Ok. My shoulder has been giving me trouble for a long time. It’s not going away so I finally went to see the Dr. After three xrays and a range of motion eval I was diagnosed with distal clavicular osteolysis which is basically a degeneration of the clavicle as a result of injury or repeated overloading with too much weight. I was given three options: rest, cortisone (basically just to verify the diagnosis by eliminating the pain caused by the problem), and surgery. I took the rest option for now at least.
I was told that it could get better if I don’t aggravate it further. I didn’t take the shot because I knew I’d be tempted to hit the weights without the pain there and probably hurt myself worse. I didn’t jump at surgery because, well, who wants surgery? I guess my question is: Who has dealt with this in the past, what options did you try, what was the outcome?
Thanks,
So is it a matter of no one has this or just that no one gets it diagnosed?
No injury to the shoulder. It started giving me trouble with a wide bench cybex machine over a year ago. I had some monster bad form trying to lift way too much weight. It’s given me trouble off and on since then, but I never really let it rest for more than a couple of weeks at a time. The only way I’ve been able to bench w/o a lot of pain has been with dumbells with a pretty much neutral grip… absolutely no overhead stuff.
I have had a bone density scan (in association w/ a low testosterone reading) which came back normal. Tracking down the origins of the low testosterone result took a lot of blood and time at the endocinologist. Ultimately they tested just about every hormone in my body and linked it back to my pituitary gland.
My final test came back with everything in normal levels. I’m due back in december for a followup round of blood tests. I’m also do back in december for a check-up on my shoulder with the orth doc.
I’m going back to the gym today. I managed to catch a nasty head cold that is just now letting up. Today I’m going to do legs. Due to my shoulder I’m scared to try to pull for deads or rest the bar on my shouders for squats so I guess I’ll be stuck with extensions, curls and leg press. I’m not happy about this, but I really want to try to avoid surgery if possible.
I’ve been lifting for about a year and a half now. I haven’t gotten huge or anything, but I didn’t really expect to due to only being able to hit the gym usually two days a week. I sometimes squeeze in three, but it’s pretty rare. I’m 5’ 9" and stay around 158 lbs. I’ve gained a decent amount of strength and gotten okay definition (I’d still love to have abs).
I’m not sure where this problem is going to land me. I don’t feel like I should be doing any upper body work and my leg workout is going to be severely gimped. Maybe I’ll take this time to concentrate on cardio and try to get those abs. At this point in my life I can’t justify surgery just to be able to hit the weights sooner. Bummed…