Shoulder injury from kiting

[VB]

As a result of kiting, does anyone suffer from chronic shoulder pain, or stiffness or frozen shoulder or rotator cuff tears...that is, you can't reach back behind to scratch the middle of your back or can't lift arms up to 180 degrees above you head?

It might be a geriatric condition so you young guns might not have experienced the problem.

If you have had the problem, how did you go about fixing it up? Physio, massage, chiropractic, surgery or whatever?

Cheers

Paul

[schmik]

Never happened to me but my younger bro had the same problems. He doesn't kite but he surfs. He (and doctors) were convinced it was from all the paddling. He tried physio and injections of cordisone (spelling?). Nothing helped.

It turned out to be a posture problem. The way he sat at his desk and used the computer was bad for his shoulders. He changed this (and rested his shoulders and did physio) and the problems went away.

hope you can get it sorted.....

the point of my post is that it may not be kiting. It took over 6 months for my bro to get sorted, the longest part there was finding the problem.

schmik

[Pete]

Paul, I will have a chat with you next time we go kiting... I have had a full shoulder reconstruction (& that was when I was only 22... I am 32 now)

Shoulder trauma can be caused by numerous things, however, certain activities which involve strain of the rotator cuff can cause injury which can be minimised through certain exercises and an awareness of the problem. The shoulder is the most complex joint in the body, so what works for one person isn't necessarily relevant to another.

I had acute anterior instability resulting in surgery to restrict my range of movement. (ie. numerous anterior dislocations and subluxations) I have had to endure 10yrs of 'shoulder injury consciousness' so may be able to offer some practical tips, particularly for kiting endeavours.

So when are we going kiting next?? I am keen.....

.

[VB]

Hi Pete

I'll have to pick your brain next time I see you. I hope to go out this weekend depending on the weather....Lake G should be dry by now, unless we get another storm.

I'll have to touch base with Gary too and Ben.

cheers

Paul

[theCat]

VB-

I suffer from exactly what you described. It crept up on me over a 5 day kite trip. There was no hard crash or accident to blame, the only other factor was sleeping on a rather thin pad in my truck bed. And perhaps age- I'm 43. It hurt like hell. I self massaged then finally broke down, saw a physiotherapist. She said it was definately rotator cuff, gave me some exercises. It got more bearable but lingered, still flares up now 2 years later. Flareups seem related to kite days. Also take glucosamine Chondroitin supplements for it. Not sure if that helps, but anything to avoid that pain and/or surgery.

[VB]

Hi Cat

Its nice to not be alone out there with this condition.

I've had physio plus exercises (eg hand-walk up the wall so your arms are above your head; tugging on some sheet elastic tied to a door knob and rotating arm which is at right angles at elbow etc).

I'm also taking glucosomine, which I think has also helped. I haven't got the excruciating pain that I initially had when reaching behind my back, but have now found out thru an MRI scan of my shoulder that I have degenerative osteoarthritis of the AC Joint which is referring pain down my upper arm.

I can live with that, and now go out buggying and put up with a bit of pain.....I enjoy the sport too much to chuck it in.....even if I am called the grand daddy of the group at the tender age of 54!!!

Cheers

Paul

PS: I haven't be doing my shoulders any favours of recent weeks. In another posting, I describe an out of buggy experience when my back wheel came off at 50kph and I face planted...it cut up my face a bit....so I now wear a full face helmet (see a couple of pics in the general pic section). Being at a tender age, I should also maybe get elbow and knee pads, but am resisting that at the moment.

[redshift]

Been there done that... and its not fun. Make sure you don't kite too hard on it till you get it checked out. I had 3 months off kiting and twice weekly physio sessions. Lots of resistence exercises, and quite a bit of pain. The phyiso also suggested good exercises for building srength to stop it re-occuring.

B.

[jsea]

Hey Paul

Well its been a while since I made any appearance on extreme-kites Ive been setting up a rehabilitation studio with physical training and massage therapy. When I saw you article I thought that I may be able to offer not necessarily help but definately advice.

Everyone who has replied to you has been correct, so far. The simple answer is that no one injury can be or should be treated the same.

The fact that you have MRI evidance that you have osteoarthritis does not mean that you have to completely stop the sport nor does it mean that you should suffer everytime you do it! Instead find yourself a therapist who can offer you functional exercises to correct your body not just your shoulder. By correcting your body ie posture, stability, stability strength, flexibility etc you will be able to better support your shoulder. Then... the osteoarthritis, although still there, will be much less painful! Oh and the rest of you will work better too!!

If you'd like to pm me I could help you find a therapist close to you that would be able to help you do this.

And by the way 54 is just a number (granted a big number :wink: ) but I have clients in their 70's skiing all over the world with conditions much more restricting than osteoarthritis! So thats no excuse not to go hard!!!!

Justin

[VB]

Refer me to a therapist and I'll give it a whirl.......want to keep the body in good nick for a few years yet!!

cheers

Paul