Is it okay to play badminton with shoulder pain, how to handle it?

Is it okay to play badminton with shoulder pain, how to handle it?

Shoulder pain when playing badminton can happen to beginners or even professional athletes. Therefore, preparing the knowledge to properly handle shoulder injuries is extremely necessary, thereby, helping players limit severe pain and long-term impact on mobility.

1. The cause of your shoulder pain when playing badminton

The shoulder has the largest range of motion of all the joints in the body. However, this means that the shoulder joint is at high risk of instability and injury, especially when playing badminton - a subject that requires flexible movement of the shoulders, wrists and arms. Here are the 5 main causes of shoulder pain when playing badminton:

1.1. Practicing with the wrong posture

In people who start playing badminton or practice at home, most of them make technical mistakes such as rotating and turning their arms continuously, bringing their hands up and down often unconsciously, causing injury to the shoulder blades, forming acute or chronic pain. Along with that, if you do not warm up or stretch before and after playing badminton, the risk of shoulder pain in the future is very high.

1.2. Training intensity is too much

In professional athletes who practice and compete regularly, the intensity of repetitive motion for a long time is the cause of damage to the rotator cuff muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints, causing damage. pain, discomfort.

Many badminton players suffer from shoulder pain due to poor technique or excessive training intensity.

1.3. Using the wrong racket

Many cases of badminton playing with shoulder pain are caused by using the wrong racket. Specifically, if an athlete chooses a racquet over his head, this causes subarachnoid compression syndrome and can lead to a tear of the rotator cuff tendon. Common manifestations are pain at night, pain from the shoulder to the neck, the outside of the arm and when lying on the side, the shoulder blade is easy to sting and sting.

1.4. Falling, bumping

Shoulder pain when playing badminton is also caused by injury, falling while running or colliding with teammates, causing the shoulder area to have a strong physical impact, leading to pain.

1.5. Effects of illness

Athletes suffering from musculoskeletal diseases such as osteoarthritis, shoulder arthritis, are at high risk of shoulder pain when playing badminton. In addition, if the patient has a history of injury in the past, playing badminton again makes the condition worse.

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2. Are shoulder pain symptoms in many people the same?

Shoulder pain comes from different types of injuries, so symptoms may vary from person to person, specifically:

Stretching or tearing the ligaments and capsule of the shoulder joint

Using too much force when playing badminton causes the ligaments and capsule of the shoulder to be torn, the joint is loose, leading to severe pain.

Inflammation and tearing of the rotator cuff tendon

Inflammation and tearing of the rotator cuff tendons cause patients to have acute and chronic shoulder pain, hindering the movement of the shoulder joint. If left untreated, this increases the risk of weakness and loss of function in the shoulder and arm.

Tendon tear

This is one of the common shoulder injuries when playing badminton, usually in professional athletes or people who have aged due to aging.

The initial symptom of a tendon tear is a dull ache in the shoulder. Then, the pain worsens when lying on the side, and the pain spreads to the neck or down the arm. When the tendon tear becomes severe, it is difficult for the patient to perform activities such as combing his hair, putting on a shirt, or putting his hands behind his head.

Injury to the rotator cuff muscle

The rotator cuff is a collection of 4 important muscles of the joint, including the subscapularis, the supraspinatus, the subscapularis, and the minor rotator cuff. In particular, the main function of the rotator cuff muscle is to connect the shoulder bones together, creating conditions for the shoulder joint to work easily and avoid dislocation. However, if there is damage to the rotator cuff muscle, this causes the ligament or bursa to become inflamed, leading to pain and difficulty moving or lifting the arm.

Symptoms of shoulder pain in each person are different, but they all have one thing in common: they make the patient feel uncomfortable and affect movement.

3. After playing badminton, is shoulder pain dangerous?

The shoulder joint has many nerves and blood vessels, so whenever pain occurs, this makes the patient extremely uncomfortable. At first, the pain is silent, mild and does not affect movement, but in the long run, if there is no remedy, the pain becomes serious, leaving dangerous complications for health. .

Therefore, in case shoulder pain continues for 1-2 weeks without relief, the patient must see a doctor immediately, for diagnosis, timely treatment advice, and help you recover quickly.

4. How to treat shoulder injuries when playing badminton

To handle shoulder pain when playing badminton, athletes should refer to the following 6 useful methods:

4.1. Hot and cold compress

If you have shoulder pain after playing badminton, you should apply a cold compress to the shoulder area to reduce inflammation. It should be noted, do not expose the skin to ice directly as this increases the risk of frostbite. Instead, wrap ice in a soft towel and apply it to the painful area for about 20 minutes, do it 3-4 times a day, contributing to reducing impulse transmission on nerves, reducing muscle excitability, and reducing reflexes. muscles and relieve pain effectively.

