Posted: 5/6/2014 6:03:31 PM EDT
| I have been having shoulder pain again. It is worst when doing exercises like deltoid raises. however, if I move my elbows forward slightly in front of my shoulders , it doesn't hurt. It is mostly in the center of my shoulder slightly to the rear side. On heavy bench days, it hurts a little bit, but I can feel it around the back toward the shoulder blade. I went to the doc about this a year and a half ago when it got really bad. He took x-rays and said they were normal. After moving it until it hurt like a bastard, he concluded that I tore cartilage during a bench press (when I first noticed it) and would never heal up without surgery. He gave me a cortisone shot. After a year or so of being gentle with it, it felt completely back to normal, but I have been hitting the gym pretty hard recently and it is back slightly. I want to figure out what is going on and fix it before it gets bad. I am wondering if could be tendonitis or brusitis. Anyone have any thoughts or exercises to help? |
|
Quoted:
Xray won't show soft tissue damage. Might have other stuff going on. Get an MRI The doc before wanted to do one when I was ready for surgery to see what needed to repair, but I don't really trust him any more. It was going to cost a bit before BHO messed with insurance and now it will cost a lot. Seriously, my new plan totally blows. |
|
Quoted:
The doc before wanted to do one when I was ready for surgery to see what needed to repair, but I don't really trust him any more. It was going to cost a bit before BHO messed with insurance and now it will cost a lot. Seriously, my new plan totally blows. Quoted:
Quoted:
Xray won't show soft tissue damage. Might have other stuff going on. Get an MRI The doc before wanted to do one when I was ready for surgery to see what needed to repair, but I don't really trust him any more. It was going to cost a bit before BHO messed with insurance and now it will cost a lot. Seriously, my new plan totally blows. X-rays are common practice prior to getting an MRI. |
|
Sounds like an external rotator cuff issue or tendonitis/impingement. Make sure you are not lifting the DBs too high on lateral raises. And I say this a billion times a year, most shoulder problems I see are from the chest being tight (shoulders rolled forward causing impingement) or strong chest, weak back to keep the shoulders moving properly. All day, every day stretch your shoulders back and try to touch elbows. Do reverse flys with light weight for reps, along with the usual external rotator cuff exercises. I do reverse flys with one of those old spring things with two handles. I can do four springs. One day the fifth.
You need to see an orthopedic surgeon though. He'll tell you what's wrong pretty quickly. |
|
Quoted:
Sounds like an external rotator cuff issue or acromion impingement. Make sure you are not lifting the DBs too high on lateral raises. And I say this a billion times a year, most shoulder problems I see are from the chest being tight (shoulders rolled forward causing impingement) or strong chest, weak back to keep the shoulders moving properly. All day, every day stretch your shoulders back and try to touch elbows. Do reverse flys with light weight for reps, along with the usual external rotator cuff exercises. I do reverse flys with one of those old spring things with two handles. I can do four springs. One day the fifth. I have been trying to strengthen my back as I was worried about being out of balance. My chest has still been improving quicker than my back. The hard part now is that those movements hurt. Lats are ok, but delts are harder. I can only do 15lbs or so on reverse flys/bent over lat raises without pain, but am benching 331 on heavy days (kilo plates). Maybe I need to just lay off chest for a while? |
| I had the exact same issue or so it sounds. One cortisone shot, pain came back a few day later., then they wanted to MRI me and off to surgery. I passed on that.. What worked for me is lots of shoulder exercise with very very light, as in old ladies lift more than me bro weight. 3-4 months of 2lbs, then 5, then 10 shoulder press and shoulder extensions and I was healed and stayed that way for 4 years now and I am back to lifting the heavies again... |
|
Quoted:
I had the exact same issue or so it sounds. One cortisone shot, pain came back a few day later., then they wanted to MRI me and off to surgery. I passed on that.. What worked for me is lots of shoulder exercise with very very light, as in old ladies lift more than me bro weight. 3-4 months of 2lbs, then 5, then 10 shoulder press and shoulder extensions and I was healed and stayed that way for 4 years now and I am back to lifting the heavies again... Nice, after 4 years, it sounds like you beat it. I thought I was better after a year and a half, but it feels like it is creeping back up on me. It got bad enough last time that it was hard to drive for a while. |
|
Find a new orthopedic surgeon that specializes in shoulders and that will do an MRI. Preferably one with a sports medicine background since you are so active (start with the team ortho doc for your local MLB team). Ask everybody you know for references and then ask some more. Call the local hospital and ask to speak to an Orthopedic Case Manager or even a nurse that has worked on an ortho floor for a while and ask who they would recommend if it was their shoulder (the RNs know who the best surgeons are).
