My Sore Shoulder

I have always had a great throwing arm in softball. It was quite by accident that it suddenly became better.

A team at a lower age bracket in Willowdale was going to be facing a pitcher from the Niagara area with an unorthodox delivery. I was the only one they knew who could throw this way. However, it must be remembered that I was not a pitcher.

This team asked if I could throw batting practice to them. I agreed, pitching to all twelve of their players.

The morning after the practice I couldn’t lift my arm above my shoulder. My muscles seemed as if they were totally stripped. There was no way I could even attempt to throw a ball. My doctor said that I had to give my shoulder complete rest for ten days to two weeks.

For two weeks, I had to watch our team play while sitting on the bench. Gradually my shoulder became stronger and I started throwing the ball. In order to toss it, I had to use other muscles than my shoulder. To maximize my efforts, I had to use them in sequence, starting with the legs, to the hips, then the back and so on. When I got to the shoulder muscles, they were gently utilized, and then I flexed the elbow, wrist, and finally the fingers in order.

Through the weeks, the shoulder became stronger, but I found out something. Before my injury, I had been relying on my pectoral muscles for a lot of the force for my throws. While rehabilitating these muscles, I was forced to compensate by using other muscles I had not used so much. The result was that they became stronger. As the shoulder healed, it synchronized with the other muscles and the force of my throws became much, much greater. What were strong tosses became rockets. I was honestly afraid to throw to somebody with my full force if I stood too close. I could throw a softball over 60 yards without a bounce in a straight line.

The same thing often happens to sports teams. The star goes down with an injury and the rest of the team has to pick up the slack until he returns. When he comes back, the whole team is much stronger, because they were relying on him too much before.

If a part of your life is experiencing an “injury”, the purpose may be so that other areas may be strengthened. When the sore heals, your whole life will be that much better if you concentrate on where you can strengthen yourself until you recuperate.

So don’t moan that things might not be the way you want them to be. Work on what you can, knowing that in the end you will be much, much stronger.