Fix This and Radically Reduce Your Shoulder Pain | Dr. Josh Satterlee

If shoulder pain were truly a shoulder problem, we would’ve solved it by now.
Yet millions of people—and even athletes—are stuck chasing rotator cuff diagnoses, endless rehab exercises, and generic advice that never fully works.

In this episode of the Crackin Backs Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Josh Satterlee, a nationally recognized sports chiropractor, educator, and performance clinician known for challenging outdated thinking around shoulder pain, movement assessment, and rehab.

Dr. Satterlee has worked with high-level athletes and trained clinicians around the world, and his message is simple—but uncomfortable: most shoulder rehab fails because we’re asking the wrong questions.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why most shoulder pain isn’t actually a shoulder issue
• The critical first fork in the road when someone presents with shoulder pain: stiff, unstable, irritated, or referred
• 2–3 simple daily-life “tells” you can notice right now (sleeping, reaching, putting on a jacket)
• Why chasing the rotator cuff often misses the real problem
• The upstream drivers Dr. Satterlee evaluates first: rib cage, thoracic spine, scapular control, and neck function
• The truth about frozen shoulder—and a simple decision tree to determine if it’s truly frozen
• The gym debate answered honestly: Is overhead pressing bad for your shoulders?
• How to bulletproof shoulders for rotational athletes (golf, tennis, baseball) by building the right capacities in the right order

This is not a conversation about chasing symptoms or labels. It’s about movement patterns, capacity, and asking better questions—whether you’re an athlete, an active adult, or a clinician trying to get better results.

If you’ve tried everything for shoulder pain…
If you’ve been told, “It’s just your rotator cuff”…
Or if you want to train, lift, and perform without fear—

This episode will change how you think about shoulders.

Subscribe, listen, and learn why fixing this can radically reduce your shoulder pain.

We are two sports chiropractors, seeking knowledge from some of the best resources in the world of health. From our perspective, health is more than just “Crackin Backs” but a deep dive into physical, mental, and nutritional well-being philosophies.

Join us as we talk to some of the greatest minds and discover some of the most incredible gems you can use to maintain a higher level of health. Crackin Backs Podcast