My Swing (FireDragon76)

[newtogolf]

The physical therapist said I have some problems with range of motion in my shoulder and I probably have tendonitis too.  I got some exercises to do and will meet with them twice a week for a while.

My wrist and elbow measurements are "medium" frame but my legs are shorter so that's always going to make me seem to be heavier for my height.

I have limited range of motion in my right shoulder from football.  You'll be fine, just work on stretching it out before you practice your swing.

[kalaz]

I got some exercises to do and will meet with them twice a week for a while.

Lol, I remember I once went to a physio and even though I was totally fine he found a reason for me to meet him at least 1 a month :-D

[FireDragon76]

I definitely plan on looking elsewhere if I don't get improvement. The physical therapist I used to go to dropped my insurance. They were great, very knowledgeable and skilled (they got me into foam rolling which really helped my lower body). The place I go to now is a different outfit, I'll have to see how it goes. I never really realized how much I favored that shoulder until I took up golf. I wouldn't be surprised if I had some scar tissue in my left shoulder and that's causing problems. That can be broken up with really deep massage. I did a little bit of pitching and chipping yesterday (only hitting off tees). I have some soreness in my deltoid near the rotator cuff and my shoulder still clicks if I lift my arm up to the side over my shoulder, but otherwise my shoulder seems to be doing better- everything is starting to feel stronger overall. Mostly I'm alternating using a heating pad with compression and Tiger Balm. Aside from the chipping and pitching, I don't think I'll be doing any golfing until I get some better news. But complete disuse doesn't seem to help either, I just feel stiffer afterwards

[Lihu]

If you hear a clicking sound in your shoulder you might not be swinging correctly.

[billchao]

If you hear a clicking sound in your shoulder you might not be swinging correctly.

I doubt he hurt his shoulder pitching and chipping, but more likely at the gym. FWIW my right shoulder does something similar, only it pops a bit as I lower my arm down. It doesn't quite sit right in the socket and I can pop it in and out as I sit here. A physical therapist told me once that it's from an injury, possibly when an adult pulled on my arm or something when I was little. I don't know, but it's been like that as long as I can remember, and it hasn't affect my golf swing at all.

[FireDragon76]

I doubt he hurt his shoulder pitching and chipping, but more likely at the gym. FWIW my right shoulder does something similar, only it pops a bit as I lower my arm down. It doesn't quite sit right in the socket and I can pop it in and out as I sit here. A physical therapist told me once that it's from an injury.

I've been trying to become an expert on the shoulder in the past week, unlike other body parts its something I never gave much thought to. My arm pops and clicks as it moves up and down to the side, it only feels completely stable over my head or hanging down at my side, or if I bring it up and down in front or behind me. It could be a labral tear ,which would suck but I don't seem to have all the other symptoms consistently. I've never had my arm dislocated. Another possibility is tendonitis or impingement, maybe scar tissue or bone spurs. A good follow through feels difficult to do in the golf swing, when I try lifting the club up it just feels so heavy like I don't have complete control over the golf swing. Follow through is important because its the point the club decelerates and this actually makes it easier on your shoulder long term. Otherwise you end up with the same issues baseball pitchers have, where all the energy of their arm swing can jerk on their shoulder, instead of being more circular. A lot of stuff about the golf swing is starting to click biomechanically- the arms and shoulders power the swing but the body rotation creates space for the swing to make it more rotational and therefore safer. And its not really hitting the ball, it's swinging through the ball. Otherwise you are going to have tempo problems that are probably going to ratchet up the risk because power and effort are going to be in all the wrong places. I'm also suspicious of the gymn more than the golf swing. I also have been playing Nintendo Wii some, so that could do it too (needless to say I'm not playing Wii right now, and may even sell it off and just stick with my other game console that uses a traditional gamepad). In the gymn I tried doing a pull up a few times (like 3 times), nothing too extreme but I may have strained my shoulder trying to do it. So perhaps I am looking more at an overuse injury, because it didn't initially hurt, its more like a bunch of things happening at once. Not one single thing really, I never recall really going over the top crazy. The shoulder stretching my physical therapist gave me just doesn't seem to be improving things, so I will have a talk with her and maybe ask my doctor about imaging the shoulder to see what's going on... if they both think that's a good idea. Hitting fat shots has been a problem and I know that can hurt the wrist but I don't know about further up the arm, like the shoulder- I suppose its a possibility. Fat shots are something I struggle with from time to time, although doing the pitching yesterday I only got slightly fat shots, and only when not hitting off a tee.

[FireDragon76]

Physical therapy is intense, lots of arm-cycling and rowing, and I haven't really noticed a lot of improvements in range of motion yet. More soreness, some pain, and the feeling of swelling is no better on the third day. I went to my doctor to just get an update and double-check. He said he thinks its unlikely anything is torn in my shoulder and MRI would not be worth the risks. Most likely what's causing the clicking and popping is inflammation in the shoulder. He also thinks it might be a good idea if I got deep tissue massage because there's probably scar tissue in my shoulder joint that exercise is irritating. My shoulder is also probably somewhat unstable and lacks muscular development in the right places. He's given me no real restrictions on playing golf except to take it easy at least until the shoulder gets stronger. I've been using muscle rubs like Tiger Balm or Chinese linaments. They seem to help the shoulder relax and stretch better but sometimes seem to make the inflammation worse and now I'm noticing pain more around the bursa in my shoulder. I've avoided using ice for the most part but yesterday the soreness was bad enough I used it briefly. NSAID's are out of the question because of the stomach risks (I just got over moderate gastritis). TENS is my main method of pain relief and I take some CBD oil at night to help dull the pain a bit. I was given a TENS unit years ago when undergoing pelvic rehab, the physical therapist thought it might help with fibromyalgia. Since fibro for me involves so many different parts of the body hurting all at once, it was never that useful during flare-ups. But it's finally gotten a lot of use on my shoulder, and it works very well... it reminds me a lot of the sort of pain relief you can get with acupuncture. Its been weeks since I hit a golf ball and I intend to go back to the driving range and do some pitching and chipping. I miss it a lot and my body felt better overall staying much more physically active. I believe based on my experiences at the PT and gymn that my problem was I was focused on doing too much low-rep, high effort exercise. I don't have the necessary muscular endurance to do that yet. Doing 22 reps in some of the PT excercises makes the whole joint feel stronger, and its probably the direction I need to go.

