By Calisthenics Coach, Nathan Leith (Maximum Potential Calisthenics)
Have you ever suffered from a chronic injury that’s held you back from consistently progressing your training?
Perhaps you’ve even felt a pain in a location that you have never injured before.
Injuries come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes the pain is quite sharp and intense and other times it may be a very dull pain. Major problems can arise in many cases when the actual site of pain is not even remotely close to the initial point of impact or injury location.
For example… Let’s say that you’re a tennis player who always makes wide arching swings in accordance with your playing style. If you were to injure your foot badly you will instinctively place less pressure through that foot and therefore compensate with your other leg. As the years go by you may maintain this habit which will cause your torso to twist causing some mild scoliosis in your spine. This stance may then cause a dip in one of your shoulders (you see where I’m going with this yet?) which as you continue to play tennis can cause your wide arching swings to place extra tension on your shoulder joint and scapula.
From this hypothetical example we can see where the knowledge of a sports injury professional really comes in handy; often, in order to get to the root of a problem, we first must look at the big picture and then armed with more knowledge, diagnose the scapula injury from a holistic standpoint.
The ‘scapula’ is the scientific name given to the shoulder blade which is actually the two large triangular shaped bones that you will find in your upper back. Surrounding this bone is a complex web of muscles that act upon the ball and socket joint that is your shoulder which keeps you moving fluidly within that joint.
The scapula is an area of the body often mired in injuries for people from just about any walk of life. From people who are just going about their daily activities like reaching for a jar from the high shelf in your kitchen… to an athlete who stretches and trains on a daily basis.
The good news is that these injuries are preventable.
If you have or if you haven’t suffered from scapula injuries the time to begin working on strengthening them up is NOW!
If you have an injury you’re not sure about and never taken the time to have it looked at by a professional I highly recommend you have someone like Barangaroo Orthopaedic & Sports Injury Clinic give you a once over. If you need to see a physiotherapist for an existing injury, book HERE.
Personally? Well, in the past, I have injured both of my rotator cuffs, one while wakeboarding and the other lifting weights in the gym when I was in a foul mood. The transition from being a bodybuilder who never really stretched at all to a calisthenics coach that loves running and joining in on mobility classes… I’ve performed a full 180 on my approach to training in this regard!
In our 1on1 PT and small group calisthenics strength and hypertrophy classes we focus on scapular strengthening methods and ALWAYS warm up the body before the training begins. Come enjoy a FREE week on us 🙂 Visit the Maximum Potential Calisthenics HERE to book in now!
~Nathan Leith