I'm 4 weeks post op for complete supraspinatus tear, partial labrum tear, and joint decompression at the age of 25. My old doc kept putting it off. PT, cortisone shots, deeper cortisone shots, more PT. If I would have had the surgery earlier it might have been 2 partial tears instead of a complete with half the rehab time. Either way, don't fuck around with shoulders. They are very complex joints and require proper treatment to heal correctly. You never realize how complex until your dominant arm has a severely limited range of motion s/p surgery and you're spending 5 weeks sleeping in the recliner. |
|
Quoted:
He did give me a red rubber band and a print out of exercises and stretches... Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm surprised that your Dr. didn't refer you to a physical therapist. He did give me a red rubber band and a print out of exercises and stretches... ugh, if you're going to be assigned exercises and stretches, you need to see a PT at least a few times to even make sure you're doing them right and see how you're progressing. I'm speaking from experience, it's so easy to do the stretches & exercises wrong without some help. Your doctor isn't doing you any good here. |
|
Quoted:
ugh, if you're going to be assigned exercises and stretches, you need to see a PT at least a few times to even make sure you're doing them right and see how you're progressing. I'm speaking from experience, it's so easy to do the stretches & exercises wrong without some help. Your doctor isn't doing you any good here. Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm surprised that your Dr. didn't refer you to a physical therapist. He did give me a red rubber band and a print out of exercises and stretches... ugh, if you're going to be assigned exercises and stretches, you need to see a PT at least a few times to even make sure you're doing them right and see how you're progressing. I'm speaking from experience, it's so easy to do the stretches & exercises wrong without some help. Your doctor isn't doing you any good here. Surprisingly enough, those were also the same things he gave me (in addition to a wrap) when I broke some carpal bones in a wrist. lol seriously 
|
|
Quoted:
I have been trying to strengthen my back as I was worried about being out of balance. My chest has still been improving quicker than my back. The hard part now is that those movements hurt. Lats are ok, but delts are harder. I can only do 15lbs or so on reverse flys/bent over lat raises without pain, but am benching 331 on heavy days (kilo plates). Maybe I need to just lay off chest for a while? Quoted:
Quoted:
Sounds like an external rotator cuff issue or acromion impingement. Make sure you are not lifting the DBs too high on lateral raises. And I say this a billion times a year, most shoulder problems I see are from the chest being tight (shoulders rolled forward causing impingement) or strong chest, weak back to keep the shoulders moving properly. All day, every day stretch your shoulders back and try to touch elbows. Do reverse flys with light weight for reps, along with the usual external rotator cuff exercises. I do reverse flys with one of those old spring things with two handles. I can do four springs. One day the fifth. I have been trying to strengthen my back as I was worried about being out of balance. My chest has still been improving quicker than my back. The hard part now is that those movements hurt. Lats are ok, but delts are harder. I can only do 15lbs or so on reverse flys/bent over lat raises without pain, but am benching 331 on heavy days (kilo plates). Maybe I need to just lay off chest for a while? If any movement hurts, stop doing it! Even doing shoulders hurts, stop doing shoulder work! It's only going to get worse and worse until critical failure. If you gotta bench, place a towel folded on your chest and reduce how far you lower the bar and reduce it how far your elbows go down. I'd even reduce the weight, add reps, and slow the movement down to get the most out of your workout with the minimal about of wear on your joints. Even try DBs, if it helps! I walked away from heavy benching years ago when I injured both shoulders. My best was 485 after 405x8. Guess what I do for chest now? Lots of push ups! At any rate, I'm a big dude that does pussy ass push ups. Do what you gotta do to stay out pain and injury. I was lucky I had no permanent injury and I am pain free. |