One common complaint I hear every day in the locker room is, ?my shoulder hurts when I shoot or push other players.? Most people don?t realize how much the shoulder takes a beating in day-to-day hockey.
Everything from shoulder dislocations, separations, tendon tears and just plain old fractures are pretty commonplace when you combine high speed, hard boards and for many players, unresolved emotional issues! I have treated pretty much every shoulder injury imaginable with hockey players and I?ve heard it all when it comes to stories.
Some of these might sound familiar??My shoulder dislocated when I was punching that piece of *$#^&!? How about ?the blue line tripped me and I hurt myself?? Oh and don?t forget ?I can?t stop on that side! That?s why I went head first into the boards?
Seriously, just like almost all fun things we do, it really hurts! The trick is to treat injuries when they happen before they end up sidelining your career. If you have a high speed collision with the boards (or someone a lot bigger than you) and there is pain and swelling that doesn?t ease off fairly quickly, it may be a good idea to make a trip to your local emergency department for some X rays to rule out any fractures or dislocations.
Once that is ruled out a little ice and rest should be enough for you to recover in a few days to a week from your injury. If after a week you don?t seem to improve much it is probably time to seek additional help with your recovery.
Pain usually occurs for one of 5 reasons: 1- Something is strained, stretched, sprained or torn 2- A Muscle is spasmed and unable to contract for proper range of motion or will have reduced strength 3- There is residual inflammation from the original injury 4- A joint is misaligned (?Out of place?) so that proper function of that joint is impossible until restored 5- There are nervous system imbalances leading to a habitual pain response
Dealing with these situations sometimes requires a variety of tools, and that being said I find that there are few tools that almost always prove helpful. Prolotherapy is an injection technique using dextrose and procaine into injured ligaments and tendons to essentially repair minor tears and improve stability of an injured joint.
Injuries that often benefit from this therapy are dislocations, partial separations of the AC joint and any kind of tendonitis that you can think of. Neural therapy involves the use of injections of homeopathic remedies, B12 or anaesthetic into spasmed muscular areas called ?trigger points,? to relax spasmed muscles to allow for optimal strength and function.
Almost all shoulder problems require some degree of neural therapy to improve muscular flexibility and strength. Nutritional and herbal remedies to improve wound healing and decrease inflammation are often used to speed recovery or to manage chronic pain of arthritis. Manipulation to restore proper joint alignment is also used if necessary.
If you have pain when shooting or rubbing someone out on the boards you may want to get your shoulder looked at!
For additional information on Naturopathic Medicine, or to find a Doctor of Naturopathic in your area, please visit www.cand.ca. To contact Dr. Gallant directly, please visit www.doctorgallant.com. We would love to hear your feedback regarding this exciting new arena of medicine, and welcome your comments in our Forum!
Everything from shoulder dislocations, separations, tendon tears and just plain old fractures are pretty commonplace when you combine high speed, hard boards and for many players, unresolved emotional issues! I have treated pretty much every shoulder injury imaginable with hockey players and I?ve heard it all when it comes to stories.
Some of these might sound familiar??My shoulder dislocated when I was punching that piece of *$#^&!? How about ?the blue line tripped me and I hurt myself?? Oh and don?t forget ?I can?t stop on that side! That?s why I went head first into the boards?
Seriously, just like almost all fun things we do, it really hurts! The trick is to treat injuries when they happen before they end up sidelining your career. If you have a high speed collision with the boards (or someone a lot bigger than you) and there is pain and swelling that doesn?t ease off fairly quickly, it may be a good idea to make a trip to your local emergency department for some X rays to rule out any fractures or dislocations.
Once that is ruled out a little ice and rest should be enough for you to recover in a few days to a week from your injury. If after a week you don?t seem to improve much it is probably time to seek additional help with your recovery.
Pain usually occurs for one of 5 reasons: 1- Something is strained, stretched, sprained or torn 2- A Muscle is spasmed and unable to contract for proper range of motion or will have reduced strength 3- There is residual inflammation from the original injury 4- A joint is misaligned (?Out of place?) so that proper function of that joint is impossible until restored 5- There are nervous system imbalances leading to a habitual pain response
Dealing with these situations sometimes requires a variety of tools, and that being said I find that there are few tools that almost always prove helpful. Prolotherapy is an injection technique using dextrose and procaine into injured ligaments and tendons to essentially repair minor tears and improve stability of an injured joint.
Injuries that often benefit from this therapy are dislocations, partial separations of the AC joint and any kind of tendonitis that you can think of. Neural therapy involves the use of injections of homeopathic remedies, B12 or anaesthetic into spasmed muscular areas called ?trigger points,? to relax spasmed muscles to allow for optimal strength and function.
Almost all shoulder problems require some degree of neural therapy to improve muscular flexibility and strength. Nutritional and herbal remedies to improve wound healing and decrease inflammation are often used to speed recovery or to manage chronic pain of arthritis. Manipulation to restore proper joint alignment is also used if necessary.
If you have pain when shooting or rubbing someone out on the boards you may want to get your shoulder looked at!
For additional information on Naturopathic Medicine, or to find a Doctor of Naturopathic in your area, please visit www.cand.ca. To contact Dr. Gallant directly, please visit www.doctorgallant.com. We would love to hear your feedback regarding this exciting new arena of medicine, and welcome your comments in our Forum!
About the Author:
Chris & Steve Parker are the founding members of http://www.farparker.com your complete online recreational hockey resource destination. Find out more about your favorite hockey team in our forum section, we also have the best articles, blogs and games room on the net. If you like hockey, you will love FarParker "Life is Short, Park Wisely, Play Hard
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