Elbow and Shoulder

Injuries tell you about what you are doing wrong. Like most people, I rely on pull strength. My elbow and shoulder injuries are from muscle inbalance and past injuries.

I over train pull muscles with poor techniques; foot works and hand use.

Answers are training of opposing muscles. Check out the article by Ali Rainey. Ali has a bunch more articles in the web site. She really has a system worked out. Basically in climbing, one tends to over train pull muscles and you injure yourself. In order to avoid, one needs to train opposing muscles. For every action, there is reaction. Injury is a reaction. More comprehensive exercises are found in this article.

Have you seen climbers whose shoulders are warped forward? It is because muscles are tightening and pulling them forward. The answer is simple push-ups or press-ups in England.

Second answer is massages. There are several massages of various affected places. I found out these massages; self massages. It loosens and warms and breaks down and promotes circulation. End result is just as good as Dave's freeze therapy. But little I did is already helping me.





I have a tender shoulder. Techically, it is an unstable shoulder. I have injured and dislocated in ski accident and since then, my shoulder joint is loose; stretched tendons. You need to do certain exercises to stabilize. Lie on your side and keep your elbow on your waist. You can keep a towel under it. Use 2-3 pounds weight. Lift it without lifting elbow; basic rotation. Do 10+. It is like fanning movement. Rotate your wrist and do some more. Then rotate wrist once again in different orientation and do some more. Just keep doing these light movements. This warms up and makes all your shoulder muscles work together. If you use heavier weight, your muscle inbalance will continue and your shoulder will be unstable.