Disc Golf

Disc Golf Sidearm throw Causing upper outside arm pain ?

I was playing disc golf yesterday and I started to notice a pain on my right upper arm on the outside when I threw sidearm . It’s on my upper arm (throwing arm) and is basically just straight down from the outside of my shoulder except it’s a littole bit further back towards my back side. It’s not tender but is a little painful when I throw sidearm. Even itf it’s with a light frisbee. It’s the side arm motion. some other motions hurt it too, like bring my arm behind me. Has anyone experienced this before? what’d I do and how long will it take to heal? thanks.
-timbo

You probably strained the back of your deltoid by going for too much snap. It sounds like a soft-tissue injury. To heal it you should stop throwing for a while, then stretch it and strengthen it.

I have played disc golf for 6 years and I use forehand for drives exclusively since 5 years ago. It’s difficult to throw over 100 yards and it’s injury-prone, but it’s also deadly accurate. The main reason it’s more injury-prone than backhand is there’s no intuitive way to follow-through. With a scissor-leg backhand, the arm naturally moves in nearly a complete circle because you’re throwing with the lead arm, so it leads the rest of your body through the motion. But sidearm is the opposite, your body is in front of the throwing arm. Lots of people make the mistake of turning their arm into a whip, or even worse, both the arm and back. Whipping the arm is ok for shorter throws but if you put too much power into it, it makes a whiplash effect on your arm joints, and the spine too if the motion is rooted in the body. I hurt my back twice in my first two forehand years.

Once you’ve got it healed, you could retool your sidearm shot to concentrate on footwork. It’s impossible to rotate as much as a backhand, but you can rotate some. I lead the rotation with my feet, and let my back and arm follow through. It takes some practice to get the snap to work right. I’m right-handed, I finish on my left foot turning left, maybe hopping. The snap doesn’t reverberate either in my arm or my body because my feet keep rotating along with the motion.

If you’re gonna throw sidearm for power, you probably will suffer some injuries so that’s up to you… for softer mid-range shots an effective way to get good snap is to think like you’re a boxer throwing an uppercut. This keeps your release point to the near, hyzer side of the disc, and it’s easy to get plenty of snap with just the wrist using leverage on the rim. Prevents anhyzer hooks that dive right into the ground at 50 yards.

btw I’m not a doctor or trainer, seek a sports med professional if it doesn’t heal quick, and fair warning if you get into forehand driving you can hurt your back

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