Weekend-Warrior Summer: Ultimate, Beach Volleyball, and Sore Shoulders

By Dr. Michael Minenna D.C., B.Sc., SFMA, FMS

Summer in Winnipeg turns a lot of us into weekend warriors. Five days at a desk, then a Saturday of beach volleyball, a Tuesday-night ultimate league, a spontaneous hard hike, a pickup basketball game. It's exactly what summer should be — and it's also a near-perfect recipe for the aches and strains that fill our clinic from June through August. The good news is that a little understanding goes a long way toward keeping you in the game.

The weekend-warrior pattern

The defining feature of the weekend warrior isn't the sport — it's the schedule. Long stretches of relative inactivity punctuated by bursts of intense, varied, often competitive effort. Your body spends most of the week in low gear, then gets asked to sprint, jump, dive, cut, and throw at full tilt with little warning. The tissues simply haven't been prepared for what the weekend demands.

That's why the injuries cluster where they do: ankle sprains from cutting and landing, sore shoulders from spiking and throwing, strained calves and hamstrings from sudden sprints, and tweaked backs from explosive rotation. None of it means the activities are bad. It means the demand spiked past what recent training had built.

The same principle, again

Regular readers will recognize the theme: there are no bad exercises, only too much too soon.¹ Injury risk is driven less by how hard you play and more by the gap between what you've recently been doing and what you suddenly ask of yourself.^1,2 The deconditioned weekend warrior and the well-trained athlete can play the exact same game with very different outcomes — not because one sport is dangerous, but because one body was ready and the other wasn't.

The encouraging flip side: building even a modest base dramatically raises what you can safely handle. A bit of consistent activity through the week makes the weekend's demands far less of a shock.

How to enjoy the season and stay healthy

You don't need to become a full-time athlete. A few habits cover most of the risk. Keep some activity going during the week — even a couple of short sessions of movement and basic strength work keeps your tissues prepared for the weekend. Warm up before you play with a few minutes of movement that rehearses what you're about to do, rather than walking straight onto the court cold. Ease into a new sport rather than going all-out the first time. And build in recovery — stacking three intense days back-to-back without rest is where a lot of weekend warriors come undone.

Pay attention to the whole chain, too. A sore shoulder from spiking often traces to a stiff mid-back; a tweaked back from rotation may reflect hips that don't rotate well. Preparing the whole body, not just the obvious parts, is what keeps the painful spots from showing up. This is regional interdependence in everyday life.

When to get checked

Most weekend-warrior tweaks settle with sensible recovery and a gradual return. But a significant ankle sprain, a sharp muscle pull with sudden weakness, a shoulder that's not improving, or any pain that lingers or worsens over a week or two deserves an assessment — both to recover faster and to keep a small problem from becoming a season-ender. At Boreal Spine & Sport we help weekend warriors prepare for, recover from, and keep enjoying the sports that make a Manitoba summer worth waiting all year for.

References

1. Gabbett TJ. The training-injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder? Br J Sports Med. 2016;50(5):273-280.
2. Soligard T, Schwellnus M, Alonso JM, et al. How much is too much? (Part 1) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of injury. Br J Sports Med. 2016;50(17):1030-1041.