We’ve all heard it… shoulder pain must mean that your young volleyball player has a cartilage tear or a rotator cuff injury. Maybe they’re just experiencing growing pains and have been told they will simply have to deal with it. You’ve already taken some time off in an attempt to rest the shoulder. You’ve tried ice and some stretching but you’ve seen little improvement and you don’t know what your next move should be.

At Spooner Physical Therapy, we are dedicated to providing answers and don’t feel you or your athlete should have to continue guessing without an understanding of their pain or a path toward moving better and feeling better on the court. Athletes push their bodies to the limit on a regular basis, so having a healthcare team to keep them in the game is imperative!

A Weak Link in the Chain youth volleyball player spiking

When you observe a volleyball player in action you will notice the extreme positions of their back, hips, legs and feet throughout the game. Would you believe us if we told you that dysfunction in a completely different area of the body could be the leading cause of her shoulder pain? You see, the entire human body is linked when it comes to functional movement, especially in sport. A weakness or deficiency in one seemingly unrelated part of the body can spark a chain reaction that has severe implications and impact on the body’s ability to function correctly throughout the entire chain.

Spooner physical therapists are uniquely trained to determine if there is a correlation between the young athlete’s shoulder pain and actual shoulder pathology, such as weakness, instability, soft tissue impairments, and more. Because there are usually multiple areas of the body that contribute to pain, physical therapists will also address the many other links in the human chain that could be affecting the way your body moves and feels.

How We Can Help?

At Spooner Physical Therapy, we dig deeper to understand the root cause of an athlete’s pain. Is it truly a structural instability that is causing a decrease in power? Is it tightness in the front of their hips and abdominal wall that keeps them from extending the way they need to in order to have success with overhead movement? Is it weakness in the glutes and spinal muscles that are contributing to over-compensations elsewhere? It can be one or many of those things, and we are here to work with our young athletes to ensure that every aspect of their movement is moving and feeling the way it should!

If your youth athlete (volleyball player or other) is experiencing shoulder pain, let us take a look and determine what links in the chain may be contributing to their discomfort. It is always our goal to get your athlete back on the court training and competing at their optimal level!

Learn more about Pediatric Physical Therapy at Spooner Physical Therapy. Ready to schedule an appointment? Click Here to schedule an appointment or complimentary movement screen with a Spooner physical therapist at one of our locations throughout the valley.