Shoulder soreness

[JeffzeNub]

So I have been playing disc golf for about a month now. I am a former D1 athlete and in fairly decent shape. I am still reading up on driving tips, snap, etc...When I first started playing I had a tendency to arm the disc and was maxing out around 250'. I am still having trouble breaking 350, but not why i'm posting...

It seems like every time I go to a field to practice or just play in general, (afterwords) my shoulder feels like I threw 1000 baseballs without warming up as hard as I could. At first I just chalked it up to being out of shape and not using my arm like I used to, but now that I have been playing for a while it is still bothering me. I have been just popping a few advil or ibuprofen before going out to throw since I know my shoulder is going to start bothering me.

I tried to take some video today, but it was a bad angle and you really cannot see a whole lot. I will try to redo it after my shoulder gets a few days rest. My main question is, is there something specifically I am doing wrong? Is this a common problem? Are there any drills or exercises that I should be doing?

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

PS - if there is a post about this already please just link it, I found a few similar posts, but nothing specific.

[Mark Ellis]

It sounds like you are having way more pain than you should be. Minor stiffness is to be expected but not much more unless you started with a bad shoulder. Perhaps your form is wrong for you.

The next time you throw pay attention to which shots hurt more than others. Typically if you throw smooth and flat and balanced you should have no pain. None. Zero. If you get pain from this type of throw change your form to something which doesn't hurt: forehand or overhead maybe.

You might have strained it enough that rest is needed. I'm not a big fan of rest personally but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Between rounds you should ice it religiously. Cycles of 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off. Ice is magic.

When you get to a course stretch out slowly and throw easy as you warm up. Don't throw hard you until you are fully warmed up. Even then, smooth is better than hard. More accurate too.

Good luck.

[JR]

There is no shame in powering down the throw. Often times 80 % power is good for accuracy and consistency. Not always but learning to aim with snap is an advanced form thing that you shouldn't bother with yet.

[JeffzeNub]

Thank you for the quick responses, ice helps significantly, I just didnt know if shoulder soreness was a symptom of a common problem. I definitely power down when I'm playing, but when I am in a field trying to practice I guess I dont know how to judge my technique other than how far the disc goes, hence the full power over and over again, which I know dosnt help.

I tried to get a video earlier today, but the local field I usually use was full of kids soccer practices, but I will have one for review asap.

Thanks again

Jeff