Exercises for Injury Prevention / Recovery: Shoulder and Low Back

10 Exercises for Shoulder and Low Back Injury Prevention / Recovery

By Steve Taylor, Athletic Trainer and On-Site Human Performance Specialist at DC Fire and EMS

In April 2018, I switched from working with professional athletes in the Minnesota Twins Organization to treating and rehabbing tactical athletes. Since then, I have worked with both Police and Firefighters. This article will talk about my experiences working with tactical athletes and what treatments and recovery tools I use to help decrease pain and discomfort.

The top three orthopedic issues both firefighters and police officers deal with are shoulder, knee, and back pain. When you divide out the populations separately, the number one injury that plagues police officers are back injuries, and the number one injury that plagues firefighters is shoulder injuries.

Today, the first part of the discussion will focus on how to decrease pain in each of these three joints, and a follow-up article in the next coming months will explore recovery techniques used by recruits going through both Fire & Police Academies.