[Pretzel]

He said he thinks its unlikely anything is torn in my shoulder and MRI would not be worth the risks.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly are the risks to an MRI? I thought they were developed so that doctors could view internal body structures without exposing people to the levels of radiation present in CAT scans. Isn't cost the main prohibitive factor to MRI's?

[FireDragon76]

Just out of curiosity, what exactly are the risks to an MRI? I thought they were developed so that doctors could view internal body structures without exposing people to the levels of radiation present in CAT scans. Isn't cost the main prohibitive factor to MRI's?

It's possible my doctor was thinking of MR-arthrograms, where x-rays or fluoroscopes are also used to guide some of the procedure to get the contrast dye into the joint. Useless medical procedures are another risk from MRI's, albeit indirectly. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor by having an elective MRI. Nevermind that I was asymptomatic and a neurosurgeon later told me not to worry about it. We just monitored it for a few years and noticed no change, so he told me it probably wasn't a tumor, just unusual brain anatomy. It turns out I've read in a few books since that its common to find random oddities through MRI, and that even relatively safe medical scans expose a person to potentially unnecessary medical procedures. We live in a data driven world but there's a fine line between getting more relevant information and being drowned in misleading data, and MRI's aren't immune from leading medical staff down rabbit holes. I wouldn't mind honestly getting the arthrogram, even though it involves x-rays and sticking a big needled into the shoulder joint... as the shoulder soreness is the worst pain I've had in my upper body in a long time and I'm scared of that kind of pain and the "unknown" factor hiding behind it. But I've learned to trust my doctors judgment. He's being conservative but I know from experience that will lead to fewer headaches overall.

[jclark]

Do you think since you are going through all of this treatment and trying to prevent further injury that you will seek a golf professional to help you swing without further aggrevating yourself? I know hacking at a ball with bad mechanics can lead to injuries. Keep up the hard work with PT.

[FireDragon76]

I have no plans to go to a golf professional for lessons. I believe the gymn was mostly responsible for the injury, not golf. Once I get rehabilitated my swing will probably improve. I was never pushing myself that hard at the driving range, certainly golf wasn't helping my shoulder but I doubt it was the main factor. Probably, my shoulder was unstable and had issues with range of motion, and trying to do pull ups and pressing type excercises injured the shoulder. I've read that rows are much better for people with unstable shoulders, usually the pectoral muscles and tendons are too tight and the detloids too weak. So I plan to work on that. My shoulder took a turn for the worst yesterday after physical therapy, got swollen shoulder and much less range of motion, I went to an urgent care center this morning after a having trouble sleeping due to pain, and they put me in a sling and gave me a prescription for oxycodone and an MRI. I was hoping just to get a corticosteroid injection in the shoulder but I guess the doctor wants the shoulder looked at first. My guess is I got bursitis in the shoulder and its gotten worse due to physical therapy. So I'm not going to be doing much golf for a while. I went ahead and cancelled physical therapy for the moment. Once the swelling goes down and I get some answers I plan to work with a sports chiropractor or massage therapist. I'm not impressed at all with the PT I did at the clinic, my shoulder kept hurting more and more and they ignored my complaints. I really have to have a good relationship with any therapist. I have issues because I have autism and trouble communicating nonverbal stuff. I'll say I'm hurting but sometimes my face and body language don't convey pain very well and I'm not very good for standing up for myself, I prefer to just avoid conflict.

[iacas]

I have no plans to go to a golf professional for lessons.

IMO, that's a mistake (if you want to get better at golf at a reasonable pace). You're not going to figure it out on your own by reading things, especially if you read or give weight to the wrong things or ignore the right things .

[David in FL]

I have no plans to go to a golf professional for lessons.

Why not? [quote name="FireDragon76" url="/t/77970/my-swing-firedragon76/90#post_1082628"] Once I get rehabilitated my swing will probably improve. [/quote] Why do you think your swing will improve if you don't have someone knowledgeable about the swing to help and guide you?

[Ernest Jones]

Once I get rehabilitated my swing will probably improve.

Makes sense. When I wake up tomorrow I will suddenly know how to play the piano.

[No Mulligans]

Evolvr is very reasonable priced.  You could do that.

Professional lessons, including Evolvr?  They are only useful if you'd be willing to take their advice.  Do you think you could?

[FireDragon76]

IMO, that's a mistake (if you want to get better at golf at a reasonable pace). You're not going to figure it out on your own by reading things, especially if you read or give weight to the wrong things or ignore the right things .

Who decides what's the right or wrong things? The fundamentals one person focuses on may be totally different than another person. I'd consider myself fortunate if I got to play any golf before the end of the year. "Progress" is a luxury at this point.

[David in FL]

Who decides what's the right or wrong things?

I tend to listen to experienced experts in areas in which I'm not as knowledgeable. Especially so in those areas in which I'm almost wholly ignorant. That might just be me though.....

[iacas]

Who decides what's the right or wrong things? The fundamentals one person focuses on may be totally different than another person.

A good instructor. Not you.