Shoulder Pain

[FeuerFrei]

I haven't really noticed any pains along with the shoulder pain. On the other hand, I can't rule out there being something related. I get tightness in my upper back and my neck on a pretty regular basis. Those might be related. I've also had a nagging pain in my right hip flexor that had some impact on my running gate for awhile but it did not appear to have any impact on the shoulder...at least none that I have noticed.

[Sharla]

Yeah I sort of think most things are related. I'm not sure if I just make things more complicated for myself thinking that way but I didn't recover from my knee pain until I dealt with my back pain.

I'm sure my issues are not all 100 % better but I think there's still a lot of improvement possible. I sort of think dealing with these little niggles might improve my performance a lot.

When I look at old photos of myself I know my posture is a lot straighter than it used to be but I guess I had to be doing a certain amount of exercise and have a few other factors thrown into the mix to get pain from it.

In a way I think if I deal with it all now as much as possible I won't have to worry about it as much as many other people in my old age. What's a 'niggle' now might be really debilitating in 40 years time. I think the other option is to be almost a bit of a hypochondriac now and fix as much as possible so I can still be active in my old age.

Sorry if all the posts I put up about my aches and pains get boring - i just think it seems like it should all be simple once you've worked it out but until you have your own little biomechanical issues fully sorted they're just plain confusing!

I wonder if having female hips might mean you and I will be prone to some similar things FeuerFrie?

[donnydarkoIRL]

Heya Sharla, the fact that it's your "good" shoulder suggests that it may be a resultant of impact.

Often when starting boxing we throw our harder punch (right straight) a lot more frequently than any other punch we end up doing some damage to the cartilage in the socket and also to the ligaments around the shoulder.
This is because in our earnest efforts at the start we throw arm punches and they play against us in the long term.

I guess what I would do is apply a something like Tiger balm and Shadow box the punches from the right as a stretch. I find this helps release the synovial fluid in the joints as well as slowly bringing the ligaments you will be using into life, just before the workout.

Kee[p us posted

[FeuerFrei]

I've also had a battered old biker swear to me about a substance call Bio Freeze or Cryo Freeze or something like that. He told me that it really helps him out with aches and pains. I have yet to try it, but I've kept it in the back of my mind. Right now, I use mineral ice or tiger balm.
I don't think having female hips play quite so much into it. What I think may factor in more is the fact that female shoulders are a little different from male shoulders. Female shoulders tend to naturally direct the arms further away from the body's center line. That you are having pain when throwing the cross is a little puzzling since that and the hook are two punches that are compatible with the away from the center line tendency.
It usually is the straight line punches towards the center line that cause damage to the shoulders.

[Sharla]

I guess I just thought that female hips beign larger could mean that postural problems are going to have a bigger effect. Sort of similar to the way women will often have a larger Q angle causing knee pain.

I am really interested in the differences in our shoulders too though. If you know where I can find some good info on this i'd be interested to read more!

Also I don't completely understand why the cross wouldn't still go to the centre line? Can you explain that further to me?I kinda thought that once the pivot and hip movement brings it to the right point it moves in a similar way to a jab - but with more power and momentum beind it from the pivot?

[FeuerFrei]

Oh, the cross can go to the center line all right. It just doesn't travel along the center line. Sorry, I probably didn't explain that right the first time. A cross comes from more to the outside and you can direct it to where you want to go, including the center line. I'll have to see if I can dig up some information about the shoulders. Most of what I've got on the shoulder differences in females, I got from a spoken lecture on the subject. The hip differences came up too.
I agree with you about everything being interconnected and related. I've just noticed that the further from each other affected locations are, the less involved they are with each other. For example, the hip is not very close to the shoulder so while they are going to have influences on each other the influence will not be so great that you need to scrutinize both to great lengths to find out what is making the shoulder hurt. I would focus more on what is going on with the shoulder area and it's immediate surrounding areas first. Don't completely ignore the hips but focus first on the shoulder girdle.
Just as soon as I get a chance, though, I'll see if I can find you some more info on the female shoulder.

[Sharla]

Heya Sharla, the fact that it's your "good" shoulder suggests that it may be a resultant of impact.

Often when starting boxing we throw our harder punch (right straight) a lot more frequently than any other punch we end up doing some damage to the cartilage in the socket and also to the ligaments around the shoulder.
This is because in our earnest efforts at the start we throw arm punches and they play against us in the long term.

I guess what I would do is apply a something like Tiger balm and Shadow box the punches from the right as a stretch. I find this helps release the synovial fluid in the joints as well as slowly bringing the ligaments you will be using into life, just before the workout.

Kee[p us posted

Oh, the cross can go to the center line all right. It just doesn't travel along the center line. Sorry, I probably didn't explain that right the first time. A cross comes from more to the outside and you can direct it to where you want to go, including the center line. I'll have to see if I can dig up some information about the shoulders. Most of what I've got on the shoulder differences in females, I got from a spoken lecture on the subject. The hip differences came up too.
I agree with you about everything being interconnected and related. I've just noticed that the further from each other affected locations are, the less involved they are with each other. For example, the hip is not very close to the shoulder so while they are going to have influences on each other the influence will not be so great that you need to scrutinize both to great lengths to find out what is making the shoulder hurt. I would focus more on what is going on with the shoulder area and it's immediate surrounding areas first. Don't completely ignore the hips but focus first on the shoulder girdle.
Just as soon as I get a chance, though, I'll see if I can find you some more info on the female shoulder.

