New player, shoulder pain already?

[Kaya____]

I just started playing again after a 4 year hiatus. Never took the game too seriously before and never had any pain from throwing. I've been playing for about a month, played just over 10 rounds and practice about 4 or 5 times a week at the local park.

About a week ago I had a major breakthrough with my right hand side arm, and went from a 10 over to a 1 under. Over the next 2 rounds where i started to improve my shoulder began to hurt and shortly after my elbow too. I wasn't doing a run up At the tee, as it seems to make my throws conciderably less accurate.

I've been looking around online for information about arm shoulder pain from throwing, and it seems like it usually happens with veteran players not noobs. That leads me to believe I'm doing something drastically wrong, even though its improving my game.

Does anyone have any advice on what might be causing this pain? I don't want to ruin my arm before I even really get started.

 

[aPfaff]

When you throw your sidearms do you have your elbow tucked in to your side or is your arm extended out?

 

[Kaya____]

I'd say tucked in as much as possible. It feels like I might be getting my snap out of my elbow and shoulder, rather then my wrist.

 

[CaliZac89]

You're most likely trying to muscle the disc a little too hard and straining the soft tissues in your elbow.. Go see a ART specialist chiropractor, best form of muscle work around. You'll be sore after a few treatments but your recovery time will be sped up a lot(just my 2 cents). Keep that elbow tucked too and make sure to follow through with your shot and should be golden.

 

[CaliZac89]

Here's the link to the Active Release Technique website.. http://www.activerelease.com/ Some anti-inflammatory creams and NSAIDs may help get your pain to a manageable level too

 

[Kaya____]

Thanks Cali, I'll have to look into that treatment if it doesn't get better soon. I suspected my follow through could have been an issue, it's hard to distinguish what it is now because no matter what I do I get some pain.

 

[Kaya____]

After further review of my throw, it looks as though my elbow might not be at tucked as thought. Do you want it tight against your side for the wind up and when you come around to throw? It seems to take the stress out of the shoulder and maybe focus it more on my hips. However Distance and accuracy fail in comparison and it feels rather unnatural.

 

[CaliZac89]

Its all about the hip rotation.. try taking a larger x-step forward while keeping that elbow tight, until you extend straight out, snap the wrist and make sure to follow through. I added 50+ feet to my drives once I got the right x-step and it'll feel right when it is!

 

[Dadio]

I throw all sidearm and have had similar problems. Common throw is to stay tight in with lots of snap through elbow and it hurts, seems to be nature of throw. Check video of Big Jerm, very open throw, seems to dance through throw and goes forever. There is a video of a distance contest that shows him and I believe Niko throwing sidearm. Niko's way hurts, Jerm's doesn't.
Have been working on that myself(with some hammer pound drills to fight OAT) and has taken a while to get dialed in but when I get it right I get good distance and accuracy with no strain on elbow or shoulder. Is more about full body spin with lots of hip torque and follow through that carries past release point than arm snap from elbow.
The bad news is you may need to rest for a week or 2 to let elbow and shoulder recover before working on full drives again. When I was hurting, field practice with some lower speed discs like a Skeeter, Kite, or Surge helped me get a handle on basic motion. When you flip them you are doing it wrong. Good practice for hip twist and grip was to throw with arm tucked in to side and held still with only hip rotation providing motion for throw. Will go suprisingly far when done right.
I hurt my shoulder when younger to the point I can't throw backhand much anymore so I am really on about form. If it hurts you are doing it wrong and continuing may help your score for now but isn't worth it in the long run. The sooner you get a painless throw into muscle memory the longer you will be tearing up courses not yourself.

 

[Tmart]

Your shoulder shouldn't hurt when throwing a proper forearm shot because you shouldn't be using your shoulder much at all. Focus on keeping your elbow low and snapping more/muscling less. Also, try 90% power.

 

[BobSwagget]

This happened to me when I 1st started playing & again when I started trying to learn to backhand. Both times I continued to play daily & it went away a few weeks later. I don't wanna tell you to hurts yourself but I think a lot of it is using/ building new muscles, in which case you should expect to be sore for a little while.

 

[Tiny]

When starting back up, I've read that going the same pace you used to, will only hurt you. You have to find your mojo again before throwing at your old pace. Your body doesn't have the muscle memory or same muscles that it had, which means you'll just hurt places that shouldn't be working so hard, atleast not yet. When I started, I tried throwing as hard as could as much as I could to build muscle... It lead to me being injured more than not. Last 2 months, I've been just working on my technique instead of strong arming discs. No I don't get the same distance as I possibly could, but I get to play a lot more instead of icing my body parts cause I'm exerting full power each throw. And that's just some noobie logic.

 

[gianetics]

i throw 80% fh off the tee and can play seven days a week multiple rounds without pain. it wasnt always like that. keep the throw compact, throw at 70% power, and the most important FOLLOW THROUGH!

 

[j_colby]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHGxDl7mAUY

Couldn't resist...

I had shoulder pain and soreness for a day or two after the first few times I went this year. Now I can play two to three rounds a day and I'm fine the next day.