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Hello Everyone,
For the folks interested but not wanting to read much, I will a video on some of what I am going to cover here. For the readers, I just felt like throwing something down for you to ponder!
Before I go off on this topic, I want to highlight this is not about technique. Far greater players here can help with that, instead; this is about how to deal with pain and possibly understanding a little more about your the shoulder/neck. Also, if you think as you read any of this, it is definitely the answer you've been looking for. Stop and go see a doctor. Everyone is different, but my goal is to merely help others see how one small thing can stop you from performing at your top level.
So we've all been to a club / hall and watch gents play a match and have absolutely all the right equipment to seem like expert players. Some bring more than one cue and have special containers for accessories. They setup the table in a manor that makes you think you're about to be wowed with there excellence... and then it happens. The lean over the table and are roughly 1 foot or higher away from the cue. At first you might think "ah, this guy is just messing around", and then you notice they miss half the shots they're lined up for and continue to practically stand up straight for the majority of shots.
Well, recently my father had said to me. I've got a bad back. We spoke for a bit and after a few basic movements, I said to him "nope, just a weak back - 'I' have the bad back". He looked at me funny and said "oh yeah... because that makes sense, you're half my age and stronger than I had ever been". We chuckled as I continued to tell him why stated this so absolutely.
"No Dad, you forget I have Adolescent Scoliosis" - This is where there is slight to severe curvature in the spine but is developed later in life, usually rapid growth while high playing sports or high activity levels. Luckily, mine is slight.
"Remember when I was a kid and I tried to hang upside down on that crappy inverted table you got? - yeah I couldn't walk for over a week and I was 17years old. By the way, I forgot to thank you for that!" Puzzled, my father looked at me and then quickly realized by hanging up side down and letting all muscles relax, this forced my spine to straighten. For those of you that get it, great, for those of you are not quite there yet, this of this; take an elastic and put it in the freezer, after two hours take it out and try to stretch it *SNAP*. On the other hand, warm it up over time and then stretch it. It will stretch far greater then ever before. My back was this very example, one day without knowing I had curvature, I thought it would be an awesome idea to use this thing and without knowing it attempt to straighten my spine.
Okay, okay, story done, but what does this have to do with snooker, my fathers weak back, posture or that guy at the pool hall that can't properly pot any balls. Well, one very complex thing, the human body. While it is almost impossible to accurately find out which muscles are correctly firing on all cylinders, it is relatively easier to know if the pain your experiencing is muscle related or skeletal related. For instance, my father can fully bend over at the hip when playing a match, the tension is in his upper back. The only time he experiences the pain is when he plays snooker. Manual labour or actions that require lifting he seems to be fine. So why is that? Simple, every time he plays, his chin touches the cue, this arc's the neck in a terrible position causing strain onto the upper trap muscles, very unfortunate for him and many others because it doesn't stop there. He is also rounded in the shoulders, meaning his shoulder rotate toward the middle of the body. To know if you have this same complex stand straight and place your hands at your sides comfortably, without trying to flex any direct muscles, look down and try to see if you can see the third knuckle (ring finger) on your hand. Can you? Congratulations, your kyphotic (rounded in the shoulders)! So now you have extra tension on your upper back muscles, couple this rounded shoulder effect along with bending your neck up to see across a table and you now have some incredible pains in your upper back every time you play, thus giving you a weak back. Talk to your doctor and get some exercise training in your weekly plans!
FYI -If you can see only the first knuckle and a little of the second your shoulders are pretty square, GOOD POSTURE!
Okay, so what about the guy at the local snooker club/hall that doesn't bend over, what's wrong with him? This could be anything, maybe he was never taught to play correctly, maybe it was a work or car accident but sometimes it's simply because he has a lower back issue (slipped disc). This is a delicate one, sometimes it's because the cartilage around the vertebrae has been slowly removed and/or it was due to excessive use for a short stint (moving house furniture). If you fall into the stint category, you should be exercising but avoiding compression of the spine type workouts i.e., no squats for you! Instead lunges are a better choice.
On the other hand, if you have no cartilage or a lack of, ensure you talk with your doctor about options. For the most part you might have to remain in a standing position.
