Injuries and RehabTell us where it hurts! Do a quick search before asking about your shoulder injury to make sure your question hasn't already been answered (about 50 times), and read the sticky post first.
Questions are answered below. Julie et al, hope you can tell me what this is, and what I need to do now...
1. When did the pain begin?
6 days ago, but there might have been some slight pain or tightness in the area before that.
2. What were you doing at the time? Or did the pain come on gradually over time?
I was practicing mid-hang power cleans with an olympic bar, with a coach watching me, correcting my form - I'm a beginner. The pain wasn't bad, just annoying, and I tried cleans again a few days later. That time I had to stop because of a twinge in the rear of my right shoulder. I resolved to rest it for a while, but it started hurting again while I was jumping rope the next day. (I didn't expect jumping rope to affect it.)
The week before I had developed some severe pain for a few days in my elbow joints (bicep side) by doing kipping pullups that I wasn't ready for. I may have done some damage to the rear of both shoulders at the same time, but I didn't recognize it because I had another, more painful injury. (I couldn't fully extend my arms without pain for a few days.)
3. Where, anatomically, is the pain?
The right rear shoulder, feels like under the deltoid, so I'm thinking one of the rotator cuff muscles?
4. What does the pain feel like? Sharp? Dull? Aching? Stabbing? Shooting?
Dull to nonexistent sometimes, then sharp during certain movements.
5. Is the pain constant, or intermittent, or only on certain motions?
I feel a twinge of pain during pulling motions, especially pulling motions where my arm is locked in full extension. (think of a cable pressdown-type movement)
6. What motions make your pain worse?
see above
7. What, if anything, makes your pain better?
massage makes it feel a little better for a while.
8. Does your pain radiate to any other part of your body?
No
9. What things could you do before, that you cannot do now because of your injury?
Weighted pulling movements, like pullups, rows, cleans, etc.
10. What is your main concern regarding the pain and its consequences?
That it will prevent me from having a balanced lifting regimen for a while. Also, I know that shoulders can be tricky, so mostly I want to know how to rehab it so this doesn't turn into a chronic, nagging issue.
11. Have you ever injured that part of your body before? If so, how?
Not that I recall.
12. Is your pain getting worse over time? And if so, how much worse over what time period?
It's staying pretty much the same for the past few days. I've been icing it for 30 minutes a night and taking ibuprofen.
I also made an appointment to see my ART guy tomorrow and a DO in two weeks (first appointment she had available), but I don't want the time and expense (sometimes wasted) of physical therapy when I could probably rehab it on my own....I hope!
I should also mention, that unlike BYUFanatic, I don't seem to have problems performing overhead or horizontal pressing movements. Pain comes during pulling movements.
My posture looks a lot like the photos he posted in an earlier thread on shoulder pain. But I've been pretty good about balancing pulling and pushing movements when lifting, and I do my YTL's, scap pushups, and other dynamic warmups before exercising.
Special exercises may also help you to relief the pain. The first step of rehabilitation therapy is simple range-of-motion exercises. By bending over and moving (rotating) your shoulder in large circles, you will help to avoid the serious complication of rotator cuff injury, called a frozen shoulder. These range-of-motion exercises are followed by resistance exercises using rubber tubing or light dumbbells. The final step is resistance training with weight machines or free weights.
Sounds like you have kicked the workouts into high gear and the muscles are getting a lot more load than previously. Things that will help ...
1. Trigger point work with a lacrosse ball in a sock against a wall. (Get the book if you don't have it.)
2. Shoulder, chest, upper back, and neck stretching.
3. Postural awareness -- 100% of the time.
4. Counsciously focusing on using the proper muscles with pullups etc. Really pull your shoulderblades down and back (like you are trying to tuck them into your back pockets).
__________________
Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
The pain has mostly subsided now. I'm still not doing any pulling movements (except for the erg, which never hurt my shoulder - i guess because my arm is adducted?). I went to an ART specialist who said it seemed like my subscapularis was the problem. It was weak - he had me do a test where i pushed backward against resistance with my hand behind my back. The shoulder felt a good deal better after ART.
My question now centers around how to rehab to make sure it doesn't happen again. I CLEARLY have upper crossed syndrome and I worry that my poor posture will sabotage my progress.
Can you recommend a comprehensive corrective exercise routine that addresses upper crossed syndrome? I want to cover all my bases and not leave a weak spot that is likley to get injured.
Also, now that the pain is gone, is it okay for me to easre back into horizontal and vertical pulling movements or should I baby my shoulder and rehab only for a while?
I haven't had PT for my upper body before. What someone gets out of PT depends so much on the quality of the person administering it - I've had some bad PT in the past.
I'd rather just get a resource like Inside Out and do it myself. My only problem with resources like that is it's not a "routine" per se. It's sort of everything put together (I have Magnificent Mobility). Oh well...
Rear Shoulder Pain
Linear Mode
