Athlete with shoulder problem needs help

[physio.smith]

Agree we are all different and if it is not broken then why try and fix it. There is often a case though for preventing injuries occuring or trying to optimise performance.

Asymmetries are very common.

Do you have problems with your shoulder? / Have you had paticular problems with it in the past?

What sports do you participate in?

Treated a lot of patients who are not symmetrical...due to sports they did....tennis, pole vaulting, boxing...few sports are symmetrical and as previous post noted very few people are symmetrical.

[Canuck Physio]

Hmm.. I don't know,

I have seen far too many athletes who suffer from muscular imbalances, postural asymmetries. Not to mention the long term effects of poor posture, leading to significantly obvious stiffness and poor posture in many elderly.

Additionally, weightlifters suffer from significant loss of local stability around joints that are imbalanced from training.

I would suggest for optimum long term health (something not studied in research often), that you balance the body early on. Fix these problems now before they become long term chronic issues.

Regards

[ocyrus411]

Thanks for all the input, I deeply appreciate everyone's contribution.

I was able to take a few pictures of my back which gives you a little more insight into this problem of mine. In these pictures I'm naturally raising both of my arms over my head, arms stretched out, and arms relaxed at sidehowever you can see my right shoulder blade isn't level with my left, and the muscle groups on my right side are forming in different positions. Judging by this picture, is it safe to say this is a muscular problem or a skeletal problem? I'm not sure whether to invest my time and money in a physiotherapist or a chiropractor.

[Canuck Physio]

I was able to take a few pictures of my back which gives you a little more insight into this problem of mine. In these pictures I'm naturally raising both of my arms over my head, arms stretched out, and arms relaxed at sidehowever you can see my right shoulder blade isn't level with my left, and the muscle groups on my right side are forming in different positions.
Some of the asymmetries that are visible in the picture tend to be natural, are you L handed or R handed? Normally there is a difference between trapezius, and thus shoulder level heights because people are predominantly one hand or another.
Judging by this picture, is it safe to say this is a muscular problem or a skeletal problem?
The scapula is virtually attached to no bone at all, except for the acromioclavicular joint. Either through genetics, or via different muscular loading around the shoulder joint the position of the scapulae can shift significantly. There are multiple muscles acting on this area, hence the difficulty determining your 'exact' problem via the pictures.

I'm not sure whether to invest my time and money in a physiotherapist or a chiropractor.
If you have had poor luck with physiotherapy, try again. I would not recommend Chiropractic unless it was a highly sports orientated chiro, and only really for athletes. Although many physiotherapists resort to using non-evidence based modalities within their treatment, I would still hedge my bets on a properly qualified physio who is willing to work with your muscle/joint/recruitment problems, as opposed to someone discovering subluxations in your back as the root of all your shoulder problems.

Addiitonally, from my perspective it would be helpful to know which exercises you do in the gym which aggravate the problem, as well which daily activities you complete that aggravate the problem. As well when does the problem alleviate?

Regards