Tips to Prevent Shoulder Injuries this Summer

Gita Pillai, MD, is a Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship trained, Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon.
Date of last review 7/2/2025

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Keeping Your Shoulders Healthy: A Guide to Preventing Common Injuries

Your shoulders play a crucial role in so many things we do every day, from simply grabbing something overhead to enjoying active sports like swimming, tennis, or golf. This amazing flexibility, while allowing us a great range of motion, also means the shoulder is one of the more intricate and easily injured joints in our bodies. Learning how to take care of this important joint is vital for staying active and comfortable.

This guide will help you understand common shoulder issues and provide actionable tips on how to prevent shoulder injuries, keeping you active and pain-free.

Why Shoulder Health Matters: Understanding the Joint

Your shoulder's amazing ability to move in so many directions comes from a complex team of bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments working together. Here are some key parts:

• The Rotator Cuff: Think of this as a group of four muscles and their strong cords (tendons) that wrap around your shoulder joint. They hold the top of your arm bone snugly in the shallow socket of your shoulder blade. These muscles are essential for lifting and turning your arm.
• The Shoulder Blade (Scapula): The muscles around your shoulder blade are very important for your shoulder to work well and feel stable.
• The Bursa: These are small, fluid-filled cushions located near your joints. They help reduce friction between bones, tendons, and muscles.
• The Capsule: This is a layer of tough tissue that surrounds and supports your shoulder joint.

Understanding these components helps in appreciating why a holistic approach to shoulder care, focusing on strength, flexibility, and proper mechanics, is essential.

Proactive Prevention: Your First Line of Defense Against Shoulder Injuries

The old adage "prevention is better than cure" rings particularly true for shoulder injuries. Here’s how you can be proactive:

1. Gradual Increase in Activity:

• Avoid going from minimal activity to intense or frequent participation in sports or demanding tasks. Sudden increases in stress are a common cause of injury.
• If you're starting a new sport or activity, or returning after a break, begin slowly and gradually increase the duration and intensity.

Actionable Tip: If you're increasing your activity level, try the "10% rule": increase your training volume (distance, duration, or intensity) by no more than 10% per week to allow your body to adapt

2. Sport-Specific and Activity-Specific Conditioning:

• If you enjoy a particular sport (e.g., tennis, golf, swimming), focus on conditioning exercises that strengthen the specific muscles used and improve flexibility for the movements involved.
• Simply playing the sport every day without targeted conditioning can lead to overuse injuries.

Actionable Tip: Search for conditioning programs online from reputable sources (e.g., sports medicine clinics, orthopaedic associations) or consult with a physical therapist or certified trainer at your gym for a tailored program.

3. Comprehensive Shoulder Strengthening:

• Don't just focus on the large deltoid muscle (the rounded contour of the shoulder). It's crucial to also strengthen the rotator cuff muscles and the muscles around your shoulder blade (scapular stabilizers).

Actionable Tip: Incorporate exercises like rows, along with external and internal rotation with a band into your routine to target the scapular muscles.

4. Prioritize Flexibility and Mobility:

• Regularly stretch the muscles around your shoulder, chest, and upper back.
• Good shoulder mobility helps ensure smooth, unrestricted movement, reducing the risk of impingement and strain.

Actionable Tip: Perform gentle range-of-motion exercises daily, such as arm circles, pendulum swings, and cross-body stretches, to maintain and improve shoulder flexibility.

5. Maintain Good Posture:

• Poor posture, such as rounded shoulders or a forward head position, can alter shoulder mechanics and increase stress on the joint.

Actionable Tip: Be mindful of your posture throughout the day, especially when sitting at a desk or using a computer. Aim to keep your shoulders back and down, and your head aligned over your spine.

What To Do If You Have Shoulder Pain

Even with the best prevention, you might experience shoulder soreness. It's important to listen to your body:

• Don't Push Through Pain: If an activity causes shoulder pain, modify it or take a break. Trying to "play through" pain often worsens the underlying issue.
• Early Intervention for Soreness:
  • Rest: Give your shoulder a break from aggravating activities.
  • Ice: Apply ice for 15-20 minutes at a time, several times a day, especially after activity, to reduce inflammation.
  • Stretching: Often, stretching exercises followed by strengthening exercises can assist in getting you back to your baseline. There are numerous sites that can help you with this. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery provides a list of recommended exercises.
  • Anti-inflammatory Medication: If approved by your doctor, over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen or naproxen can help manage pain and inflammation.

Common Causes of Shoulder Pain

The two most common problems I see in my practice are:

Rotator cuff injury:

When you get inflammation in the tendons of the rotator cuff, as well as inflammation in the bursa, you can experience pain with simple motions like getting dressed or reaching overhead, and it can wake you up at night.

The pain typically goes from the shoulder to the elbow but can involve the muscles of the shoulder blade as well. The key is to try and decrease inflammation by taking anti-inflammatories, if you can, or icing. Also, try to avoid strenuous activity and begin a gentle stretching program, which you can find mentioned above.

Osteoarthritis:

Arthritis is a common problem that causes both pain and stiffness. Many people don’t know that initially the stiffness isn’t caused by the arthritis itself but by stiffness of the tissues around the shoulder.

Under your rotator cuff muscles is a layer of tissue called the capsule. When you have arthritis, it gets thickened, leading to stiffness. Stretching overhead, behind your back, and out to the side can significantly help this stiffness allowing you to continue to play many sports.

Seeking Treatment For Shoulder Pain

If you're experiencing persistent shoulder discomfort, weakness, or have had an injury, it's important to seek professional advice.
The team at Beebe Healthcare's Orthopaedic Services is here to help diagnose your condition and develop a personalized treatment plan to get you back to feeling your best. Learn more about our comprehensive shoulder care and schedule a consultation.