What I will say is many people do not fall into that last category, which brings me to the shoulder. This forum has a lot of articles stating the wrist rotation, make no mistake, the rotation of the wrist happens in the shoulder, the wrist does not have the ability to rotate on it's own. Further to this fact, the shoulder is complicated and is what allows you to "have" proper range of motion thus allowing you to get coached on technique. Don't believe me? Take your right arm and place it over your head, put it up as high as possible (palm facing out). Now turn your neck slowly to the left as far as possible - yea, you feel that? That's your upper trap telling you it's working. Do the same thing, but this time turn your head to the right - you should now feel less tension. Now if you look up at the ceiling the muscles that contract are now the upper mid back. If you have poor muscles here, this is the exact exhaustion I was referring to earlier. Take notice that either way you face your head, twisting your wrist in this angle is very difficult, this is because your shoulder muscles have difficulty working together in this position. By the way, if you can't place your arm directly over your head, you also lack the ability to get comfortable over the table, your snooker coach might notice this. To fix it, you need to correctly exercise your shoulders and neck to get full Range of Motion (ROM).
Great, how I know something I already knew or maybe not, but what about posture? We'll beleive it or not I covered some of it. Can you see your third knuckle? Yeah? Want to fix it, pull your shoulders back. Posture almost fixed. Here is another thing you can do for your posture. Stand against a wall (back of head touching wall and heels touching the wall). Try to take one of your arms and place it behind your back (palm horizontal against the wall). If you can do it and just feel your arm nicely balanced between the wall and your body with no pressure, your alignment is OK. if you can't and have a hard time squeezing your arm through the gap, your lower back is too rounded. This is poor posture. Posture is habit so don't worry, this can be fixed!
To sum up most of this, because I am starting to realize I can go on and on. You'll mainly want to ensure you can perform basic movements in your body using full ROM. If you experience sharp pains, it might be skeletal related, however, if is slowly comes and goes it's likely muscle related. You should consult with a physician either way to ensure you can use your body to it's full potential - No one wants to know they can't enjoy something simply because they don't use it often enough.
Cheers,
T
For the folks interested but not wanting to read much, I will a video on some of what I am going to cover here. For the readers, I just felt like throwing something down for you to ponder!
Before I go off on this topic, I want to highlight this is not about technique. Far greater players here can help with that, instead; this is about how to deal with pain and possibly understanding a little more about your the shoulder/neck. Also, if you think as you read any of this, it is definitely the answer you've been looking for. Stop and go see a doctor. Everyone is different, but my goal is to merely help others see how one small thing can stop you from performing at your top level.
So we've all been to a club / hall and watch gents play a match and have absolutely all the right equipment to seem like expert players. Some bring more than one cue and have special containers for accessories. They setup the table in a manor that makes you think you're about to be wowed with there excellence... and then it happens. The lean over the table and are roughly 1 foot or higher away from the cue. At first you might think "ah, this guy is just messing around", and then you notice they miss half the shots they're lined up for and continue to practically stand up straight for the majority of shots.
Well, recently my father had said to me. I've got a bad back. We spoke for a bit and after a few basic movements, I said to him "nope, just a weak back - 'I' have the bad back". He looked at me funny and said "oh yeah... because that makes sense, you're half my age and stronger than I had ever been". We chuckled as I continued to tell him why stated this so absolutely.
"No Dad, you forget I have Adolescent Scoliosis" - This is where there is slight to severe curvature in the spine but is developed later in life, usually rapid growth while high playing sports or high activity levels. Luckily, mine is slight.
"Remember when I was a kid and I tried to hang upside down on that crappy inverted table you got? - yeah I couldn't walk for over a week and I was 17years old. By the way, I forgot to thank you for that!" Puzzled, my father looked at me and then quickly realized by hanging up side down and letting all muscles relax, this forced my spine to straighten. For those of you that get it, great, for those of you are not quite there yet, this of this; take an elastic and put it in the freezer, after two hours take it out and try to stretch it *SNAP*. On the other hand, warm it up over time and then stretch it. It will stretch far greater then ever before. My back was this very example, one day without knowing I had curvature, I thought it would be an awesome idea to use this thing and without knowing it attempt to straighten my spine.
