Another Shoulder Injury Post

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
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Maybe there is something in the water, but like a few other people who have made similar posts, I injured my shoulder. I am not exactly sure how it happened. I work out in the mornings and last Wednesday I did 10x4 military presses (ABBH-1 reversed). I substituted MPs for chins since I don’t have a chin bar. Let the screams at me begin!

Anyway, I didn’t notice any problems during the workout, but a few hours later my shoulder was in pain. I couldn’t raise my arm above my head with out it hurting. So it seems like a tendenitis/bursitis problem. I went to a doctor, who pretty much agreed with my assessment. He took xrays and ruled out something bone related.

So, he has me taking advil 3 times a day (anti-inflammatory) and not using it. He gave me a referral for physical therapy if it did not get better in a week. My shoulder feels like its getting better, but not all that much. Any tips if I should go to PT, or wait longer? Does anyone know if this problem will heal itself? There are just too many horror stories of this type of problem not being dealt with.

Any comments will be helpful,
steve

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Hey, there, smk! It’s a shame we don’t make our shoulders a higher priority, considering how many people suffer from injuries or just generally have sore shoulders that they’re always working around.

Yes, get to a PT for an assessment. You can’t fix something if you don’t know what’s wrong.

In addition to getting to a PT, see if you can find somebody who’s really good at ART (Active Release Technique). I had a guy in Jupiter, Florida, who worked on me who specialized in shoulders. Just be forewarned: Just because someone is certified doesn’t mean they’re really good at what they do. There are probably a half dozen to a dozen people in the state, and he’s the only guy I’d go to. For me it was a life-altering experience. http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=427807

I would recommend that you use the anti-inflammatory for as short a time as possible. It helps with pain, but not with healing. In fact, NSAIDs inhibit protein synthesis. Instead, look at a good proteolytic enzyme complex like Wobenzyme (at *aggressive doses) or at least some high-dose bromelain, either/both taken on an empty stomach. If you don’t take it on an empty stomach, it will be used to help digest protein. Taken on an empty stomach (2 hours after a meal, 1 hour before a meal), it will help with protein synthesis/turnover and is anti-inflammatory.

Read up on shoulder imbalances. If you have one, correct it. There’s a wealth of information here on the site if you use the search engine!

Good luck to you!!!

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Find a good therapist ASAP. Your insurance will probably cover it so I wouldn’t hesitate. I’ve been dealing with a left rotator cuff pain whenever I bench heavy. I went to a therapist when it was real bad and the deep massage and ultra-sound were great but it was the specific exercise recommendations that really made the difference. Now I always do my quick infraspinatus workouts on cardio days and use them to warm up before benching and pressing and I’m fixing the underlying problem, not just getting around it with pain-killers. If nothing else, you’ll learn how to strengthen your weaknesses and avoid further injuries. Good luck!

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Thanks Terry and Cruiser for the responses. ART therapy sounds like a great way to go. I have an appointment with a PT (unforunately not until next Monday), although I don’t think they anyone on their staff is ART trained. Terry, had you gone to a PT prior to meeting with Dr. Gregg? If so, is there anything they will want to do that I should avoid?

I will update the thread when I find more out. Until then, I have switched from ABBH to a total body workout focusing on the legs and doing some maintance lifts with my good arm. I think this is ok, but just thought I would get some opinions.

Thanks again for the replies.

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smk, I had gone to PTs, chiropractors, massage therapists of different persuasions.

I’ve been to really good PTs and ones that were of little value. It’s the same in any profession. If your PT meets your needs, stick with him (or her). If he/she doesn’t, go elsewhere. I’d say the same with ART. When you come across someone good, you know it. There will be no doubt in your mind. With Dr. Gregg, I saw improvement WITHIN sessions and from session to session.

Whoever you see, whatever modality you choose, you’re going to have to do rehab work on your own to maintain and/or improve upon the work that was done.

I had overdeveloped internal rotators (think bench pressing, military presses, push presses, lat pulldowns, behind the neck pulldowns, pullups). They were tight. The muscles were shortened. My external rotators were weak in comparison to my internal rotators, which resulted in shoulder instability and pain with certain movements. It also caused a couple of partially torn rotator cuff muscles that needed to be reattached surgically the year prior on the other shoulder.

The solution for my situation was to:

  • stretch my internal rotator cuff muscles regularly (between sets on days I do rowing/back exercises)

  • give greater priority to exercises that build back and external rotator cuff muscle strength; i.e., a variety of rowing exercises and bent-over lateral raises. I did very little pec or shoulder/overhead work during this time.

  • rehab type work for external rotators using cables and side-lying external rotation on a bench. When it comes to rehab type work, I will alternate between strength (higher weight, lower reps), endurance (lower weights, higher reps) and hypertrophy (your classic 3 x 8-10).

It’s been a journey, though, and I’ve had no choice but to study shoulder anatomy and rehab to better understand my problem. Understanding my problem allows me to make decisions about what exercises I can do safely and which ones I need to avoid. I know how to modify exercises so that I can get the hypertrophy/strength benefits I desire, with little to no downsides.

For the time being, work around your problem. Give your shoulders a rest. Get a diagnosis. Once you have a diagnosis, research your problem so that you know what’s going on. Ask questions of every healthcare practitioner you see so that you are the captain of your ship.

The bottom line is that you can come back stronger than ever and be ENTIRELY pain free.

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I thought I would give an update after my visit to a PT. He thinks the likely problem is a torn ligament or tendon in the shoulder which causes pain due to way the nerves are effected. He also noticed that I have rounded shoulders, which he said probably has little to do with the problem.

He showed me a few simple exercises to do with a light band. One is to help with the rounded shoulder, the others to help the ROM of the shoulder. On Thursday, I am going back and he is going to do sort of a massage. He is going to try to rub the tendon in a parallel fashion to try to lengthen it. I may have some of the words wrong, but it sounds like he hopes this will help repair the damage. Afterwards he will ice it. He wants me to do this a few times, so it sounds like a good idea.

I asked him if this was an ART technique. He had never heard of ART, but it actually sounds like one of their principles.

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Thanks for the update, smk!

I think what your PT is doing is what’s called cross-frictional massage. It is effective, along with the icing. Give it a go. Do your exercises faithfully. Take the supps I recommended. And you ought to be fine.

If you want to keep this from happening again, continue to do research on your particular situation so that you better understand what happened and can be proactive in your program design.

I do my rehab (prehab) religously. It’s great to be strong and pain-free.