Sportorthopädie

Abstract

Background: Shoulder-neck-pain is a frequent condition that concerns all generations and is a major issue in public health and for individual life quality. Physical exercises proved to be superior to passive treatment, hence the argument for sports-based, secondary preventive approaches to reduce the high prevalence of such symptoms. The often complex pathogenesis requires individually adjusted training sequences. To enhance sustainability, self-application of pain-modulating skills isprerequisite.Methods: The study is based on a sample of 644 students with pain-risk and/or subclinical pain-syndromes. In an interactive process, individually-tailored karate-based training models were developed. Action research was used to investigate iterative optimising processes. Results: Given that shoulder-neck-pain is caused by muscular weakness, false posture, and/or inadequate body-tension, karate (shotokan, kihon and kata) provides a viable repertoire for the generation of individually tailored exercises for secondary preventive self-regulation. To develop these models in an interactive way, clients need advanced body-awareness and appropriate motivation for the integration of exercises in their daily routine. A mathematical formula involving the interdependencies of these parameters allows estimation of therapeutic tendencies.Discussion: Further studies are needed to generate operationalised treatment standards and to eventually attain appropriate evidence levels. Application of analogous approaches in sports education, sports clubs and occupational medicine might significantly reduce the prevalence of shoulder-neck-pain and improve the public health status.KEY WORDS: Pain Management, Martial Arts, Qualitative Empirical Research, Shoulder-Neck-Pain, Health Promoting Sports