Okay, okay, story done, but what does this have to do with snooker, my fathers weak back, posture or that guy at the pool hall that can't properly pot any balls. Well, one very complex thing, the human body. While it is almost impossible to accurately find out which muscles are correctly firing on all cylinders, it is relatively easier to know if the pain your experiencing is muscle related or skeletal related. For instance, my father can fully bend over at the hip when playing a match, the tension is in his upper back. The only time he experiences the pain is when he plays snooker. Manual labour or actions that require lifting he seems to be fine. So why is that? Simple, every time he plays, his chin touches the cue, this arc's the neck in a terrible position causing strain onto the upper trap muscles, very unfortunate for him and many others because it doesn't stop there. He is also rounded in the shoulders, meaning his shoulder rotate toward the middle of the body. To know if you have this same complex stand straight and place your hands at your sides comfortably, without trying to flex any direct muscles, look down and try to see if you can see the third knuckle (ring finger) on your hand. Can you? Congratulations, your kyphotic (rounded in the shoulders)! So now you have extra tension on your upper back muscles, couple this rounded shoulder effect along with bending your neck up to see across a table and you now have some incredible pains in your upper back every time you play, thus giving you a weak back. Talk to your doctor and get some exercise training in your weekly plans!
FYI -If you can see only the first knuckle and a little of the second your shoulders are pretty square, GOOD POSTURE!
Okay, so what about the guy at the local snooker club/hall that doesn't bend over, what's wrong with him? This could be anything, maybe he was never taught to play correctly, maybe it was a work or car accident but sometimes it's simply because he has a lower back issue (slipped disc). This is a delicate one, sometimes it's because the cartilage around the vertebrae has been slowly removed and/or it was due to excessive use for a short stint (moving house furniture). If you fall into the stint category, you should be exercising but avoiding compression of the spine type workouts i.e., no squats for you! Instead lunges are a better choice.
On the other hand, if you have no cartilage or a lack of, ensure you talk with your doctor about options. For the most part you might have to remain in a standing position.
What I will say is many people do not fall into that last category, which brings me to the shoulder. This forum has a lot of articles stating the wrist rotation, make no mistake, the rotation of the wrist happens in the shoulder, the wrist does not have the ability to rotate on it's own. Further to this fact, the shoulder is complicated and is what allows you to "have" proper range of motion thus allowing you to get coached on technique. Don't believe me? Take your right arm and place it over your head, put it up as high as possible (palm facing out). Now turn your neck slowly to the left as far as possible - yea, you feel that? That's your upper trap telling you it's working. Do the same thing, but this time turn your head to the right - you should now feel less tension. Now if you look up at the ceiling the muscles that contract are now the upper mid back. If you have poor muscles here, this is the exact exhaustion I was referring to earlier. Take notice that either way you face your head, twisting your wrist in this angle is very difficult, this is because your shoulder muscles have difficulty working together in this position. By the way, if you can't place your arm directly over your head, you also lack the ability to get comfortable over the table, your snooker coach might notice this. To fix it, you need to correctly exercise your shoulders and neck to get full Range of Motion (ROM).
Great, how I know something I already knew or maybe not, but what about posture? We'll beleive it or not I covered some of it. Can you see your third knuckle? Yeah? Want to fix it, pull your shoulders back. Posture almost fixed. Here is another thing you can do for your posture. Stand against a wall (back of head touching wall and heels touching the wall). Try to take one of your arms and place it behind your back (palm horizontal against the wall). If you can do it and just feel your arm nicely balanced between the wall and your body with no pressure, your alignment is OK. if you can't and have a hard time squeezing your arm through the gap, your lower back is too rounded. This is poor posture. Posture is habit so don't worry, this can be fixed!
To sum up most of this, because I am starting to realize I can go on and on. You'll mainly want to ensure you can perform basic movements in your body using full ROM. If you experience sharp pains, it might be skeletal related, however, if is slowly comes and goes it's likely muscle related. You should consult with a physician either way to ensure you can use your body to it's full potential - No one wants to know they can't enjoy something simply because they don't use it often enough.
Cheers,
T
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