelling. You can apply heat after the acute stage around 48hrs. Stretch before, during and after playing. In the absence of swelling, applying heat can help stretching be more efficient.
Do no tense and hold your muscles while shooting and even out weight distribution between the legs and bridge arm. Maybe an instructor can check stance particularly your shoulder position. You did'nt mention your arm hurting any other time or with any other activity so I would'nt be too worried about it but if you feel the need to seek medical help then go see a dr or a physical therapist.
 
8ballEinstein said:
I have this same problem, Solartje, and you describe it correctly - it hurts like hell!!! I won't notice any major pain while playing but an hour after I stop, I am hurting for a long time. And even though it is in pain, I don't have any limitation on my shoulder movement. I'm sure this describes what you are dealing with.

I tried standing more upright but that threw off my game big-time. This is not recommended. I also don't recommend using any pain killers unless you need to get through a tournament.

What I found is that this is a muscle problem. My remedy is ice (I know unknownpro and others are against this, but I swear by this). For some reason the shoulder muscles don't like being in the extended arm position for long and will start "burning". Cooling them down with ice will do wonders, believe me. Try it and report back to us your results.
Click to expand...

this actually is the best description of what i have. I never had any problem with my shoulders with anything else. I do some bouldering (type of climbing) once a week and i don't have any problem with it. I do have some muscles that are strong (frontside) and my "wings" like i call them (under my arm next to my chest), but the upperpart of my shoulders are pure bones..

it does feel like heath, but i can do anything i want with my arm, no movement feeels hampered.

I could use ice/heath/ipubrufen etc..; but i guess this is only to cure the symptoms, but it wont cure the origin. I'll go to the gyro anyway. I have a history of having a vertebrae blocked. (a docter told me it was of to much coca-cola, with would make my stomach cling (sp?) together, and so pull on my backmuscles blocking my vertebrae. ) but i don't think this is it, as it happens with every serious drillsession.

Yes i do smoke. been trying to quit for 6years on character, but i'll need help as I can't do it alone.

my balance. I have my feets more then shoulderlenght wide. If i use shoulderlenght wide (i have long legs) i need to bend down my back to much. Doesn't hurt, but doesnt feel comfortable. I have a more karate stance. both knees bended and a lower central gravity. (this a problem?)

Gunn-slinger: i DO, always fall asleep on my side (can't fall asleep otherwise) and i have to sleep on the side of the shoulder that is giving me a problem... Maybe after so many years , and a bad bed, could have coused this? mmm i'll have to give this info to the docter too !!. you never know it could be usefull information.

anyway, i gave up the higher stance, and i'm running racks again. I just need to find a solution, having to chose between good shooting and pain vs no pain and lower accurace is a choice i hate to make. In longer tournaments 60+ players with many rounds, i tend to shoot higher vs weeker player, and only lower on the tough shots or hard games. :s Ive just always been ashamed to ask why i had this pain, afraid someone would laugh it off because i'm so skinny. Now i'm married :D time to solve this problem like a man. :p Laugh as much as you want, but when the $ is on the table, its them who will need extra weight. :p

Ps when my shoulder hurts for a week, its not after 1 hour drills. THis is when i'm doing a 10hour drillsession, close to nonstop.
today i played for 2 hours (1hour + 30min pauze + 1 hour) and it hurted for about 2 hours.
 
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"Move Free"...

Try using a supplement called "Move Free". I injured my shoulder many years ago in a skiing accident. It is all natural and gives me a pain free shoulder in spite of trashing it when I got knocked over skiing. If I play for extended periods and have not used the Move Free, my shoulder lets me know right away. Good luck with solving the ache.
 
Another idea Solly,
Check to see how much weight you have on your bridge hand. If you put more weight on your legs, so that you can easily lift your hand up and down, when in your stance ready to hit, this can help to reduce the amount of tension on your shoulder.

