And then the Tendenitis comes back...!

[itsnoteasy]

Hi Sidd, it could be you have to much weight forward in the stance, what type of pain was in your foot? it could be you pulling on the tendons that run along the bottom of the foot, this matched with shoulder pain looks to me like to much weight forward, its good the foot pain has gone but wearing good footwear could be disguising the problem not curing it if you know what i mean(its still a very good idea mind)if the pain was an ache along the foot kind of between the bones, that matched with the arm pain could be as you have said there is to much weight on the bridging side of your stance.

[Sidd]

Itsnoteasy: I guess you are right when the foot pain was there it was between the bones on top just behind the fingers area. however it has gone away but the shoulder is not good at all.. i think i might be putting weight on the right (being a lefty) or maybe am too forward in to the shot... how to find out .. no idea still trying... Need help as tonight I played and now at home having the pain in shoulder again...!

[itsnoteasy]

Sidd, i suffered a bit with a sore shoulder joint when i first played a few months ago, i figured out ,i was to far forward and a bit to much weight on the right arm(im a lefty as well), to check this i over exaggerated my stance for a couple of days by playing on my heels and really putting my weight on the left leg, i got no pain, so i knew i was on the right track. Its not the answer for your snooker but just a pointer to find out why the pain is coming, i would recommend Nic Barrows video on the set up and being comfortable as an official answer, hope this helps.
Something else that i remembered was i had a habit of sliding into the shot as i got down, i think this made me put to much weight forward, i try my best to drop straight down now, although its a hard habit to break

[Sidd]

hey hey now... wait on... i have this habit too.. and pretty hard as well.. i also sort of slide down in to the shot even to an extent that whenever i finish playing snooker my bridge hand is extremely dirty on the palm due to sliding it on the coloth all the time... so you are saying this might be the case like yours and hence i might be sliding too much forward in to the shot and hence causing the pain in shoulder...

Terry whats your advice on this? So Itsnoteasy you are saying that sliding while going down should not be the case and one should go and lie down straight without sliding??????? i have always done that though but i think its just a little thing that almost everyone does? Also while getting up after the shot i slide back while getting up ? is that also evidence of being forward in the shot.

Please carry on I think we are on to something and my problem (tendinitis) might be solved...!

[itsnoteasy]

I am sure you should not slide into the shot, for a variety of reasons one being you are adjusting everything as you slide, eg weight , balance, cue arm to back foot/hip position. I again will state i am no coach, and in fact quite a poor player, but im not stupid and understand bio-mechanics, please ask Terry(or check his posts he has said on a number of posts what the weight share should be in your stance) and watch Nics videos on the subject(i am sure i have seen on one of the videos by someone who says not to slide into the shot but i cant remember who it was, or if i have imagined it lol) but if you are having to slide hard backwards to enable you to stand after a shot it looks like you could be to far forward, but please take better advice from someone who knows more than me as i wouldnt like to steer you down the wrong road.
Again this is my opinion but i dont like to hear weight forward, or lean into the shot talk, i think it encourages to much forward balance, i would much prefer terms like neutral stance, as i believe this would achieve the right amount of weight forward,which i am sure should be a lot less than most people think.

[Sidd]

Now that I think of it I am not sliding forward in to the shot as I checked it yesterday to ensure. I just go down and do not slide the bridge hand forward as such... however when i m getting up yes indeed i have to slide back the bridge hand (causing it to get dirty as well after lonf play) ... so i went ot the table and made some adjustments like I now grip my cue a bit further on the but and take my straight leg a bit closer to the table; doing this encourages me to lean back a little (if this experiment is correct) and hence put more weight on the striahgt leg and thus reducing it from the bridge arm.. also this encourages me to have a straighter bridge arm (it was rather bent before) so i practiced a little this way and felt one thing (just a feeling maybe) i can now see more of the cue while down maybe cuz i am not leaning too forward in to the shot.

The tendinitis is not gone, it wont be from playing one day like this, it has been caused over time- however i felt that the pain is lesser now. However, i would have to give this a week or so in order to confirm if this is correct and helps the pain go away... another thing was (maybe psychological- maybe real) that while adopting ot this stance adjustment i won a session from a very good player (70 break standard) 12-2 now that was big time eh

I would look forward to the comments of others and especially Terry on this!

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

I missed the sliding comment (shame on me). The centre of gravity should be over the strongest part of the set-up which is obviously the hips, legs and feet. You should not be sliding forward at all and also when you get up from a shot (unless stretching over the table that is) it should not take a major effort like pushing yourself up with your bridge hand.

I recommend 10% of the weight on the bridge arm elbow, forearm and bridge and the other 90% split between the two legs more or less evenly. With the problem you have it sounds to me like you have too much weight on the bridge arm and not enough on your bent right leg

Terry

[itsnoteasy]

I hope all the answers help Sidd, i wouldnt like to hear of anyone having to pack in the game or worse have permanent pain from something that is easily avoidable and at worst may take a slight tweak to their set up to cure, all the best.
Yes that is big time lol,you must have played well and to play 14 frames in one session is good going, how much pain did you have after that?.

