Have you ever found yourself stuck with a patient that has shoulder pain…

Unsure about what to do with them after the you have competed the assessment?

You ask yourself…

What treatments are going to help reduce their pain…

Improve their movement…

And help them back to full fitness?

It’s the million dollar question for sure.

But a common question for new grads.

The main reason I chose to cover the shoulder in the my first free training of 2022 ‘Simplifying the Shoulder’ is because the shoulder is the joint I get asked the most questions about.

I have massively changed the way I treat (and rehab) the shoulder compared to when I first graduated back in 2010.

Back then it was the injury that I also struggled with the most.

I felt like an imposter when trying to help a patient with shoulder pain…

Wanting to help them but feeling like I could not, no matter how hard I tried.

I particularly struggled to get my head around what the patients problem was and really struggled to keep the pain from quickly returning.

This was a big problem for me at the time, not only in the private practice work I was doing, as patients stopped progressing, then stopped coming back to see me…

But even more so in the work I was doing then as the first team physio at the Leeds Rhinos.

You don’t need to know much about rugby to work out that because of the contact nature of the sport, the shoulder is one of the most common injuries you see in this type of environment.

The big problem here was that the players did not stop coming back.

When they stop coming back in the private clinic they were no longer my problem, but at the Rhinos the players would come back day, after day, after day, with the same problem.

I’d treat them in the morning but they’d be back in my room after their gym session, wrestling session or after their field session wanting more treatment because their symptoms had come back.

This cycle went on…and on…and on.

I’d make quick changes to their symptoms on the bed…

They felt much better…

But it never lasted long.

I’m sure you’ve had the same thing.

In the clinic this is your shoulder pain patient that improves over the first few sessions but then their progress starts to plateau…

Their symptoms return or they get worse as soon as they start using their shoulder more often.

If I’m honest, back then I lacked confidence when treating the shoulder.

And it started to show.

The patients and players I was working with started to sense this lack of confidence and I knew it too. 

I was throwing the kitchen sink at them…

Treating everything.

But I quickly worked out that this ‘kitchen sink’ rarely worked.

And even when it did, I had no idea why…

I couldn’t have given you any sort of clinical reasoning as to the treatment techniques I was using or even the rehab exercises I was prescribing.

It was complete guess work.

I was watching videos, webinars, going on every shoulder course going…

Looking for that ‘special’ technique that would fix all the shoulder injuries that I would see but…

This actually made things worse, as I now had even just more techniques to use and this meant that I used even more treatment techniques and rehab exercises than ever before! 

I was even more confused and uncertain as to what my patient actually needed…

Or what rehab exercises were best for the players I was working with.

I was spending far too much time using hands-on treatments, and leaving almost no time for rehab.

90% of a treatment session was hands-on and only 10% of that time was used for rehab.

Nowadays I treat very differently.

It’s almost the opposite.

I still use hands-on techniques with pretty much every patient or athlete I see with shoulder pain but…

As their symptoms improve, the sessions are all rehab and involve very little, if any, hands-on treatments. 

You know that the effects of any hands-on treatments are short lived…

But they can be really effective particularly in reducing pain and improving movement and giving you a window for your patient to progress their rehab.

The key here is when you do use any hands-on treatment technique is making sure you treat the right thing.

What you do not want to do is treat everything, as this…

Requires a lot of effort and time for you as their therapist…

You waste your time using techniques that do not improve patient symptoms and…

As a result you do not give yourself enough time to spend on rehab (this is what really helps shoulder pain patients get better).

Having made so many mistakes in my early career and having lived to tell the tale I’d love to share some of these biggest secrets with you.

I’ll be doing just this in this week’s special webinar…

Simplifying the Shoulder

I’ll be live at 19:00 on Wednesday 19th January 2022 (UK Time) for 60 minutes…

Showing you everything you need to know about how to assess, treat and rehab any shoulder injury.

Places are filling up fast so do not miss your chance and book here right now.

You’ll get a CPD certificate just for turning up but better than that…

You will increase your knowledge and understanding around the shoulder…

Giving you increased your confidence in your ability to be able to tackle and shoulder pain patient that walks through your door…

Even the tricky ones!

Andy

The New Grad Physio Mentor

PS. This is a one-off. There is will be no recording made available outside of my membership after this event so please do not ask.

Here’s the free registration link in case you missed it!

PPS. If you are reading this blog post after the event…sorry you missed it.