I'm not suggesting that you buy the 'system' they are selling but there are some good tips in the article
http://www.criticalbench.com/gains/fmspUnlock the Secret to Fixing Your Shoulders in Just Minutes & Get Back To Your High Intensity Pain-Free Workouts…WITHOUT Feeling Bullied Into Expensive Appointments, Medications or Surgery
Former Shoulder Pain Sufferer Reveals “4 Strategies To Reduce Pain” and Prevent Injury From a Unique 3-Step Method That No One Else Will Tell You About.
By: Mike Westerdal, CPT
Powerlifter, Best Selling Fitness Author and former sufferer of shoulder pain
It’s true, close to 40% of all injuries related to resistance training affect the shoulder, making it the number one cause of pain in the gym.
Doesn’t that make you wonder how some people are able to train with 100% effort month after month, without ever having to slow down due to a nagging injury caused by shoulder pain? And it doesn’t seem like they spend extra time warming up or have to limit their exercise selection?
If so, I’ll tell you how they do it.
But first I’d like to share with you 4 Strategies to Avoid Shoulder Pain that were taught to me by injury specialist and exercise physiologist Rick Kaselj, MS. I’ve spent a lot of time and money consulting with Rick, so be sure to pay close attention and take notes. These 4 strategies could be the difference between a nasty re-occurring shoulder injury versus taking the fast track to the pain free “limitless” workouts you crave.
Strategy to Avoid Shoulder Pain #1: Warm Up The Muscles & Not Just The Joint
When it comes to warming up prior to a workout most people are not doing anything to prevent a shoulder injury which we’ve learned is the most commonly hurt body part.
You’ll see guys that are doing arm circles and arm crosses before their workout which is fine, but this does not hinder an injury.
The circles and crosses help lubricate the joint but does nothing to prime up the actual muscles in the shoulder which is what you need to do.
Quick Fix: During your warm up add resistance to wake up the muscles of the shoulder, rotator cuff and shoulder blade so they are ready to protect and prevent a shoulder injury.
There are several exercises you can pick from but my favorite is the elbows back full range of motion bodyweight push-up with feet elevated on something.
Strategy to Avoid Shoulder Pain #2: Don’t Get Stuck In The Traditional Shoulder Pain Cycle
A couple of years ago, before meeting exercise physiologist Rick Kaselj, MS I found myself caught in this vicious cycle after injuring my shoulder while competing in powerlifting.
As Rick later explained to me this cycle is very common and has happened to most of his clients in the past. It goes a little something like this…
STEP 1: At some point in your lifting career you come home and your shoulder just feels extra sore and you know something isn’t right so you take some anti-inflammatory pills and throw an ice pack on. It’s not a big deal and part of playing sports and training hard right?
Hopefully in a few days it will be completely better, but usually some kind of discomfort or pain lingers. That’s no reason to miss a workout though. I know what’s on your mind, you can always avoid a few exercises that cause it to flare up or just train legs.
STEP 2: Eventually this gets old and if it doesn’t feel better after a few weeks or months it’s probably time to visit the doctor to find out what’s going on. After using up a sick day and sitting for an hour in the waiting room it’s pretty annoying when the doctor tells you to rest, ice, and don’t do things that hurt. Seriously?
If your insurance isn’t that great you’ll probably have to go back to your primary care doctor to get a referral to see a specialist. They’ll have you do an MRI which is super expensive. You’ll have to schedule another appointment for that though.
STEP 3: After the MRI you’ll get the diagnosis at your next appointment. How many appointments is that so far? I’ve lost track already…sigh
STEP 4: of the pain cycle is when you get sent to a physical therapist. If you’re in luck your therapist has worked with athletes in the past but who are we kidding, most of the people in the center are not physically fit at all.
STEP 5: Modalities you might be exposed to include hot packs, cold packs, ultrasound and electrical stimulation to name just a few.
STEP 6: Once your insurance runs out or you think you know the stretches and strengthening exercises well enough you can continue with the rehab on your own time.
STEP 7: If it still doesn’t feel better it’s time for another MRI……cha-ching, the cost is really adding up fast.
STEP 8: Next you can try more physical therapy or you can cover the symptoms with a cortisone shot that will numb the pain for a couple months. After that there’s always surgery, but something in your gut tells you that’s not what you really need. Listen to your instincts.
In my case this entire cycle lasted 6-months, but others aren’t so fortunate. The worst part is it can keep perpetuating itself and you can find yourself going through this pain cycle over and over.
Hopefully you’re asking yourself…Mike, how do I make sure I don’t get caught in this crooked traditional shoulder pain model? I’m glad you asked and my reply is outlined in strategy #3 below.
Strategy to Avoid Shoulder Pain #3: Deal With the ROOT of the Problem Not the Symptoms
Before initially going to the doctor I researched a lot of alternative shoulder rehab solutions.
With these traditional shoulder pain programs, they focus on stretching and strengthening. This does not work or at best provides temporary shoulder pain relief. The reality is that stretching focuses on symptoms, not necessarily the problem.
