I slept in a bean bag for 10 days until I found relief!
Seeing people in pain or discomfort is not something I like to experience because I remember when I did my knee what it felt like.
Down on the coast if you don't ride a bike, run or walk the tracks you'll probably be one of the 100s that hit the surf for hours on end most days of the week. A gift we have to head out into the surf clear the head and set up our day.
'Unfortunately that gift, if not maintained can be taken from you even at an elite level.'
"Maintained"....... What we mean is when surfing for hours on end, just like sitting at your desk for hours over time your chest muscles tighten and begin to round your shoulders. We begin to loose up body mobility and the muscles in your back become over stretched and pain kicks in.
For the surfer our deep stomach muscles called our flexors become extremely tight pulling on our pelvis and changing our stance. This can lead to balance issues and stress on other areas of the body!
Below is a story of a busy mum and former pro surfer that one morning woke up and could not move her arm or shoulder.
Hi Cam
I am 39 years old and a Mother of two boys ages 12 and 10. I started surfing around that age and often spent hours and hours in the water at a time. Through my teen years I went on to surf at an elite level. After having kids and helping them learn to surf I was back surfing with them often hours on end to keep their pace …but probably not in the same body as I had in my teens!
I started to notice I was getting sore in the shoulders, I was having trouble sleeping and felt like I had no power in my arms. I let it go for a few months as I thought it would get better! But it didn’t…it got a lot worse until one morning I woke up and could not move my arm even an inch. I was in excruciating pain I couldn’t sleep let alone drive , cook dinner etc.
'The doctor told me I had frozen shoulder.'
By chance I met someone that had fantastic results with Cam and she said go and see him even if he just helps you get some sleep. At that stage I had been sleeping in a bean bag upright for 10 days even on pain relief. After the first visit I was sleeping 6 hours straight lying down which I thought was very impressive.
Over the next 6 weeks we worked with his specialised massage technique that slowly let the adhesions in my shoulder break down and allow me to complete a very simple strength and stretching program that I would do at home which took about 10 minutes a day.
I could not be happier with where I am now which is full range through my shoulder and no pain at all (that all went by week 2). I have purchased an ultimate sandbag and now complete my rehab program at home. I love the USB Arc pressing, around the worlds and now working on my max lunge and haven’t felt so good through my shoulders in years.
If you want lasting results to see you you to the finish line go and see Cam…he has an infectious motivation that is hard not to catch
Anna Zanoni
If we go back to the where we mentioned sitting or surfing positions can lead to tight flexors and therefore putting more stress on other areas of the body........One of our go to exercises when helping Anna was the Half Kneeling Arc Press,
WHY?
Well it wasn't our first exercise but what it did lead to was our go to as it was opening up her flexors, challenging the frontal plan stability required to ride a surfboard and then bang for her buck strengthening those shoulders.
It took us several weeks to undo and release all the tightness and tension before we could move into our strength program. Anna's success has continued and now enjoys teaching and surfing with her boys.
Are you struggling with the same problems?
Check out our upcoming DVRT Workshops where we will show the Arc press and more.
Thanks for reading
Cam Ward - DVRT Master Instructor