In addition to cold compresses, you can alternate hot compresses for shoulder blades. This is a therapy that relaxes muscles and ligaments, promotes blood circulation, and effectively relieves pain. Accordingly, patients use hot packs on their shoulders or take a hot shower every day to improve shoulder pain when playing badminton.

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4.2. Rested

Many cases of badminton playing with shoulder pain are caused by players working too hard. Therefore, take time to rest, pause exercise to balance the body and help the pain be relieved quickly.

4.3. Take pain relievers

Muscle relaxants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and drugs injected into the joint or soft tissue around the joint, provide temporary shoulder pain relief. But, the use process must be prescribed by a professional doctor, taking the right dose, at the right time of treatment, to prevent side effects such as dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, stomach pain, liver damage and kidney.

Patients should take pain relievers according to the doctor's instructions to avoid experiencing side effects.

4.4. Do gentle exercises

To improve shoulder pain, patients should spend 30 minutes doing some gentle stretching exercises, typically:

Arm lifting exercise: This is a warm-up exercise that warms up the shoulder joint, relieves tension and shoulder pain when playing badminton.

Stand up straight with your feet shoulder width apart.

Raise the arms and extend to the sides, creating a T shape with the body.

Raise, lower, and rotate your arms at an angle of about 30 degrees.

Repeat the exercise for 10-15 seconds, then switch directions.

External shoulder rotation exercise: This is an exercise that improves endurance and increases flexibility for the rotator cuff muscles. In particular, patients can use resistance bands to achieve better results.

Lightly hold the resistance band with both hands.

Keep your hands close to your body and bend your elbows.

Keeping one hand still, rotate the other hand away from the body, maintaining a 90-degree elbow angle.

Hold the pose for 5 seconds.

Slowly bring your hands back to your body.

Repeat the exercise in 2 sets, each set 12-15 times and apply 3-4 times a week.

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4.5. Surgery

Many patients tend to go to the doctor for surgery because they think this is a definitive treatment. However, surgery is a complex method, requiring many factors to be considered (level of pathology, timing, physician skill and patient cooperation). Especially, the postoperative process has the potential for dangerous complications such as infection, nerve damage - blood vessels or a high risk of recurrence. Therefore, patients must consider and consult with their doctor before making the decision to have shoulder surgery.

4.6. Apply physical therapy

According to modern medicine, to completely treat shoulder pain when playing badminton requires a combination of many methods. At the ACC clinic, the doctor first applies Chiropractic, to correct the wrong structure to the right position, release the nerve root compression, stimulate the self-healing mechanism, from It heals the pain naturally, helping the patient's shoulder joint to be improved.

Next, the doctor combines the IV high-intensity laser and Shockwave, to reduce muscle spasms, reduce inflammation, and increase blood flow and nutrition to the treatment area. This supports effective pain relief, promotes the speed of shoulder joint recovery.

In particular, the patient is also prescribed an intensive muscle pain treatment method (*) to eliminate stiffness or muscle spasms in the joints. Finally, the ACC doctor guided the rehabilitation movement for the shoulder joint, to not only fix the disease completely, but also prevent the shoulder pain from recurring.

* Muscle pain therapy is a method of direct impact on muscle tissue, through manual therapy combined with modern physical therapy equipment, helping patients reduce pain, stiffness, enhance immunity, relieve stress and improve sleep.

5. How to prevent shoulder pain from hitting badminton

To limit shoulder pain when playing badminton, athletes should adhere to the 7 "golden" rules below:

Warm up thoroughly before playing badminton, whether in practice or competition.

Do not overwork, continuously for a long time, so that the shoulder joint is less likely to experience pressure and injury.

When pain occurs, you should stop, rest and relax the shoulder joint, to avoid the situation becoming serious.

Avoid practicing the wrong technique, it is best to have someone monitor and adjust the movements for new participants.

Using support devices to reduce force on the shoulder such as Rocktape muscle tape, works to increase muscle strength, protect the shoulder joint, as well as reduce the risk of injury when practicing and competing.

Build a scientific diet, add foods rich in protein (eggs, chicken breast, yogurt, meat), calcium (shell seafood, tofu, kale, green vegetables) and vitamin D (salmon) , mushrooms, egg yolks, shrimp) to maintain healthy muscles, bones, joints and ligaments.

Periodic health check to screen for abnormal signs and timely treatment (if any).

Thus, when playing badminton with shoulder pain, patients should take the initiative to go to the doctor to be diagnosed and have timely treatment solutions. In addition, please pay attention to follow the doctor's instructions about changing your practice - living - eating habits, to improve pain definitively, restore shoulder joint function and prevent recurrence.