Thanks Hitmandonny and FeuerFrie

I hope it's not the result of an impact. I'll be really POd with myself for ignoring it if it is because i don't remember any injury or moment of intense shoulder pain. I don't think it's a recent thing because I lost power in my right cross a long time ago - before my knee started hurting. That's one reason I think it's all related.

I guess I was thinking it should be related to my back because I know that is bad and that is what causes the hip tightness and what caused/aggrivated the knee pain.

I'd be really interested in reading that info on the female shoulder any time if you have a chance to put it up too. That's be awesome of you!

I think i used to have one shoulder higher than the other. Now though they look like they're about the same height but the bone on the top of the right one sticks out a bit more. Does that indicate anything in particular?

[Bomp]

I haven't really noticed any pains along with the shoulder pain. On the other hand, I can't rule out there being something related. I get tightness in my upper back and my neck on a pretty regular basis. Those might be related. I've also had a nagging pain in my right hip flexor that had some impact on my running gate for awhile but it did not appear to have any impact on the shoulder...at least none that I have noticed.

I've also had a nagging right hip flexor problem, nothing serious at all just annoying, I think it comes from throwing the cross, when you turn your hips with the right leg trailing behind there's a strain on the hip flexor. Lots of warming up and streitching is the answer.

Donny's comments on arm punches when a beginner rings true to me as well. Throwing tense arm punches to try and get more power before getting the technique right does yank at the shoulder and can do damage. I still get over enthusiastic sometimes on the bag and lose my form, when I do it now I go and shadow a little to get the relaxation back and seems to do the trick.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Thats pretty much the perfect thing to do.
Shadow box a little and get in the mode.

[Sharla]

Hey Sharla, hope it's improved a bit for you.

Mine was threatening to flare up just yesterday.
A bit worried now as I'm just about to kick into a new training regime

Thanks Donny It hasn't been too bad lately. I think I need to be careful I don't overdo other upper body training when doing weights etc. I'm keen to strengthen it though to get back my right cross which was once much stronger than it has been for a while.

I'm going to put MD's shoulder stabilizing technique into my weight training routine and see how it goes. I've also noticed i slouch to the right a bit - especially when sitting down so I'm trying to stop that in case this bad postural habit has anything to do with it.

I hope yours doesn't continue to flare up. Do you think you can pin point a relatively steep increase in some kind of upper body training that might have set it off?

I haven't really noticed any pains along with the shoulder pain. On the other hand, I can't rule out there being something related. I get tightness in my upper back and my neck on a pretty regular basis. Those might be related. I've also had a nagging pain in my right hip flexor that had some impact on my running gate for awhile but it did not appear to have any impact on the shoulder...at least none that I have noticed.

I've also had a nagging right hip flexor problem, nothing serious at all just annoying, I think it comes from throwing the cross, when you turn your hips with the right leg trailing behind there's a strain on the hip flexor. Lots of warming up and streitching is the answer.

Donny's comments on arm punches when a beginner rings true to me as well. Throwing tense arm punches to try and get more power before getting the technique right does yank at the shoulder and can do damage. I still get over enthusiastic sometimes on the bag and lose my form, when I do it now I go and shadow a little to get the relaxation back and seems to do the trick.

Good point here Bomp! I tend to over-reach often with my punches since i'm short and try to compensate. This is a bad habit and I've come up with a few ideas to train myself not to do it so we'll see how it goes!

Thats pretty much the perfect thing to do.
Shadow box a little and get in the mode.

Yeah for a while I was doing static stretching for too long after my warm up before doing other work. I think I was effectively cooling down again and then starting training cold.

A team mate pointed it out to me and now I'm leaving all my static stretches for after training and just doing dynamic stretches before. Hopefully it'll make things run a little more smoothly!

[iceman]

funny, Pavel Tastoulins says don't stretch till after you excercise, and i do dynamic stretches and nothing really in the way of static...once you get moving things seem to work better but even after static stretches i get pulled muscles and such...

[Sharla]

Spoke too soon! It nagged me again yesterday. Oddly enough it didn't happen when I wasn't trying to be very compact and punch with the cross coming from straight in front of my face.

It's fine if I let my fist come from the side of my head level with my shoulder. Perhaps I'm causing it myself by trying too hard to eliminate any openings I might have while throwing a cross?

[donnydarkoIRL]

Thanks Donny It hasn't been too bad lately. I think I need to be careful I don't overdo other upper body training when doing weights etc. I'm keen to strengthen it though to get back my right cross which was once much stronger than it has been for a while.

I'm going to put MD's shoulder stabilizing technique into my weight training routine and see how it goes. I've also noticed i slouch to the right a bit - especially when sitting down so I'm trying to stop that in case this bad postural habit has anything to do with it.

I hope yours doesn't continue to flare up. Do you think you can pin point a relatively steep increase in some kind of upper body training that might have set it off?

Be sure to let me now how that excercise effects you!
Perhaps some swimming could help your shoulder also?
It's a brilliant excercise for strengthening the upper muscles whilst maintaining flexibility so it could work

As for my shoulder, I was doing tricep excercises "over the shoulder" so that could possibly be it....Not certain though.