Practicing more often, pain in lower shoulder blades

VoodooIdol started this discussion · 4/25/2015

Hi all, so now that I have a home pole I have been trying to practice about three times a week as opposed to once a week in the studio. I believe I am properly engaging my scapula for spins and whatnot but maybe I'm not? I'm developing pain in the muscles across my upper back just under my shoulder blades even when doing simple spins. Am I just overdoing it? Do I need more strength? ( I can normally do several basic spins with no problem). This area never hurt until about a week ago after I was doing spins for awhile (maybe an hour?) any thoughts? Thanks

11 replies

joiceiamara · 4/25/2015
Are you warming up before and stretching out after practicing? If you don't, it may cause injuries. When I do my practice at home, I make sure a warm up and strecth out at leat 15 minutes. Good luck!
VoodooIdol · 4/25/2015
Oh definitely! I warm up and do a yoga cool down and foam roll, etc. I have a dance background so safety is very important to me. I'm also wondering if it's my shoes, I recently got some pleaser boots and they are considerably heavier and may be the added weight bothering me. Thank you for the input though!
Veena · 4/25/2015
Hi! Many spins are hard on the shoulders, elbows and wrists, so doing them for an hour is quite a long time. I see you have the lessons, have you used the conditioning lessons yet?
VoodooIdol · 4/26/2015
Hi Veena, yeah I actually don't even really mean to do them for an hour I just get in a zone and don't realize how much time has passed :) I have been doing the conditioning exercises, both yours and a few other things. The pain is mostly in my left (non dominant) shoulder, I notice it when in the 'pushing' position when the arm comes across the chest and holds away from the pole. I'm just trying to determine if I need to build more strength in that shoulder or if I just need to tone down how much I'm doing it!
Veena · 4/26/2015
I would back off the spins and make sure you do them towards the end of your pole sessions. Keep up with the conditioning, I still do the conditioning I've shared with everyone in the lessons every week! 😊
VoodooIdol · 4/26/2015
I will definitely try to do them a bit less and save them for the end like you suggested. Thanks for the tips!
Tigerschic041721 · 4/26/2015
Do you (honestly) practice both sides evenly? I say honestly bc I know before I would think I was mirroring my practice on both sides but really thinking about it I wasn't especially if someone is like "do that again" it's instinct to revert to my dominate side. Anyway this could be the culprit....overtraining one side can cause tight muscles to pull on the one side and not balance out on the other resulting in pain in the weaker side even if not trained as much. I'm not in the medical field but Hopefully I'm paraphrasing correctly what was told to me by my chiro (I have this same pain you mention). Eventually in the extreme circumstance the spine can start to move in ways we definitely don't want it to. Also any pre-existing conditions may be adding to your irritation such as scoliosis for example. A lacrosse or golf ball for myofascial release in this area does wonders for the pain. If you see a masseuse who really understands this area (apparently a lot don't) that can also help immediate pain.
VoodooIdol · 4/26/2015
While I do train both sides I for sure favor my dominant side, especially when trying to figure out something new. I can definitely see what you mean and I'm going to try to be better about it! I also think, as I haven't been poling all that long, that as I gain strength in my right arm I'm now starting to use the left to really push away and get more 'air' on the spins and the pushing muscle is reacting to overuse. I'm using today as a rest day and it isn't hurting nearly as much as a few days ago. I just want to be on my pole as much as possible but I have to learn to tone it down I think, as taking a few passes at a move once a week is a big difference from being able to try it as much as I want. In the mean time I use my foam roller, I do yoga and I use my inversion table as much as possible :)
Veena · 4/27/2015
Trying to pole everyday can do more harm than good. Rest and mindful training will keep your dancing pain free 💜
Vdub · 4/29/2015
I used to have the same pain in my traps and under my shoulder blades. The key for me turned out to be conditioning and lot of stretching. I do some type of conditioning and stretching every morning that focuses on my back and my shoulders. The foam roller, Veena's lessons and yoga are my friends. At one point, I thought I didn't need the exercises anymore and I stopped. The pain returned (although not as intense) a few weeks later so now I'm back at it. The other thing to remember is that if you skip poling for a day and focus on yoga, conditioning or stretching, you're still working on pole because these things will enable you to have pain free pole days. I've gathered a ton of exercises from various youtube vids, Veena's lessons and yoga classes that I've attended. You can PM me if you want me to send you the links to everything I have. It really helps. Sometimes I get so into my morning sessions that they last an hour ;)
VoodooIdol · 4/29/2015
While I do stretch often, maybe I'm not stretching my shoulders specifically enough? I do yoga and foam roll and I also do Felix Cane's flexibility dvd. I am thinking actually it's in the way I practice my pole holds, it's almost like I am keeping my hands TOO low and taking all the weight into my back and not my biceps or anything. I hold my hands at head level, is this wrong? I have done Veena's pole hold lessons a few times and also with an instructor in person and I've never noticed if my hands are too low but this seems to be when it starts to hurt. It's also only on the left side. And I've been doing a lot of them lately because I want to build up the core strength for the v-invert and it was suggested to me that I do these every day. It doesn't hurt enough that I've stopped poling I'm just taking it easy and icing it in between and it's getting better but not going away.