By Steve Maze, DPT

If you have just started training or have been at it awhile, you may have
gotten some kind of nagging ache and pain. It may be a deep ache in your
shoulder, a sharp shooting pain in low back, or a pinching in your hip.

Sometimes these aches last a day or two and then go away on their own.
But, often times they linger on for a week, a month, or longer. Maybe with
some rest, it stops but then as soon as you start to train again it comes
back. And despite doing all the stretching, foam rolling, and mobility
drills seen on Instagram and the YouTube, it never gets better.

Yet, what drives me absolutely nuts (besides than that stupid annoying
pain) is NOT KNOWING what’s going on or what the friggin’ problem is.

Take for example, something like shoulder impingement.

This is very common ailment in many Crossfitters due to the high volume of
overhead lifting and training. It will most often present as dull or sharp
pain in the front of your shoulder along with limited range of motion,
particularly when your raise your arm overhead or out to the side.

Because of this our natural instinct is to stretch more, right? Clearly
our “mobility” is not good because we are not able to get our arms up
overhead properly.

Yet, not matter how much and how often you “stretch” it never goes away.

That is because it may NOT be a mobility issue that is limiting your range
of motion. And IF that’s the case, you may be doing more harm than good
doing all the mobility work and stretching.

So, what do you do?

Skip the google machine and seek a professional!

For example, there are over seven kinds of mechanisms that cause shoulder
impingement. But, to figure out which one it is, it would be best to get a
hands-on assessment.

So if you have or have had a few issues like this stop by this Sunday, 25
October from 9a-12p and I’d be more than happy to take a look at ya and
come up with a plan to get you training at your best!