Shoulder Pain while running

[Kevin T.]

Hey guys,

When I run, which is only sprint work for baseball-no long distance, after a while, my right shoulder starts killing me. It happened last year during basketball season, but it went away. It happens every once in a while. I'm starting to think it has something to do with my running form-specifically my arm drive. But, I've alway thought my arm drive form to be solid and whenever I focus on it, it's always fine. So, I don't know if it's because I'm lacking flexibility there and eventually it starts hurting or what. Any thoughts? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[moana]

I always get that too. I was told it has to do with my arm drive. I have tried to minimize how much I swing my arms around, although when the pain does hit, I run with that particular arm behind my back until the pain eases up a bit. It helps momentarily.

[Kevin T.]

Problem for me is I need the arm drive. That's the difference between diving into the bag right before the throw or getting thrown out. I ususally just ice it when it starts acting up, but i'll ignore it as long as i can. I'm just wondering if its a should flexibility problem and if it's something I can do. If it has something to do with that, I wouldn't be surprised that its that shoulder, as I'm a lefty and I've never had any arm problems in my baseball career.

[Bill Hartman]

Kevin,

Is it your throwing shoulder? If so, reach behind your back and see how far up you back you can reach. Compare it to the non-throwing shoulder. If your throwing shoulder doesn't reach as high as non-throwing you may have a tight posterior shoulder capsule. It's quite common in throwers. Coupled with the laxity you get from repetitive throws, you may be getting some impingement when you sprint.

Bill

[Kevin T.]

So, would I just do shoulder stretches to increase the flexibility? Or are there other things I could try out? Thanks [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Kevin T.]

Actually, it's my non-throwing arm. That's why I'm confused.

[tossedup]

Have you ever tried this from an earlier post here on JP's site?

How to cure shoulder problems (Trust me this will do it
90% of the time)

With a large towel or broomstick I want you to hold it with
straight arms for the entire time of what i describe in the
following movement--a large "rolled up like a rope" beach towel
works good but honestly a longer broomstick (without the
bristles) works best in my opinion. Start out with it with a
really wide grip (with straight arms) in front of you (on your
quads) and with straight arms bring it up and overhead and then
down and back to the middle of your back--STRAIGHT ARMS ALL THE
WAY--this is going to be very difficult and hard the first
couple times out and then will be "old hat" with time----and
its going to be painful in a stretching pump kind of way---i
want 50 reps each time you do this--one repetition is from in
front of your face (all with straight arms) to up overhead and
back, and then down all the way to the middle of your back and
then back up overhead to in front of your face again (again all
with straight arms)--the important part of the movement is the
area overhead that is really tight--do all of this
carefully/slowly---dont just whip it over and back---if your
hand is slipping off the broomstick even with the widest grip,
or you cant bring your arms over straight and the start bending
on you, you have some serious shoulder inflexibility and need
to work this hard and get up to speed (or you could just need a
longer broomstick too)--again do all of these revolutions
controlled and carefully--push into the stretch as you go along
toward the 50 revolutions, your chest will be pushing outward
and your shoulders rolling back--your shoulders are going to
blow up with so much blood its going to be incredibly painfull
pumpwise--Do this once a day at nite as many times a week as
you can---sometimes I have people do it every single day---but
every time you do it try to move your grip inward (thats the
key)----its going to be very hard to do but try your best to
move your grip inward for the next 2-4 weeks and your range of
motion with shoulders will increase dramatically and any
impingement and the majority of other problems should be gone
in 2 weeks--also try to move your grip in as you are doing the
50 revolutions--start off with a stretching but relatively easy
10 to warm up some, then try to move your grip in even by a
centimeter if you can for the next 20 revolutions and then at
30 try to move the grip in another centimeter--really try to
push what you can do stretchwise once your warmed up
here--trust me this sounds easy but your going to be muttering
"fuck you dante" after you get to your 25th revolution--Ive
cured too many shoulder problems with this simple movement now
its pretty ridiculous, and this and a menthol rub applied
liberally daily and before sleep has cured alot of
shoulder/bicepital tendonitis in trainees ---Heres a pic
attached to this post so you can get an idea (thanks to a
trainee of mine who cured his shoulders with this)--but
remember the broomstick goes overhead and all the way back to
the middle of the back (he just drew the start of the movement
when you begin)

EC responded:
quote:
Yeah, somebody emailed it to me the other day. It works great
to improve flexibility in healthy individuals with a
predisposition to shoulder problems BEFORE THE FACT, but I
wouldn't recommend it to a large percentage of those with
existing problems. This movement has been around Olympic
lifting circles for years; it's nothing revolutionary. I
generally include it as a component of a comprehensive dynamic
flexibility warm-up with my clients.

But, just to clarify, the 90% figure is a gross exaggeration,
as it's just an acute measure to improve flexibility. True
rehab schemes pay attention to restoring existing neural
deficits and working with activation patterns.
I've done this the past few days, and I have really severe problems
doing it. A normal broomstick is not wide enough... I have to use a
spare piece of floorboard that is a good 2-3 feet longer, no joke..
When I try to do it, it feels like it would be literally impossible
to do it with a closer grip, but my girlfriend can do it just fine
with a regular broomstick, so go figure. I never figured my shoulders
were THAT messed up. "

This has helped my tendonitis in my shoulder tremdously in just the short time I have preformed the exercise. Just something for you to look in to. Good luck.