The weird link between shoulder pain cause and old ankle sprains (and other injuries..)
Can Ankle Sprains Cause Shoulder Pain?The body only heals for efficiency, not perfection (Gary Ward).
Ever had an ankle sprain? Even a little one? This could be the reason for your wrecked shoulder (or back, or knee or the other bits that continue to cause pain).
In 2016, the foot and ankle association released content encouraging medical professionals to take an ankle sprain, any ankle sprain. As part of a significant medical history, also publishing an interesting paper looking at the long term effects a of quality of life on ankle sprains (read it here if you like academic vibes).
Let's not limit this sentiment of long term problems to only ankle sprains. The info here is in this little post is relevant for any injury, but for a sec, let's think about what happened when you sprained your ankle (or did the thing that you did that hurt, if you are one of very few people to have never sustained a sprain).
Following the sprain, you surely had concerns about placing your full body weight in the sore side. In fact, in may have even become your "sore side" for a little while, and in many people (many, many more than you would think), it may have progressed to be known as their "bad side." Even if they didn't recognise the original cause.
It may have impacted your ability to play sport or load it for some time, but as you retuned to your sport, there was likely still some apprehension around the full use of your sore bit.
So as time passed, and load increased, your body began to lay down new patterns, and tell itself new stories around how you should move.
The body never returned to it's previous state.
It just got you back to where you could do the stuff. And do the stuff just well enough to make you think all was ok, even though some time later, something else started to become problematic.
Sounds far fetched?
Think also on this for a moment (and you can do it if you like).
Taping your fingers together, over the course of 10 minutes or so, will begin to trick the brain into feeling as though it is one finger.
10 minutes.
What happens when the joint next to, or below another doesn't move for 10 days?
Limited movement around the ankle joint will go on to completely change the way your knee rotates, the movement at the hip, the tilt at the spine, the weight you can distribute across your body, which then impacts how much you can lift or rotate the shoulder (try and lift the arm whilst leaning to one side and you might get a feel for this).
This isn't necessarily a long process.
Unless you have had somebody reeducate you on accessing your pre-sprain movement patterns, you would have felt fine to continue on post injury, with little awareness that the entire force distribution of your body had been impacted.
So if you have a sore shoulder, back or anything that you are having trouble getting a solid LASTING solution for, it could be helpful to map out a timeline of everything you can remember around your bodies peaks and troughs (this isn't necessarily just injury dependent-times of illness and stress can also play a part but that's a story for another day).
A useful exercise may also be to video yourself walking, and see if you have any lateral spinal flexion whilst walking, which may be hindering your ability to freely move your shoulder. (As seen in this video)
Treating the site of pain, is very rarely a good single option to get you out of trouble. Think back to when (or if) your body was at it's peak. Map out the journey from there, and you may have the keys to begin unlocking other areas of treatment that you can integrate into your re-education of how to move better.