Colin
 
Maybe not your shoulder

I have exactly the same symptoms. There is a little joint right above your shoulder joint that could be damaged and causing you the grief. A regular shoulder X-Ray won't show the damage. they have to position you and align thngs to see if the little joint is where the issue is.

I suspect that I dislocated mine when I caught myself to avoid a nasty fall. It hurts a lot when I first start playing, may loosen up for awhile and then goes to really hurting. Hard to focus on anything else when the shoulder is screaming.

Hu
 
I had the same problem and it still hurts every once in a while. I even tried to take some time off of the table and nothing seemed to help. Finally I started paying attention to the weight I was putting on my bridge hand and the stiffness of my bridge arm when shooting.

What I had to do was bend my knees and put more weight onto my feet, instead of spreading the weight around between my feet and my bridge hand. I also make sure my arm isn't real stiff when shooting - slightly bending my bridge arm elbow helped a lot for this.

The last thing that I think helped a lot was being careful with how I slept on the arm. I made sure it keep it supported (with a pillow or something) all night and that seemed to help a lot.

If feels fine now but I do kind of baby it a bit.
 
Regardless of the other advice(which is all good), go see a doctor. I started having shoulder pain, and didn't go for a while, because I play for a living, and just thought I was playing too much, sore, etc. It ended up that I somehow tore my labrum, and had to have surgery. Doc says not to hit a ball for at least 5 months. Didn't wait quite that long, but you get the idea. Not having use of an arm at all for a couple of months isn't much fun, and just in case anything is wrong, the earlier you find out the better. Most likely it isn't, but a couple hours at the Dr is a small price to check it out. jmo
 
shoulder

hi, i use a 3 kilo dumbell and do curls and press it overhead ,try starting with reps of ten ,it usely takes a week to strengthenup and to get flexabilty.
 
Here's my input from a search of RSB

Solartje said:
Hi all

i had this problem before (since i started playing.)

The shoulder from my bridgearm hurts like hell after an hour of playing.
i solved it by having a higher stance, but everybody is telling me to get lower again and get my chin close to the cue. my potting has improved again, but my shoulder hurts like HELL again.

is this normal? i have had this for 3 years. i'm very slim (110pound for 6feet).
Are my muscles not strong enough? am I doing something wrong to hurt my shoulder?

in tournament is still ok, as i have times where i'm siting down, time in between matches,but at home when i'm training, after 1 hour of drills i just have to stop.
if i continue, ill have a shoulder who hurts for a week... It really isn't a cool thing. IF i get time to finaly get some proper training, i can't do more then a hour or two.

any help?

:(
Click to expand...

From Jan 1999

I recently developed the exact same problem and attribute it to a
week long snowstorm last month. I had to get out the snowblower every
day (some days twice) for a solid week. Additionally I like to ice-fish
and I use a hand auger for boring the hole through the ice. After
snowblowing and ice-fishing my shoulder is very sore. I initially went
for physical therapy thinking that the rotator cuff was torn. But now
the diagnosis is inflamation of the bursers (sp). The doctor last week
injected with cortisone and it is better, going back next week for
another injection. I'm also taking Lodine (prescription) which is an
anti-inflamatory non-steroidal medication.
I am also RH and the pain is in the left shoulder. This injury
has had two effects on my pool. I can not get as low as I want without
pain and I can not play for long periods. Now I'm 45 years old and may
have to learn to live with this and/or adjust my stance. My game is at
it's best when my chin is on the shaft and currently that is painful.
My advice to you is take over the counter anti-inflamatories and
exercise to strengthen the muscle. Good Luck.............Paul


From June 2000

You have my sympathy. Having played thru a couple of minor injuries I
can relate. When I had rotator cuff surgery in my left shoulder (I'm RH) I
played alot of 1 handed pool. It was impossible to get low in my stance
unless I played one handed. Another time when I cut open a finger on my
bridge hand I played opposite handed for a few weeks. IMO the opposite
handed playing was time well spent. I will very seldom shoot with the bridge
now and have confidence in my left handed ability. Trying to adapt to an
injury that will eventually go away may hurt you in the long run. FWIW, I
take a supplement called "Pain Free" it's active ingredients are Glucosamine
(500mg) and Chondroitin (400mg). I've had some relief in joint pain but
sometimes my shoulder aches and playing pool is literally a pain. BTW, I may
be vacationing in the Dominican next February. If it happens I'll let you
know the details and we can arrange to meet. Best regards..........Paul Mon
 