“Neither Strengthening nor Stretching Will Help You Until The Shoulder Joint
Has Been Reshaped Into a Pain Free Joint.”
While strengthening is important, it needs to be done when the shoulder joint has been reshaped into a pain-free shoulder joint. If you have not reshaped the shoulder joint into a pain-free joint, you are just adding more strength to a painful joint and making the problem worse. In time this stress leads to repetitive shoulder injuries, increased shoulder joint damage and shoulder pain.
In the next strategy I’ll share with you how to re-shape your shoulders so that when you strengthen them you will NOT be causing more damage.
Strategy to Avoid Shoulder Pain #4: Reshaping The Shoulder Joint Can Actually Be Easy (With the SR3-Method)
The SR3-Method is short for “Shoulder Reshaping 3-Part Method”. It was invented by Injury Specialist and Kinesiologist Rick Kaselj, MS who has over 16-years of hands on experience, and a masters degree in exercise science.
Remember in the traditional shoulder pain cycle above I mentioned how the doctor simply told me to not do what hurts? The entire reason I came in for the visit was to get back to what I love doing, not stop doing what I love.
In my case it was powerlifting. Prior to tweaking my shoulder I had just set a personal record by bench pressing over 600 pounds in competition. The doctor I met with was used to dealing with patients like my mom who don’t work out or play sports. For her maybe the advice, “Don’t do what hurts.” would suffice, but not for me!
I wanted to get back in the game and off the sidelines. After getting diagnosed with a rotator cuff tear that did not need surgery I decided to take matters into my own hands. More accurately I trusted my own care to the hands of Injury Specialist Rick Kaselj, MS.
Working in the fitness industry myself I knew I had to go to the source of the knowledge and cut out the middle man. You see Rick is more than just a specialist. He’s the guy who teaches the other fitness professionals the newest techniques to help their own clients. He has given over 315 live presentations to over 6065 health and fitness professionals across Canada and the USA.
Sure his credentials, degrees and real-world experiences are fine and dandy, but what ultimately sold me on him is the fact that he works with athletes and people that are serious about getting back to their workouts, not avoiding them.
Within minutes of trying a few techniques Rick recommended I started feeling better. Within a few weeks of following his protocol I felt like a new person. No more sleepless nights and half speed workouts. Nope, I had my mojo back and my wife took notice!
In fact, Rick helped my wife Courtney too. He figured out that all her years of playing high school and college volleyball had led to an annoying overuse injury. Her tendonitis had gotten so aggravating that she quit playing club volleyball.
The irony in all this is that if Rick hadn’t helped me get rid of my shoulder pain she probably would have never bothered addressing hers. She told me she just figured it was messed up for good and she could work around it since it didn’t bother her around the clock but only during certain activities. Well that was the past. After implementing Rick’s methods she’s feeling great too and to prove it she signed up to do the Tough Mudder adventure race with me this December in Tampa.
After improving the quality of life for my family, I became a “believer” in Rick and practically begged him to team up with Critical Bench and allow me the privilege of sharing his new Fix My Shoulder Pain System utilizing his trademarked SR3 Method.
What Is The SR3 Method?
The “Traditional Shoulder Pain Model” involves endless cycles of appointments, investigations, stretching and strengthening.
After having hundreds of Rick’s clients follow this model with minimal success, he needed to find a new model that breaks the traditional shoulder pain model and moves clients from painful shoulders to pain-free shoulders.
This led to the creation of the SR3 Method which is based on one key concept: Reshaping your shoulder from a painful shoulder joint to a pain-free shoulder joint.
I know it sounds amazing but let me show you how you can do this for yourself and have your painful shoulder move into a pain free shoulder.
Part 1: Alignment:
The first part of the SR3 method involves using the concept of alignment. In order to begin reshaping your shoulder you need to make sure your shoulder joint is in ideal centration – the best possible position. The SR3 method will show you how to do this.
Part 2: Tissue Quality:
The second part of the SR3 method is improving tissue quality. With ongoing pain and injuries the tissues change over time. This leads to the shoulder reshaping into a painful shoulder joint. This could cause dysfunction, less movement, poor circulation, less malleable muscles, stiffness around the shoulder joint and tight ligaments.
This all ends up affecting the positioning of the shoulder blade, leading to the shoulder blade changing its tilt. This biting tilt leads to the most common shoulder injury – a rotator cuff injury. The SR3 method will show you how to reposition this tilt and experience a pain free shoulder.
Part 3: Activation & Endurance:
Activation is turning on the right muscle in the shoulder to decrease the stress on the rotator cuff, provide stability to the shoulder joint and allow you to layer on strength to your shoulders.
Finally, and something that is often overlooked, is the concept of endurance when it comes to a shoulder pain relieving program. The reality is your shoulder muscles to be able to work for a long period of time in order to prevent the shoulder joint into reshaping into a painful shoulder joint again. By focusing on endurance you can ensure the shoulder joint muscles will hold the shoulder joint in a pain-free position after shoulder reshaping has occurred.
