Hi friends,

I got the opportunity to work in the medical tent at the AVP Chicago Open this past weekend. It was a great experience to be able to work with some of the best athletes in the world. In doing so, I realized that they struggle to get in front of some of the common injuries experienced by volleyball players.

The common complaints from these athletes were shoulder impingement, low back pain, hip pain, and knee pain. And although you can’t always avoid injury, there are many things that you can do to help prevent them.

The body is a complex system, but there are ways to better coordinate and strengthen muscles to mitigate pain and prevent tissue damage.

For example, shoulder impingement was one of the most common complaints that I saw this weekend. From my experience, this is usually due to decreased coordination and weakness in the muscles of the shoulder blade. Low and behold, nearly every athlete with shoulder impingement had less than optimal shoulder blade mechanics, placing increased stress on the true shoulder joint with overhead activities like hitting a volleyball.

With some drills to activate the proper musculature of the shoulder blade, they were able to lift their arm overhead with less of a “pinching” sensation.

You may not be a professional athlete, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t educate yourself on how to move your body properly to decrease pain and risk of injury.

Investing time and money into health literacy is one of the best ROI’s you can make. Money is nothing if you don’t have the health to enjoy it. Listening to podcasts, reading newsletters/blogs, and reading books is one of the best ways to better grasp how to improve your body’s performance.

Until next week,

Kevin