Our doctors are fellowship-trained and specialize exclusively in caring for upper extremity joint conditions and injuries. Anyone can suffer a shoulder injury, but those who have had prior shoulder injuries or shoulder dislocations are especially prone to future shoulder problems.

Before hitting the greens, tennis court, or swimming pools, consider these tips to help prevent shoulder injuries.

Learn and practice the proper technique for your sport. Shoulder pain often originates from an improper technique. Always ensure that you understand the fundamentals of how to properly perform overhead movements before beginning a new sport.

Warm up with light activity such as jogging in place or jumping rope for several minutes. Try this shoulder stretch:.

Lace your fingers together, and then push your arms over your head with your palms facing up. Hold 15 seconds. Repeat times. Building the muscles in your wrists, arms, neck, and back helps protect your shoulders.

Never ignore pain or try to continue playing a sport through a shoulder injury. Doing so can aggravate the condition and cause more problems. Dental insurance plans for members and their families.

Taking more time off between workouts for rest and building some easy days into your routine are also good for injury prevention. If you use a computer, how you sit at your desk can make a big difference. Repetitive activity — even something as seemingly harmless as using a computer mouse — can affect the shoulder.

Sitting up straight is also important, since slumping in your chair can result in tight muscles and affect how your shoulders move, Neme says.

Patrick J. Kiger is a contributing writer for AARP. He has written for a wide variety of publications, including the Los Angeles Times Magazine, GQ and Mother Jones , as well as the websites of the Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

Shoulder Pain Symptoms You Shouldn't Ignore. Discover AARP Members Only Access. Already a Member? See All. Carrabba's Italian Grill®. Savings on monthly home security monitoring. AARP® Staying Sharp®. Activities, recipes, challenges and more with full access to AARP Staying Sharp®.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact Hulst Jepsen Physical Therapy at Scott Devries, MSPT. Learn More About the Author Scott Devries, MSPT Date 7. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn.

Whatever the cause, shoulder injuries can be painful and limiting, making it difficult to perform everyday tasks or participate in sports. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent shoulder injuries from occurring.

Here are some tips to help keep your shoulders healthy and injury-free:. Shoulder injuries can be serious and should not be ignored.

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Warm up with light activity such as jogging in place or jumping rope for several minutes. Try this shoulder stretch:. Lace your fingers together, and then push your arms over your head with your palms facing up. Hold 15 seconds. Repeat times. Building the muscles in your wrists, arms, neck, and back helps protect your shoulders.

Never ignore pain or try to continue playing a sport through a shoulder injury. Doing so can aggravate the condition and cause more problems. See a doctor if symptoms persist or if your pain is severe. If you suspect you have suffered a shoulder injury or have previously suffered an injury and want to learn more about prevention, visit a shoulder expert at MedStar Orthopedic Institute.

Our shoulder specialists offer a wide range of shoulder injury treatments that may offer you the following benefits:. Location: Change location Enter your location.

Proper posture is important for everyone but especially for athletes. Sitting for long periods of time at school or work puts a lot of stress on your shoulders. Gravity pulls your head down and your neck forward, bringing your shoulders with them. Over time, this force decreases the space inside your shoulder joints, called the subacromial space, which houses your muscles, ligaments, and cartilage.

With less room to move freely, any or all of these crucial components can become impinged and damaged. The best way to stabilize this notoriously unstable joint is to strengthen the muscles within and around it. Seated rowing, resistance bands, dumbbells, and lat pull downs are just a few of the exercises that target your shoulders.

Kimes can design a customized set of activities to help you strengthen the right muscles. These exercises help you avoid injury in your sport, with the added benefit of helping you excel on the playing field!

Although repeated motions can cause wear and tear on any body part, including your shoulder, most sports injuries are caused by poor mechanics. Every movement you make with your shoulder requires a harmonious reaction between all of the functions of your joint. For example, an overhead throw requires several functions at once.

As your shoulder rotates through several planes of motion, any improper movement can injure the tissues, cause inflammation, and take up valuable subacromial space. Likewise, if any of the four rotator cuff muscles is out of sync or weaker than the others, the resulting instability causes damage and possibly pain.

Training with a coach who understands body anatomy, especially in the context of your sport, is vital to learning proper body mechanics and preventing injury.

Hand in hand with your strength exercises, proper stretching can also help you avoid shoulder injuries. Strong muscles give you stability, but well-stretched muscles give you flexibility and great range of motion. Kimes can give you more exercises specifically tailored for your sport.

Rest is critical for all athletes that use frequent overhead shoulder movements. Icing the shoulder is a good way to decrease inflammation and reduce pain after a contest. Over-the-counter pain medications can also quell the swelling and ease discomfort.

The resting period allows your body to repair tears and recover from the strain, giving you the best chance to go back out and do it all again another day. Instead, the shoulder relies on the rotator cuff, which is a set of four relatively small muscles around the shoulder, to keep the ball centered in the socket while the much larger muscles such as the deltoid, pectoralis, and latissimus move the arm through shoulder range of motion.

In athletes with well-developed muscles around the shoulder and upper body, it is even more essential that the rotator cuff remains strong enough to keep the shoulder joint stable.

While not as satisfying as bench pressing hundreds of pounds, rotator cuff exercises include internal and external rotation against rubber band resistance, external rotation with the shoulder abducted 90 degrees, and lawn mowers, among others. This is essential to maintaining a heathy shoulder.

Finally, optimizing shoulder flexibility is also important for shoulder injury prevention. By maintaining flexibility in the soft tissues around the shoulder, the ball of the shoulder joint can stay centered in the socket through the entire range of motion.

If the shoulder capsule is tight, a sudden forceful motion such as going up for a block could result in a shoulder strain. In more severe cases, if there is unbalanced shoulder tightness, micro-instability of the shoulder joint can occur as well.

Shoulder flexibility can be optimized through simple stretches such as table slides, wall climbs, sleeper stretches, external rotation stretches, and towel stretches behind the back, among others.

Through the course of a long season, these simple strategies involving scapular strengthening, rotator cuff exercises, and shoulder stretching will minimize the risk of a major shoulder injury and keep you healthy on the court!

Michael Fu is an orthopedic surgeon and shoulder specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery HSS in New York City, the No. Fu treats the entire spectrum of shoulder conditions, including rotator cuff tears, shoulder instability, and shoulder arthritis.

December 22, Hospital for Special Surgery HSS Sponsored content Dr. Michael Fu - Shoulder Surgeon, HSS. Scapular strengthening As the foundation of the shoulder joint, the scapula shoulder blade is a uniquely-shaped bone that serves as the attachment site for 17 different muscles.

Rotator cuff exercises Compared to other ball-and-socket joints in the body, the shoulder has very little inherent bony stability.