Shoulder Pain Treatment: Hear from a Local Auto Mechanic & Body Builder

Physical Therapy Treatment for Your Lifestyle

Rich, a 35-year-old mechanic and former competitive body builder owns a mechanic shop in Grafton.  Rich can not make a living if he were told to not use his shoulder as part of his treatment.  He is physically in unusual positions; under a car, reaching behind an engine, under the hood, and servicing commercial fleets daily. Rich lives a very active lifestyle with a rambunctious young English Boxer and he depends on his strength and mobility to make a living.

Rich works on cars and running the business all day so he looks forward to decompressing at the gym with a good muscle pump. It’s important to Rich, especially since taking over the family business, to stay healthy and active. Rich says being able to release some steam lifting weights is important to him and critical for his mental sanity.

Unbearable Shoulder Pain: Bench Press & Overhead Movements

Rich was dealing with a lot of shoulder pain for months. It had gotten to be almost unbearable. This shoulder pain was keeping him from being able to do bench presses, overhead shoulder press or any other overhead movements like overhead squats, jerks or snatches. (Physical Therapy for CrossFit & Weight Lifting)

Shoulder Pain Diagnosis and Treatment Plan

Dr. Evan performed Rich’s initial functional screening, a process that tests neuromuscular activation. Once Dr. Evan discovered which muscles were not active, he created a personalized exercise program for Rich to strengthen those muscles and keep them activated. During each Physical Therapy session Dr. Evan would perform a full body screening, assessing movement, strength, and range of motion throughout the whole body.

With Rich being diligent in doing his prescribed exercises, it only took three PT sessions for him to be bench pressing without pain. Rich is back to enjoying the gym and being able to endure longer, harder workouts and get back into competitive bodybuilding if he wants.