Preventing Shoulder and Back Injuries (w/ Paul Cagle, MD)

Why Pool Professionals Need to Talk About Injury Prevention

If you've ever pulled your back lifting a heavy bucket of pool chemicals or felt a sharp pain in your shoulder while vigorously brushing a pool wall, you're not alone. The pool industry is filled with professionals and homeowners who push through pain, thinking it's just part of the job. But what if it doesn't have to be?

In a groundbreaking episode of the Rule Your Pool podcast, host Eric Knight sat down with world-renowned shoulder surgeon Dr. Paul Cagle to discuss something that affects countless pool professionals daily: preventing shoulder and back injuries. This isn't your typical pool chemistry discussion – it's about preserving the health and longevity of the people who keep our pools sparkling clean.

Understanding the Orthopedic Challenges in Pool Care

Dr. Cagle, who specializes in orthopedics – "the care of the musculoskeletal system" including "bones, joints, tendons" and "what helps us move and get around" – explains why pool professionals are particularly susceptible to certain types of injuries.

The shoulder joint presents unique challenges because it's "the joint with the highest degrees of freedom, meaning it's one of the joints that has the most motion." While this mobility allows pool professionals to reach into skimmers, maneuver long poles, and access equipment in tight spaces, it also creates vulnerability.

As you have joints that have more motion, there's just more opportunity for danger.

— Dr. Paul Cagle, Rule Your Pool Podcast

This explains why so many competitive swimmers – and by extension, pool professionals who perform similar repetitive motions – end up with shoulder problems. The constant overhead reaching, the repetitive brushing motions, and the awkward angles required to service pool equipment all contribute to wear and tear on these complex joints.

The Hidden Dangers of Everyday Pool Maintenance Tasks

When Eric described a common scenario – lifting a 50-pound bucket of pool chemicals up and over the side of a pickup truck – Dr. Cagle identified several critical mistakes that many pool professionals make daily without realizing the cumulative damage they're causing.

The first major issue is the lever arm effect. As Dr. Cagle explained, "if you're holding a weight in your hand, if that's at your side, it really isn't as heavy so to speak to your shoulders. If you bring that away from your body... because of the lever arm and the length of your arm, that weight is gonna feel a lot more strenuous or heavy."

Even more dangerous is what happens when you lower heavy objects – something called eccentric contraction. This occurs "when you're lowering these types of buckets... the muscle instead of contracting is actually getting longer, meaning you're letting it down as you're trying to hold the weight." Add momentum and swinging motions to the mix, and you have a recipe for injury.

Smart Lifting Strategies for Pool Professionals

The good news is that most pool-related injuries are preventable with proper technique and awareness. Dr. Cagle offered several practical strategies that pool professionals can implement immediately:

Keep Heavy Objects Close to Your Body: The closer you keep chemicals, equipment, and tools to your torso, the less stress you place on your shoulders and back. This might mean making multiple trips instead of trying to carry everything at once, but your joints will thank you.

Use Elevation to Your Advantage: Standing on a step stool or positioning yourself on higher ground can dramatically reduce the lifting height required. As Dr. Cagle noted, "if you can use something where you're standing a little bit higher, this would mean you wouldn't have to lift it quite as high, which is gonna put less strain or stress on your shoulder."

Eliminate Momentum and Swinging: Controlled movements are safer movements. Take the time to lift and place items deliberately rather than swinging them up and over obstacles.

Strengthen Within Safe Ranges: Like competitive swimmers, pool professionals should focus on strengthening exercises that work the shoulders and arms primarily below shoulder height, avoiding the dangerous overhead ranges during training.

Protecting Your Back: The Foundation of Pool Professional Health

Back injuries are equally common and potentially devastating for pool professionals. Dr. Cagle emphasized that prevention starts with education and core strengthening, noting that "one of the most effective ways to avoid back injuries is... just back education."

You can actually decrease back pain, decrease the rate of injuries, decrease problems simply by having education about how to pick things up or how to stand up.

— Dr. Paul Cagle, Rule Your Pool Podcast

The fundamental principle is simple: "you don't want to lift with your back." Instead, pool professionals should:

• Bend at the knees, not the waist
• Get into a squatting position when possible
• Avoid rotational movements while lifting
• Reposition feet rather than twisting the spine
• Break complex lifting tasks into multiple steps

Dr. Cagle particularly warned against rotational lifting: "any rotation or any additional plane of motion is going to increase that likelihood" of injury because "you're asking more of those sort of stabilizers of your core now, so it's not just a single plane of motion."

When to Seek Professional Help

Understanding the progression from minor discomfort to serious injury can help pool professionals know when to seek help before requiring surgical intervention. Dr. Cagle outlined the typical treatment pathway:

For acute injuries (single traumatic events), urgent care is often the first stop. For overuse injuries – more common in pool maintenance – primary care physicians usually manage initial treatment with physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medications.

Advanced imaging like MRI becomes necessary when conservative treatments fail, and surgical referral typically occurs only when there's "true pathology" that doesn't respond to non-operative treatment.

Many times if it's an injury meaning you had a single time event, people might be seen in urgent care. If it's overused for it's happened gradually, many people are managed by their primary care physician... they never need to see a surgeon.

— Dr. Paul Cagle, Rule Your Pool Podcast

Building a Sustainable Career in Pool Care

The reality is that pool maintenance is physically demanding work, and the "grit and bear it" mentality that Eric experienced as a competitive swimmer is counterproductive for long-term career sustainability. Pool professionals need to think of injury prevention not as a luxury, but as a business necessity.

Dr. Cagle's expertise reveals that many of the injuries plaguing pool professionals are entirely preventable with proper education and technique modification. The key is implementing these changes before injury occurs, not after.

Simple modifications – using step stools, keeping chemicals closer to the body, avoiding rotational lifting, and strengthening the core – can mean the difference between a 30-year career and one cut short by chronic pain and surgical interventions.

As Eric pointed out, pool professionals "have to keep going. This is how they feed their families." By taking proactive steps to prevent injury, pool professionals can ensure they're able to provide for their families not just today, but for decades to come.

The investment in proper technique and injury prevention pays dividends not only in reduced pain and medical costs but in career longevity and quality of life. After all, the best pool professional is one who can work comfortably and efficiently for the long haul.

Episode Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
• 05:30 Dr. Cagle's Background in Orthopedic Medicine
• 12:15 Understanding Shoulder Injuries in Pool Professionals
• 18:45 Proper Lifting Techniques for Pool Chemicals
• 25:30 Preventing Back Injuries in Pool Maintenance
• 32:00 When to Seek Medical Treatment
• 38:15 Building Long-term Career Sustainability