Casting pain?
I was practicing my cast in the yard tonight and after ten min. or so, my shoulder started to hurt. I decided I must be donig something wrong, so I quit. Is it possible that I'm using too much of my "whole" arm and ahould just be using my forearm? Any help is greatly appriciated!
Brad
Kind of hard to tell what you might be doing wrong, if anything. Shoulder pain can be caused by a number of factors including bad form. I suggest you get a fly fishing buddy to observe your casting stroke and see if you are using bad mechanics.
How old are you? Is this the first time it has happened? If it persists you might want to get it checked out by your doctor. Could be a number of things including ranging from minor to as serious as a rotator cuff tear.
I have had bad shoulders for years and always stretch before I start casting. I am a fairly good caster but I try to pay very close attention to mechanics. When I do something wrong my casting shoulder lets me know quickly.
Good luck, hope it isn't anything serious.
Rick
Thanks Rick. I'm 31 and just getting back into the sport. It's been about 15 years since I last casted. I did spend a day with an instructor, but that was two weeks ago and tonight was the first time I had a problem. I'm going to see if I can get one of my bussies to look at my form. I think I may have been using way too much shoulder. If the rain holds out, I'll give it another try tomorrow!
A couple of years ago I was coaching a friend and then he practiced on his own for 2 weeks without supervision and his shoulder became stiff. He had a firm wrist and a steady forearm motion, but was doing it all about 18" to 2ft in front of his face. I believe that at the end of your back cast your hand should be near your ear (more or less) and at the end of the forecast your hand should be only about 10? from your cheek - so you elbow doesn't get more than about 6" from your side (forward). But if you do all this too far in front, one of the results will be a sore shoulder from supporting all that motion at a distance. I am sure someone more enterprising will have Internet pics. The best site I have seen is [url=http://www.sexyloops.com/flycasting/contents.shtml:7b021]http://www.sexyloops.com/flycasting/contents.shtml[/url:7b021]
On the other hand, just to be devils advocate, some rods I have found can aggravate an old injury.
I have had rotator cuff surgery and live with some pain. My experience has told me that casting stlye is about 85% of the problem and rod is about 15%. A softer action and lighter weight rods seems easier to cast, is less demanding. I also have given up some distance for ease and comfort. As I have tried to improve my form much of that distance has returned and the pain receeded.
I found that even before surgery, I was able to cast with my arm at my side moving only the forearm and wrist. It was sufficent, and there was significantly less pain.
Rule 1: DO NOT IGNORE YOUR PAIN
Rule 2: DO NOT IGNORE YOUR PAIN
Suggestion 1: Get help with your form, go back to the basics.
Suggestion 2: Cast like you are looking to hit a double, not a home run. Think form, grace and accuracy not force and distance.
jed
Brad,
Fly casting is a very repetitive thing, so Jed had some great advice,....
We could add rule#3:
DO NOT IGNORE YOUR PAIN
Look into it now and you can avoid some real disconfort in the future.
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Christopher Chin
Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://www3.sympatico.ca/chris_chin/:f8071]http://www3.sympatico.ca/chris_chin/[/url:f8071]
Christopher Chin
Thanks everyone! I'm not casting in front of my face, but I am holding my arm about 2 foot to the side of my body. I tried to make a doctor's appointment today (I'm afraid I may have reignighted an old archery injury), but he was not in. I'll try again tomorrow. I am planning on attending an adult fly-fishing camp at our church camp in June for more instruction. In the mean time, I'm going to try to get a FF buddy to lend me some advice.
I've been teaching fly casting for many years and have worked with many people who develop arm/shoulder pain after casting for a while. In nearly every case the caster was casting MUCH harder than necessary. Sometimes because the loop was big and a lot of power we necessary to get it to the target, but often the loops were good, but going much faster than needed.
Done with good technique there should be little strain on the arm/shoulder when fly casting. Very heavy gear would be an exception, of course. I'd suggest trying to cast the line as slowly as possible and concentrate on making tight, efficient loops. We've been able to very scientifically measure the energy used by casters and find that talented casters normally use about half the energy to make a cast that average casters use. If you reduced the force applied by half I'll bet your shoulder problems would go away.
Bruce Richards
There is one particular rod that does this to me and its in the elbow not the shoulder. I KNOW its the rod as almost everyone I have spoken to has had the same problem or similar with this particular developmental rod. Basically from the moment I hold it in the air I get sharp shooting pains from my wrist to my elbow and a feeling like my elbow is in a vice and being pushed inside out. Its only one rod that does this to me, I can use the model predessors with no problems, same with fast medium or slow action rods. I do sometimes get an upper back niggle with my 4 piece but that is to do with the way I cast it.
I do have a very bad habit of "rocking" when casting with fast action rods, dont know why and cant seem to shake it.
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