Any athlete involved in weight training or throwing sports runs some risk of developing various shoulder problems. The problem with most shoulder injuries is that we can't really tell exactly where the pain is because it usually radiates all over the shoulder. Shoulder injuries differ from person to person. Only a licensed orthopedist can diagnose the injury, and only an MRI can show us exactly what the injury looks like.

An abundance of information about individual shoulder injuries is available in books and on the Internet. Pain in the shoulder can be caused by any of the following conditions:

Bursitis - an inflammation of the shoulder bursa (the soft, sac-like structure that cushions between the ball of the humerus and the socket of the G/H joint).
Tendonitis - an inflammation of one of the rotator cuff tendons, this most commonly afflicts the supraspinatus tendon.
Myofascitis - an inflammation of the muscle tissue itself and its associated fascial sheath.
Periostitis - an inflammation of the covering of the bone.
The above injuries are usually the result of a combination of overstraining (training too much, too often)and performing exercises improperly .

Calcium deposits can be another cause of shoulder problems. Calcium deposits within a muscle or tendon can cause inflammation and usually afflicts the supraspinatus tendon.

Another cause of shoulder injury is torn ligaments and muscle tears. Falling and lifting often precipitate rotator cuff tears, especially if the cuff has degenerated somewhat beforehand..

Impingement occurs when a body structure repeatedly presses (or impinges) on another. The supraspinatus tendon, the tendon of the long head of the biceps, and shoulder bursa can be impinged upon. The causes of impingement are muscle weakness, individual anatomy, and raising the arm to the side beyond 90 degrees.

Joint contracture is a persistent decrease in the range of motion at a joint. This often happens when you break a body bone and wear a cast. You experience joint contracture when the cast comes off. If the muscles remain in a shortened state for a long time, they develop a lack of flexibility that is resistant to being stretched. This is not a common problem with athletes. What is a common problem is adaptive shortening, which involves a loss of muscle flexibility that is also resistant to being stretched. The most common cause of adaptive shortening in sports is improper training.

One road through improper training to adaptive shortening is muscle imbalances at the shoulders. The stronger internal rotators, (latissimus torsi, teres major, and pectorals) are overpowered by the relatively weaker external rotators (infraspinatus, teres minor and supraspinatus. Over time, the internal rotators adaptively shorten. You know the "shoulders hunched forward" posture typical of many bodybuilders.

A second road from improper training to adaptive shortening involves a condition called fibrosis. Over the years, repeated abuse can lead to formation of scar tissue around and within the muscles and tendons. The adhesions decrease the muscle's ability to stretch and contract. Some common training mistakes are: choosing biomechanically unsound exercises, lifting with poor form, training the same area of the body too often, training with too much weight, and training the same area of the body with too much weight too often.
The final path from improper training to adaptive shortening involves injury. Typically, someone with a shoulder injury will cross his or her arms, hold an injured arm with their other hand, place the hand of an injured arm in his pocket, or hook a thumb on a belt loop. If you spend a lot of time in one of these positions while waiting for the injury to heal, the internal rotators are never stretched to the the limit of their range of motion and may adaptively shorten.

What is the big deal about adaptive shortening? In the biomechanically normal shoulder, the internal rotators don't provide much opposition to external rotation. In the injured shoulder when the external rotators try to do their job, they are forced to work the resistance imposed by internal rotator inflexibility. It's a losing battle, and one that leads to progressive microtrauma of both the external and internal rotators.

Taking a four-week layoff from working out to allow inflammation to subside or a tear to mend, you are likely to sustain a similar injury as soon as you start training again, because the real cause of injury still exists. My programs address all the components that contribute to dysfunctional shoulder biomechanics . These programs are effective in rehabilitating the injured shoulder and preventing injury in the healthy one.personal trainer in new york, personal trainer new york, personal trainers NYC, personal training new york.Although minor shoulder injuries may heal properly without treatment, serious ones won't. A serious rotator shoulder injury that goes untreated can lead to a permanent diminishing or loss of shoulder function. If you ever injure your shoulder, you should get a professional diagnosis and you should do so before beginning a rehabilitative program. I don't diagnose or prescribe treatment for shoulder injuries, only a licensed professional can do that. In many cases physical therapy is required, but upon completion of your therapy and with your physical therapist's permission I can take it from there. My programs will help accelerate the healing process and help you avoid exercises that can reinsure the very injury you want to heal. If you are lucky enough to have not sustained any injury, my programs will help you prevent future injuries. Many times even after physical therapy these injuries become chronic and the only solution is to stop doing what caused the injury in the first place. Anyone with a shoulder injury must obtain a doctor's clearance before starting any of my programs.