[Sidd]

Itsnoteasy: Well my dear it is indeed big time Something funny I want to add here: during mid-session 8-0 down he was so frustrated that his anger was showing as he smashed the balls with power shots and all so I went to him and said hey dude try to relax and there is only one way you can take over from behind and that is by forgetting that you are 8-0 down take every frame as first and every shot as first and last- he understood and won 2 frames in a row; so after that at 8-2 i was like "hey you dumb*** sidd its your time now to forget the last two frames LOL Anyway thanks for your kind concern, most appreciated. Well I played the longer session due to lesser pain as i adopted my stance and leaned back a little by holding butt further and straightening my bridge arm.. I also noticed that my nexk can be more towards the shoulder that way... The pain was still there but to my surprise the pain that i have had for months now and i have been using ibrufen and massage and ointment and even then i have been having the pain- was lesser that day. in normal days i would play hardly 5 frames and needed a break after that due to the pain but that night i played 12 without a considerable break in between frames and when i was leaving for home the pain wasnt as sharp as it used to be and was like a dull melow pain.

went in again last night but only played three frames and had to go home soon and today to my surprise im working in office on my computer and there is almost no pain or else very very ull pain feeling so hopefully it is improving indeed... i will know for sure in another 4 days i know. the pain is there but i can now lift my arm above shoulder with some limitation and previously i could not lift it at all... lets hope this works out. i hope very soon i would again be able to sleep on my right shoulder

Terry: that is all right there are so many things that one can forget at times. however thanks a lot for your comment about the centre of gravity i can see what you mean and will keep this in mind now ! it is very clear to me now only after your comment: yes indeed i had a centre of gravity disbalance before and was hence putting more weight on bridge side of my body as i recall now i was almost leaning or sleeping on the table i remember that sometimes when i played a shot my bent leg was so free and without weight that i used to play sometimes only having my bent leg toe on ground meaning there wasnt any weight and therefore i had my weight on the bridge arm much more than required 10% i will work that out and try to lean back.

in order to have that effect, do you recommend that when i go down on the shot and after placing myself i slide my bridge backwards a little ? i personally guess not as the rule is no adjustments after getting down; but just asking. i think the best way would be to place my straight leg (while walking in to the shot) a little further near to the table than i normally do ???

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

DO NOT slide ANYTHING!!! First of all it's very bad technique and secondly you will put fingermarks all over the cloth and pee off your opponents (and perhaps yourself if you try and make a dead weight pot and it hits a finger mark).

NO, you should be able to drop right down so your bridge fingertips are approx 6" behind the cueball (more accurately the 'V' of your bridge is around 11-12" behind the cueball which should be about right for your height) and exactly where you want your bridge. The rest of your body should fall down such that your upper body centre of gravity is directly over both feet.

Now I can easily imagine the next question I might get...'how can I determine my centre of gravity and then make sure it's directly over both feet'. When I say 'centre of gravity' I mean the upper body centre of gravity as measured between the head and the back of the butt (NOT the butt of the cue by the way...your butt). The point of balance between these two points will be somewhere around the belly button. Now if you are bending down correctly you should be shoving your butt (for a lefty) back and to the right and if you do that correctly your belly button should be right above the middle between the two feet or perhaps slightly towards your right foot just a bit. This ensures you are centered over both feet virtually equally and you SHOULD have an equal amount of weight on each foot or perhaps a touch more on the right foot but only a bit on the bridge forearm and bridge itself.

Although these figures are approximate and will adjust for each player's individual physique, for a right hander the weight should be around 45% on the right straight leg foot, 45% (or maybe a touch more) on the left foot and around 10% on the bridge forearm and bridge hand. This is very hard to get accurate but players should ensure their centre of gravity of the upper body mass is virtually centered over both feet which will give the best stability.

Terry

[Sidd]

Thanks for that Terry... I have noted several important points from you last comment and shall try them in practice in the club. I understadn it isnt easy but I will have to give it my maximum effort given that I have this tendenitis problem that needs a quick cure or else my snooker days are limited; something i wouldnt even want to dream about.

Thanks again and I will share progress made in this regard, if any...

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

The best advice I can give you is to try and see a qualified PHYSIOTHERAPIST (not a chiropractor).

Just in the past week or so I decided to speed my table up so I will get used to fast table like I will be playing on in Sofia, so I started brushing and blocking the table twice a day. In the middle of this I also vacuumed the house and I have a very powerful vacuum that stick to the hardwood floors and takes a bit of muscle to move. The end result has been I have developed a very painful tendenitis in my RIGHT shoulder and being a right-hander this is very serious for me as I leave for Sofia in less than a week from today.

Luckily for me, my wife is a fully qualified and experienced physiotherapist and I got her to evaluate my strain injury and also to give me some exercises to build up the muscles in my right shoulder. Her prescription was to immediately stop blocking the table using my right hand as in pushing down with the arm extended I was causing stress in the shoulder joint. The good side is no more vacuuming for me.

She also recommended I take extra strength aspirin or extra strength ibuprofin twice per day to reduce any swelling and she also gave me some exercises. I started on this stuff just 2 days ago now and most of the pain is gone and she tells me I should keep doing the exercises twice per day, 10 reps each time and they really seem to be helping.

I don't know how things work in your country as far as medical insurance and all that, but if you can afford it then get to a physio as quick as you can and take your cue and show then what you're doing and the physio should come up with something to help relieve the pain.

Terry

[Sidd]

Thanks for the Advice Terry.. Yes you are right I also now believe that seeing a psysiotherapist is the master of the last resort for me. I went in and played a few frames yesterday and kept that centre of gravity thing in mind and yes it helped a lot; although the pain isnt gone as yet however it has reduced considerably but then the botheration is still there. I still find it hard to sleep on my right shoulder... I think by seeing the psysio and taking some ibruphen with exercise coupled with a better stance should resolve this... i still am wondering that my stance and forward weight has a role to play and as soon as i correct that things would improve.

And best of luck with your tournament in Sofia... Bring us a trophy