I have a torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder so I am very sympathetic to your plight. For me what helped the most was:
1) Rest your shoulder. You cannot begin any kind of therapy to strengthen your shoulder until the current inflammation is down. You need to rest it. Heat and ice would help.
2) for me it helped after stage one to begin working the shoulder out with weight resistance and stretching.
3) You should go to an orthopedic specialist and have the shoulder examined. They can tell you why you had pain. Hopefully you have not torn the rotator cuff like me as the only real cure is surgery followed by PT.

The exercising I have been doing for the last year has made it so my shoulder feels alot better but I still do not possess alot of strength in my right shoulder, esp exercises where I lift the arm above the shoulder. So for me, shooting jacked up, jump shots and cue in the air masse shots are difficult to execute without pain. My break is about the same but i have to be careful to not really let loose on it until I have warmed up considerably. This has definitely impacted my game.
 
Definitely go see a doctor. I dealt with the same pain in my bridge arm for almost 2 years. Turned out I had a torn rotator cuff, which required surgery. I had surgery in January, and while I still have problems, it's not as bad as it was pre-surgery. The bad thing is losing 6 months of playing time and then trying to get back in stroke.

-djb
 
A good friend of mine just underwent shoulder surgery. He had worn out the ligament. Just so you know...it doesn't get better until you do something about it.
Think aout it like this...you get it fixed..maybe be out of pool a couple months then you come back playing the best pool you are capable of playing...and the best reason....NO PAIN...
 
unknownpro said:
Anti-inflamatory pain medication is proven to cause joint deterioration and arthritis in medical studies.

Anybody that is serious about pool should, imo, do regular back exercises. I do shoulder exercises and I am adding some beginner gymnastic training (rather slowly) as I have read that working on rings is the only thing that can really get you over serious shoulder problems in the long run. Here's a website that I've been using...

http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/

Separations/dislocations and impingements come in many varieties and degrees and are not something that you would necessarilly be aware of or a doctor/therapist can see. These pains may feel like soreness but when popped back into place they will immediately disappear.

Chiropractic neck and back adjustments can sometimes help a lot without even touching the shoulder.
Click to expand...


This quote is a good reason to believe the addage, "don't believe everything you read on the internet". I know unkownpro is only trying to help, and I can see some of the sources he posted here and in other threads, but much of the info is not sound advice.

Gynmanstic rings for a shoulder injury, especially for one that sound like shoulder impingement is probably not a real great idea.

Chiropractic for a shoulder injury? Sure, sometimes shoulder pain is originating from the neck, but it is doubtful in this case. If it was coming from the neck, chiro may be a viable option, but not the first I would seek out here.

Any doctor/therapist that can not diagnose a dislocation, separation or impingement needs to go back to school. These are very basic things that we test for all the time.

I am an orthopedic physical therapist. I work with a number of orthopedic surgeons that specialize in shoulders, so I see quite a few of them. This topic has been discussed here quite a few times, so a search on the subject may also help as I have answered this question in some detail in other threads.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough time right now to give a lengthy answer, but essentailly what you are describing here sounds like a rotator cuff impingement that is very common in the bridge arm of pool players. You need to try to decrease the amount of pressure through your shoulder while in your stance. Maybe try putting your elbow on the table and putting some of your weight through that. If you can shoot comfortably like that, it will help a lot. Also, strengthening of the rotator cuff muscles, and possibly stretching of the shoulder (depending on your specific shoulder) will be beneficial. If you PM me, I would be more than happy to give you some direction on this.
 
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