Shoulder strengthening exercises for golfers

[Nutter]

I'm only 23, but I've been occasionally dislocating my shoulder playing golf since I was 17.  First off, has anyone else had a similar experience or even heard of this happening?  The first time it happened was at regionals when I was in high school on the driving range.  I ended up dislocating it and pull it back into place 3 times before I dropped out, the pain is worse than breaking bones.  I know now that I have to stop playing when it happens or it will continue happening until it has a chance to tighten up.  It rarely happens now (maybe once or twice a year), but recently i've been feeling some cracking and grinding in the area.  Are any of you knowledgable in the area of golf type exercises and have any suggestions as far as some that may strengthen the shoulder in a way most useful for a golf swing?

Cheers

[saevel25]

Originally Posted by Nutter

I'm only 23, but I've been occasionally dislocating my shoulder playing golf since I was 17.  First off, has anyone else had a similar experience or even heard of this happening?  The first time it happened was at regionals when I was in high school on the driving range.  I ended up dislocating it and pull it back into place 3 times before I dropped out, the pain is worse than breaking bones.  I know now that I have to stop playing when it happens or it will continue happening until it has a chance to tighten up.  It rarely happens now (maybe once or twice a year), but recently i've been feeling some cracking and grinding in the area.  Are any of you knowledgable in the area of golf type exercises and have any suggestions as far as some that may strengthen the shoulder in a way most useful for a golf swing?

Cheers

Yea, they say that if you dislocate a joint the likely hood of it happening again is much greater. My friend played soccer in highschool, dislocated his shoulder a few times. Basically it would pop out with out much effort doing normal tasks.

He got better once he really rehabbed it and got his shoulder muscles stronger. I would seriously consider seeing a physical therapist or someone who deals with sports injuries. The worst thing you could do is go at it with amateur knowledge and hurt yourself.

I am concerned with the cracking and grinding. It sounds like you lost a lot of cartalidge in your shoulder and might be grinding bone on bone, or have a bone chip in the shoulder. I would seriously go see a doctor, and maybe get an x-ray done.

[sker]

Absolutely agree with seavel. Get some proper medical advice. Worst case scenario is you may need surgery, but IMO, at your age you have plenty of time to recover and the long term benefits of having them sorted out now are worth a few months of recovery and rehab.

No medical qualifications but have seen two friends get drastically worse as they kept trying to put off proper treatment.

The first used to have both shoulders 'pop out' several times in a game (soccer), and the other has just had surgery two days ago after also hearing bones grinding swinging a club.

[MS256]

This is absolutely NOT a recommendation for anybody. Seeing a doctor is the correct recommendation. Especially if your shoulder is dislocating.

My right shoulder is pretty bad from throwing way too hard for way too long, and very often without being warmed up properly. Thrown in with that (no pun intended) was that I had a very physically demanding job. Many of the guys half my age on that job had to quit and have rotator cuff surgery and get a different job.

It never has popped out of place but last year the pain was affecting my golf game quite a bit. The closer I came to a decent follow through the more it bothered me. It finally got to the point where if I really had to hit a long shot that had no bail out (and had to be on line) I had to just grit my teeth and make myself do it, knowing it was going to hurt.

I decided to go out to the net every other day with a bag full of baseballs and make 150 to 200 throws into the net. Started out with not much more than lobbing them into the net and increased the speed I was throwing very gradually as the weeks went by. Within a couple of months I was able to throw from 60 feet and at least hard enough to keep the ball from dropping with no pain at all. Still a very far cry from how hard I used to be able to throw a ball but a big improvement anyway

At the same time I noticed I was having absolutely no pain when playing golf. Wierd I guess that the thing that hurt my shoulder in the first place seems to have helped it recover (at least temporarily).

[boogielicious]

+3 on seeing a Dr and Physical Therapist.  They will give you the proper exercises to strengthen your shoulder and prevent further injury.  The exercises are easy and will help your golf game.

[Nutter]

Thanks for the responses, I should of mentioned I did see a specialist years ago when it started happening.  His advice was training with a physical therapist over surgery considering my age but unfortunately I was even younger then and never took it that seriously.  I'll probably see him again soon to get a fresh opinion and some up to date x-rays done, guess you learn you're not invincible at some point.