The first in our shoulder workshop series.

Background

Since opening my clinic doors in 2013, I have been loaded with clients struggling with shoulder pain. From avid gym goers to the stay at home parent, no one seems immune from developing a shoulder issue. Dealing with such a variety of clients, made me realise that the University method’s of assessment and treatment were poor and inaccurate which is backed up by research.

Furthermore, it provided confusing and conflicting arguments on how to assess and treat the joint. By following this method, the patient spends far too much time on the treatment couch and not enough time being assessed functionally and incorporating the whole body.

What does that mean? It means you cannot just isolate shoulder pain to the shoulder. You have to take into account everything else happening in the body. I want to know about your lifestyle, your sleep pattern and stress levels, your training and recovery and especially your technique in your given activity. The activity could simply be 8 hours of sitting in a car.

When you, the client presents to me with shoulder pain, I want to find out in detail the specific tasks that you struggle with. When I delve into this I actually get a better understanding of your aggravating factors. I then choose to look at your movement doing this task. If it’s a reach up to a cupboard I will be looking from head to toe how your body moves. How does that foot behave when you are first shifting your weight to the other foot to get closer to the cupboard? Is that joint doing what it should do to allow effective loading? Or does it not move so well which causes a compensation?

If this is apparent then perhaps I need to address the foot movement and see if it plays a part in the shoulder pain. It can be quickly decided if this is the case and then I can go to work on improving that ankle. This can also be applied to shoulder pain when throwing a ball. Think about the process. When you step back and take your throwing arm behind you, you are loading up the human chain with stored energy to be able to throw the ball. The foot goes through a series of motions which allow the knee to move, the hip to move, the pelvis and the spine.

This, in turn, allows you to correctly load the shoulder. If the foot had restricted movement then you would need to find that range of motion from somewhere else. This might require the shoulder to go through more range of motion and for it to work harder than it needs to. This can easily result in a shoulder injury. Was the shoulder the culprit? In this case, it would more likely be the foot.

The frustration of applying such an ineffective method learned at University gave me such a burning desire to become much better at treating and managing shoulders. I have spent the last 10 years researching, learning and attending courses from respected shoulder experts in the field such as Adam Meakins and Dr. Jeremy Lewis. I consistently utilise online portals for continuous practitioner development such as clinical edge and my biggest mentor in the past 3 years has been Chris Wilkes who has hosted me on many occasions.

What does the course entail?

You should attend if:

• you have a painful shoulder
• you treat people with shoulder pain
• you coach clients or athletes who go overhead or use their shoulders to train
• you love coffee (coffee will be provided)

Course schedule:

• Introduction
• Key principles of assessment and treatment
• Shoulder anatomy
• Red flags and differential diagnosis
• The stiff shoulder
• The unstable shoulder
• The weak and painful shoulder – management and treatment
• Function, strength and appropriate loading

To book our workshop click below:

We really look forward to seeing you then!