On August 27th, 2022, Dr. Rob Lin, PT, DPT, CSCS was invited to present "Shoulder Injury Prevention for Gymnasts" for USA Gymnastics Regional Congress in San Jose, CA.
He spoke in front a large room full of coaches in a 3 day event featuring the top coaches and wellness experts in gymnastics.
Shoulder injury is prevalent in many sports. Shoulder pain affects more males than females in gymnastics. But overall injury rate is highest in artistic gymnastics next to spring football according to one study by Gerhardt 2014.
Here is a clip from the presentation where he takes the coaches through a portion of an assessment. Shoulder injury prevention begins with a good assessment.
I invite you all to try these movements at home and see if you have any issues performing any of them.
Above: Active Range of Motion Assessment: Shoulder Abduction
Things to look for:
Do you extend your back?
Do you shrug your shoulder?
Does your shoulder blade rotate outwards?
Does one or either side hurt to move it or at the end?
Above: Thoracic Spine Assessment
Do you have Shoulder pain, impingement, have had shoulder surgery?
Do you want to perform the best at your sport or activity? Do you need a sports physical therapist in the Bay Area?
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