Shoulder pain in volleyball is not one thing. A player can notice it at the front, side, top, or back of the shoulder; during serving, attacking, lifting, after a match, or the next morning. That detail matters because “my hitting shoulder hurts” is a starting point for a history, not a diagnosis.
A 2025 prospective cohort followed 95 professional and masters-level volleyball athletes for eight months. It reported shoulder pain in 52.6% of the analysed athletes. The study is useful for understanding that shoulder symptoms were common in that particular group; it cannot tell a recreational player what their own shoulder pain means or which action caused it.
What this volleyball study did
- Design: prospective cohort with eight months of follow-up
- Participants analysed: 95 professional and masters-level volleyball athletes
- Outcomes: dominant-shoulder pain, injury, and dysfunction
- Pain definition: any score above 0 on a 10-point visual analogue scale
- Injury definition: an event causing at least one day away from volleyball
- Baseline measures included examination, range of motion, strength testing, and ultrasound
The cohort has strengths: it followed athletes forward and defined outcomes before follow-up. Its limits matter just as much. The sample was small, specific to professional and masters players, and included clinical measures an app user cannot reproduce. Findings are associations in that group, not a home screening rule.
What the results do and do not mean
During follow-up, 52.6% reported shoulder pain, 38.9% had an injury under the study definition, and 47.3% met the study’s definition of dysfunction. The study also found associations between previous shoulder injury and later outcomes, and between some measured physical characteristics and outcomes.
It would be a mistake to use these statistics as a personal forecast. The study’s history variable is not the same as a player’s self-recorded ache, and measurements such as strength imbalance or scapular dyskinesis need assessment in context. The take-away for a player is narrower: a previous episode and a clear sequence of changes are worth documenting rather than trying to reconstruct later.
The shoulder log a volleyball player can actually maintain
Make each entry quick. Capture the body feedback first, then the session facts. You are trying to make several sessions comparable, not prove that one serve caused a condition.
- Exact location and side: front, top, side, back, or diffuse shoulder sensation; dominant or non-dominant arm.
- Timing: warm-up, serving, attacking, blocking, lifting, after play, later that evening, or next morning.
- Intensity and recurrence: use a consistent scale; note first appearance, returning area, or a pattern that moved.
- Exposure: practice or match, player role, approximate session length, unusually high serving or hitting volume, tournament schedule, or a recent return to play.
- Context: strength session, travel, sleep, fatigue, a new drill, technique cue, or equipment change when genuinely different.
- Function: whether everyday movement, lifting an arm, sleep, or planned volleyball activity felt different.
A single “shoulder: 6/10” note discards the pattern that makes later discussion possible. A small sequence — “right posterior shoulder, 3/10 after practice”, “same spot, 5/10 after tournament day”, “still present next morning” — is more faithful and avoids claiming a cause.
Why a body map helps, and where it stops
TENSION is a self-report sports pain tracker. A volleyball player can paint the exact shoulder area on a 3D body map, rate intensity, save the session, and compare recurrent zones across practices, matches, gym sessions, and recovery days. It can help turn an imprecise memory into a history to share. Read why location history matters and use session context notes to make entries comparable.
The map cannot establish whether a pain is tendon, joint, muscle, nerve, or something else. It cannot assess technique, test strength, make a return-to-play decision, or replace a clinician. Seek prompt qualified care after a traumatic injury or visible deformity, and for severe, worsening, persistent, night-disrupting, weak, numb, or function-limiting symptoms. A record can make it easier to share a clearer history with a qualified professional.
Use the evidence without over-reading it
The value of a study like this is not a warning that every volleyball player will get injured. It is a reason to take shoulder feedback seriously enough to record it with precision. The player, coach, and clinician may each notice different parts of a pattern; a time-stamped body-map history gives that conversation better raw material than a vague recall weeks later.
When the same zone repeatedly appears after comparable serving or attacking exposure, record the repetition rather than declaring a diagnosis. When it does not return, that is also useful context. A log should preserve observations both ways, not merely collect the sessions that confirm a theory.
Read the prospective volleyball cohort - Toledo DC, Duarte PHC, Malta NL, et al. Risk Factors for Shoulder Pain, Injury, and Dysfunction in Volleyball Athletes: A Prospective Cohort Study. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine. 2025;13(11). https://doi.org/10.1177/23259671251389119.
Read a club-volleyball shoulder study - Reeser JC, et al. Risk factors for volleyball-related shoulder pain and dysfunction. PM&R. 2010;2(1):27-36.
Build a clearer shoulder history
Map the zone after volleyball, keep the same intensity scale, and compare practices and matches before relying on memory.
Explore TENSION’s pain tracker for athletes