Rotator cuff

[ahhudgins]

I did a search on “rotator cuff” and I see that several of you guys have had shoulder injuries. I just need a little advice about recovery/rehab. About 10 years I fell barefooting and I held onto the handle with one hand for about 1/10 of a second too long.
My shoulder hurt so bad that I couldn’t raise my arm above shoulder height for several days. Being a guy, I didn’t go to the Dr. and I really didn’t have any long term problems except that I get a little pain if I do military presses at the gym. I have to twist my wrist just a little bit to over come the slight pain.

I just turned 49 and I was really hitting the gym this past winter and I felt great. I started having sharp pains in my shoulder, neck, and elbow, and I’m pretty sure it was caused by the clutch going out in my company truck because I had to shove it into first and second gear. The clutch has been replaced and I’m having a lot of trouble doing ANY weights with my shoulder. I can do curls or any pulling exercises, but bench press or military press causes some pain. Before I give in and go see a Dr. should I just stop all shoulder exercises or lower the weights even more than I already have? Ice, heat, or both?
I’m a week away from starting the boat up and now I have this to deal with.
Thanks.

[Slinkyredfoot]

Just had my left shoulder scoped last week. I was experiencing the same shoulder, neck pain since last summer that it seems likely you are experiencing now. My shoulder and neck would ache presistently then out of the blue went away then come back again. I lost a bunch of strength in this arm as well.

I finally broke down, went to an ortho specialist and had an MRI. The MRI showed bone spurs in my rotator, frayed tendons, and a tear in the tendon from my bicep muscle to my shoulder. I was gonna wait to have surgery but the Ortho doc said it is only gonna get worse.

It has been a week now and it is amazing how good my shoulder feels in this short time. He trimmed the frayed tendons, cleaned out the bone spurs, and re attached my bicep tendon with a screw. My arm is still in a sling and scheduled to start rehab in two weeks to strengthen my arm.

It is up to you but I would suggest and MRI to see what damage is done. The surgery I had was pretty much routine and the doc says I will pretty much be back to normal in about 6 weeks, to me it was worth it. Good luck.

[BTV]

I had an MRI Oct 2008, Dr. said I needed rotator cuff repair. I only had pain when I played tennis so I just quit playing.

Aug 2009 I had a big wipeout wakeboarding. Couldn't pick my arm up the next day. Had surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in the rotator cuff, cleaned up labrum(sp?), and removed bone spurs.

Good news - I was back snowboarding by Christmas and wakeboarding by the summer of 2010.

Bad news - Had to wear support pillow to hold arm up for 2 months. Couldn't get comfortable to sleep for 6 months. Rehab sucks and is painful. Lost a lot of strength in upper body that I am just now getting back after weightlifting and crossfit the last six months.

There is never a "good time" to have this surgery, but I would find out what is going on and get it fixed before it gets worse.

Hopefully yours wont be too bad. Good luck

[ahhudgins]

Thanks for the input. I know that I did some kind of damage to my shoulder during the original fall a few years back, and I'm pretty sure that driving the 5 speed with a bad clutch for two months just aggravated a hidden problem. I really, really don't want to have surgery at the beginning of the season, so I'm going to give the shoulder a rest for a solid three weeks and see what happens. Going to park the company truck at the office and drive my automatic to and from work. No more shoulder exercises at the gym and just do a little light stretching to keep it loose. I will get the boat started this weekend and take it for a spin. Next weekend we are heading to Charlotte for the drag races, so that gives me 3
weekends before I even attempt to ski. If I still have pain after that, I'll go to the doctor and hear the bad news. If I can make it through one more summer, I'll go the doctor at the end of the season. Either way I think I will be looking at surgery at some point. I just hope I can do it in the off season.

[slickwater1]

stop doing military presses. after two shoulder surgeries and multiple trips to the pt. I was informed that military presses are the worst thing you can do. make sure to ask a trainer to show you some exercises with very light weights to strengthen the actual cuff itself. i work my shoulder joints with 2.5lbs weights and do nothing behind my head with weights at all. if i do any kind of shoulder presses it is in front of the chin. my shoulders feel better now than they have in 10 yrs.

[Slinkyredfoot]

I had this cool Ortho Doc, his name was Jim. After shooting the breeze with Jim for a bit I knew he was tuned in to his profession which was cool, I knew I was in capable hands.

We discussed my injury in depth, asked what my passions were, he was curious, just getting info of why I may have suffered this injury. I told him in no unnecessary order of importance, the finer sex, water sports of all sorts, horticulture, and music.

He looked at me and said, you must play way to much air guitar then, and you suck. I had to agree.

Now I know the root of my injury and feeling way to good about future prospects in life.


I am feeling good

[ahhudgins]

stop doing military presses. after two shoulder surgeries and multiple trips to the pt. I was informed that military presses are the worst thing you can do. make sure to ask a trainer to show you some exercises with very light weights to strengthen the actual cuff itself. i work my shoulder joints with 2.5lbs weights and do nothing behind my head with weights at all. if i do any kind of shoulder presses it is in front of the chin. my shoulders feel better now than they have in 10 yrs.

I will definitely talk to a trainer tonight. I prefer using free weights but I have the option to use a varity of machines. It's been pretty embarrassing to drop my bench press weight by 40 lbs. I think I'll have a T-shirt printed up that says "I'm nursing a shoulder injury". I will just do less weight training and more cardio for the next 3 weeks.
Thanks for all of the suggestions.

[muskingumriverdocks]

Don't put it off. I put off going to see a Dr. until I could only sleep in a recliner. What really hurt was when the Doc considered what to do "because of your age" I was 46 at the time.

[slickwater1]

i would go and see a doc. when you could. oh trust me, I went from benching 385 to 250 and lost all of my size. everyone in the gym had those smart *** comments about steriods, and it all being fake, and then after i pulled up the shirt and showed the scars the comments went away. and once i figured out how to make my actual shoulder stronger all of my presses went way up.

[ahhudgins]

i would go and see a doc. when you could. oh trust me, I went from benching 385 to 250 and lost all of my size. everyone in the gym had those smart *** comments about steriods, and it all being fake, and then after i pulled up the shirt and showed the scars the comments went away. and once i figured out how to make my actual shoulder stronger all of my presses went way up.

If I still have pain after my 3 week rest I will definitely call the doctor. Before the bad clutch I was at the lake raking leafs, cutting brush and hauling drift wood with no problem. The repetitive jerking on the 5 speed is was caused the flare up. I was told to warm it up before doing any motion other than daily activity and then ice it down when finished. I put an ice pack on it for an hour last night and it did feel a lot better today.

[ahhudgins]

I talked with a trainer tonight who really knew his stuff. He threw out so many medical terms that he lost me after a few seconds, but everything I described to him seem to point to bicep tendonitis. A quick internet search seemed to confirm every symptom I am having but there could still be other problems. His advice? Rest, rest, and more rest. It is feeling better but I just hate not being able to workout right when the season is starting.:mad:

If I have pain when I ski I WILL see a doctor.

[ahhudgins]

Even after taking it easy for 3 weeks I'm still having some pain in my shoulder. I have no problem doing any pulling exercises so I’m going to try and do a little light skiing this weekend. All of my pain is in the front of my shoulder and it keeps me from doing anything that requires me to do any pushing. I leaned over in the truck to close the glove box and had a sharp pain shoot through my shoulder. I broke down and called the doctor today and I have an appointment on the 16th.

The weird thing is that I moved a lot of dirt this weekend using a shovel and pick. I took my time and I had no problems or soreness. I get in the company truck and start shifting gears and the pain starts up again. Maybe I should just quit my job and ski all of the time.