Pro Tips for the Overhead Athlete (& Everyone Else)
Overhead athletes put their bodies through thousands of high-speed, repetitive motions each week. Think of a baseball or softball player throwing the ball, a gymnast on the rings or bars, a tennis player serving the ball or smashing a winner, a swimmer powering through the water, or a volleyball player blocking or spiking. These movements create power and performance, but they also place significant stress on the shoulder, elbow, and spine.
Overhead athletes aren’t the only people who develop shoulder injuries. Occupations like: construction, automotive mechanics, painters, and maintenance workers are also at risk of developing repetitive use injuries.
Without proper care, repetitive stress can turn into shoulder pain, rotator cuff injuries, low back pain, or elbow problems. The good news? Most repetitive motion injuries are preventable with the right balance of mobility, strength, and recovery.
At Refuge Physiotherapy, we help our patients achieve peak performance and prevent injuries. These are some of our pro tips and exercises to help you stay healthy and perform at your best.
Prioritize Shoulder and Thoracic Mobility
A healthy shoulder needs both flexibility and stability. A mobile shoulder joint allows efficient movement without forcing other joints (like the lower back or elbow) to pick up the slack. Without good mobility, the body compensates elsewhere, often leading to pain.
The thoracic spine (mid-back) is designed to allow rotation, flexion, and extension. When this region is stiff (from prolonged sitting), the body compensates by moving excessively at the low back or shoulders. This can lead to: shoulder impingement and rotator cuff problems, low back pain due to compensatory extension, poor posture (rounded shoulders and a forward head), and reduced overhead performance.
For overhead athletes, office workers, and weekend warriors, shoulder and thoracic mobility plays a critical role in posture, performance, and injury prevention.
Key Mobility Drills:
Sleeper Stretch: Lie on your side with your elbow bent at shoulder level and gently rotate your forearm toward the ground. This stretch helps restore shoulder internal rotation, which is often limited in overhead athletes.
Thoracic Extension over Foam Roller: Keeps your upper back mobile so the shoulder blade can move freely. Restores extension lost from sitting.
Whether you’re an overhead athlete trying to throw harder, or an office worker fighting stiffness from long hours sitting at a desk, thoracic mobility drills should be a key part of your routine.
Pro Tip: Add 5 minutes of daily thoracic and shoulder mobility before every workout or game. Small, daily habits are better than occasional, longer sessions.
Strengthen the Rotator Cuff
The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis) that work together to stabilize the shoulder joint and assist with shoulder rotation. The rotator cuff keeps the ball of the joint stable as you throw, spike, or serve. Strong rotator cuff muscles absorb force and reduce risk of strains and labral tears.
For overhead athletes and individuals recovering from shoulder injury, proper strengthening of the rotator cuff is essential to restore function, prevent injury, and improve performance.
Go-To Shoulder Stabilizers:
Sidelying External Rotation with Dumbbell: A classic that works.
Prone “T’s” and “Y’s”: Strengthens the rotator cuff, lower traps, and your scapular stabilizers.
Pro Tip: Use light resistance and higher reps (12–15). The rotator cuff muscles are designed for stability and endurance, not max strength.
Don’t Neglect Scapular Stability
Your shoulder blade is the foundation for every overhead throw, spike, or serve. A weak or unstable scapula shifts stress to your shoulder, elbow, and accessory muscles of the mid-back.
Scapular Control Exercises:
Serratus Wall Slides: Activates the serratus anterior for scapular strength with upward rotation to limit scapular winging and instability.
Prone Rows: Builds back strength and coordination between scapula and rotator cuff muscles.
Pro Tip: Focus on slow, controlled movement. The quality of your exercise repetitions is more important than the quantity.
Build Total Body Support
Overhead performance isn’t just about the shoulder. The core, hips, and legs transfer power and can protect you from overloading your arm.
Pallof Press with trunk rotation for core strength and stability.
Single-Leg Romanian Deadlifts for balance and hip strength and stability.
Pro Tip: Think “ground up.” A strong base lets the shoulder stay healthy.
Recovery and Load Management
Even the strongest athletes break down without recovery. Overuse is one of the biggest causes of injury in overhead sports. Injury prevention isn’t just about exercises, it’s about managing load and letting your body recover.
Dynamic warm-ups before practice or games to improve blood flow and tissue mobility.
Monitor volume: pitch counts, swim yardage, and overhead reps to avoid overload.
Prioritize sleep, hydration, and nutrition for tissue repair and a faster recovery.
Listen to your body. Shoulder pain isn’t just normal soreness. If you are experiencing persistent pain and tenderness, weakness, or loss of range of motion, it is important to address it early with rest and rehab.
Pro Tip: Track your weekly workload. An exercise journal or mobile app can help you prevent overload before it happens.
Key Takeaway
Our bodies thrive when we balance mobility, strength, and recovery. If you’re starting to feel pain with overhead motion, don’t push through it or wait until it sidelines you. Early physical therapy can be the difference between a minor setback and a season-ending injury.
Overhead athletes are powerful, but power without balance often leads to breakdown. At Refuge Physiotherapy, our skilled physical therapists can help you identify any weak links and create a personalized injury prevention plan. By maintaining mobility, rotator cuff strength, scapular stability, and total-body support, you’ll keep your arm healthy and will be performing at your best!
