Hey, all you Surfers out there!
Are other surfers stealing your waves because your shoulder pain stops you from paddling fast enough?
Have you been ignoring your shoulder pain, just hoping it would go away? (Ps – chances are it won’t…)
Do you want to know the hottest, new addition to our shoulder treatment that offers long lasting improvements in pain and function? Keep reading…….
But first I’d like to say, I’m sick of ineffective quick fixes that aren’t research based and that don’t offer long term solutions to pain.
Let me introduce Dry Needling – this method of treatment lasts significantly longer than other treatment techniques, and when incorporated with strengthening, can help eliminate your shoulder pain for good
Ok, so the problem with ignoring your shoulder pain is that you start to compensate for the pain by changing the way you move your shoulder. This change makes it more likely you’ll inflame the shoulder further or cause a tear in the tendons in the shoulder – think weeks to months out of the water and possibly even surgery.
If you ignore it for too long, these changes become more permanent and you will even start to change the way you move your neck and upper back too and this can lead to many more serious injuries, the least of which is not being able to surf pain free.
However, if you do see a Physiotherapist trained in treating shoulder pain, you can eliminate your shoulder pain and be able to continue to surf – its a great form of exercise, helps keep you moving and let’s face it – its just plain fun.
I’m tired of hearing about passive treatment techniques for shoulder pain management such as TENS machines, heat packs and rest. They are not the answer, and there’s so much more you could do for yourself.
If you want to know the most effective ways to get back to surfing painfree , keep reading!
The 3 best ways to treat shoulder pain are
- Getting an accurate diagnosis – this is essential as without knowing what is going on in the shoulder, you are simply poking around in the dark, wasting time, money and energy.
- Seeing a Physio who will use evidence based treatment practices to treat your shoulder including: Dry Needling, Specific Exercise and Hands on Treatment. These practices are not only focused on improving pain in the short term, but correcting underlying biomechanics and giving long term results.
- Stop ignoring your shoulder pain and looking for quick fixes – chances are you took a long time to get here, you need to put in a little effort to get it fixed. There is no such thing as a magic wand.
Exercise and Hands on Physiotherapy have proven to be great in managing dysfunctional and painful shoulders, but with the addition of Dry Needling, our patients are getting faster and longer lasting pain relief. More important for the surfers, they are able to reach overhead without pain and put more force into each stroke. Don’t miss a wave!
So, what is this mysterious dry needling I speak of??
Dry Needling is a hot new, evidence- based treatment technique, It involves inserting a sterile needle (similar to acupuncture) into tight muscle bands. It allows us to be incredibly specific with the trigger points we release and muscles released in this manner, stay released for longer than with normal massage. Releasing these bands reduces the tightness in the muscles and helps to restore the normal biomechanics in the shoulder to reduce pain!
If shoulder pain is affecting your ability to surf or do your normal daily activities and you’d like to get better NOW, you’ll be happy to know that at Aushealth we are advocates of Dry Needling and use it daily!
We have developed an evidence- based shoulder rehabilitation program for people just like you.
To stop that pinching, niggling shoulder pain then click here to make make an appointment with one of our Physiotherapists today to start your journey.
Written by – Sarah Pedersen
