Shoulder injuries are one of the most common injuries in martial arts, regardless if you practice MMA or traditional arts. If you’ve been training for a while, chances are high you’ve faced them before. Unfortuntely, so have I. Case in point:
One of the wrestling drills I do in my Sanshou class is “King of the hill”. The concept is very simple and many teachers use it:
- Two students face off and try to throw, sweep or trip each other.
- The first one to fall (or the one at the bottom if both fall) leaves the mat and is replaced by the next student.
- The goal is to stay on the mat as long as possible, fighting fresh opponents every single time.
We do this drill regularly at the end of class as it’s always fun and it really wipes you out if you manage to become “king”. Even if you don’t, it’s good training as you get enough rest to really go at it when it’s your turn again. So everybody gets something out of it.
Last week, we did the drill again, everything went fine and we had a blast. I went home after class, watched some TV to wind down and when I got up, my shoulder ached. I figured, no big deal, been there before. But the next morning, I ached a lot more and I’d lost some mobility and gained some pain whenever I lifted my arm. At that point I went “Damn, again..” and started assessing the damage before beginning on a rehab program. My shoulder’s better now but I’m keeping up the exercises to make sure there’s no lasting damage and I can train at 100% again as soon as possible.
What causes shoulder injuries?
The list of potential causes is long but here are the usual suspects: [Read more…]