Do Athletes Get Shoulder Injuries Too?

The answer is a big YES! It is really inevitable for athletes to acquire shoulder injuries, of course, depending on the type of sport that a person does. Orthopedic doctors are the ones who can recommend certain treatments for this kind of injury. Most likely sports such as volleyball, tennis, swimming, javelin throw, and badminton, which involve a lot of shoulder movements and power are very likely to acquire shoulder injuries. Volleyball and swimming for example, because it doesn’t have any particular tool to use, compared to badminton and tennis that has rackets, with volleyball and swimming all you need is your bare hands, shoulder movements and of course foot works.

Signs of a shoulder injury

The most common symptoms of having shoulder problems are shoulder stiffness and excessive pain that causes difficulty to rotate the shoulder to its normal position. You would also feel that you don’t have much power to move your shoulder and even with lighter movements, you would instantly feel the pain. In some cases, you would feel that your shoulder too sloppy. Shoulder muscle cramps are signs of a shoulder injury as well.

The Types of Sports and Their Injuries

In Volleyball – We all know that volleyball is a sport of agility, mind, and power, and most likely it involves shoulder and hand movements to execute actions such as receiving/ digging, spiking, blocking and tossing the ball. It is unavoidable for them to not experience shoulder problems since they tend to do excessive training and workouts to master the sport. In volleyball, Spikers are the most prone to shoulder injuries because starting from the approach, swinging of the hand backward and then upwards, then at 90 degrees to hit the ball downwards again to establish a powerful spike, and with that this sport is proven to have a high risk of shoulder injuries as well.  Some of the common shoulder injury in volleyball are rotators cuff tears, dislocation, and subluxations or also known as partial dislocation).

In Swimming – Athletes in swimming also have a high risk of experiencing shoulder injuries, at least 90% of beginners or newbies to this sport obtain shoulder injury based on a study. Since this sport uses shoulder and hand movements to do exercises underwater.  Intensive workout and waterworks are needed to execute a 360-degree rotation of the shoulders and hands to establish the required speed for a swimmer. The different methods of swimming such as butterfly, freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke, again, can potentially lead to should injury or fracture. This can also lead to shoulder irritation and inflammation, as well as rotators cuff tears.

In Badminton – Rotator cuff tears are the most prevalent shoulder injury for badminton athletes. This sport requires you to swing your hand at shoulders 90 degrees upwards and downwards to smash the ball with power. This is the reason why shoulder injury happens to players, most of the time.

In Tennis – In Tennis, the most common injury based on a study is Bursitis, which is the inflammation of a shoulders’ sac fluid called Bursa. Repeated stresses and in-depth training while performing tennis strokes are the major factor why tennis players experience this kind of injury.

In Javelin Throw – Javelin throw is a sport which requires shoulder and hand power to throw the javelin spear in a long distance target. Obviously, this sport also has a high risk of having shoulder injuries by means of throwing. Players may also acquire the following health issues: Slap Tear’s injury, rotator cuff tendonitis and tears, Internal Impingement, Instability, and Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit (GIRD). The reason why athletes who play this sport has toned and muscled bodies.

What are the safety precautions to prevent shoulder injuries?

We all know that different sports have designated safety precautions to meet during practices and at the actual game, but we all know that not all athletes are well disciplined inside and outside of the playing court which often causes unwanted injuries.

Here are some tips to avoid having shoulders and other kinds of injury.

1. If it happened that you accidentally hurt your shoulders during practice or in the actual game, you should immediately seek for a medical assistance from your respective coaching staff to prevent a severe shoulder injury from occurring.
2. If ever, even after the medication you still felt pain in your shoulders, you should advise your coaching staffs, in order for you to have a rest and fully recover from the injury.
3. If you get to feel any kind of shoulder injury symptoms, immediately seek for a medical assistance from a shoulder specialist or shoulder surgeon Woodbridge.
4. Observe and follow the safety tips of each sport during training and at the actual game.