Well, here goes… I’ve been out of training for about a year now because back in november I started getting horrible pains in my right shoulder. I first went to a doctor that told me I had arthritis and needed physical therapy being 18 and stupid, i listened. Needless to say, lifting light weights with a trainer for 6 weeks didn’t make any of the bones that were grinding go back into the right place. Then i tried just dealing with the pain for a while… bad idea… it hurt worse. A few weeks ago I got an MRI that showed I have both a messed up rotator cuff and AC joint. After pushing and pressing me in different directions the doctor explained that the rotator cuff is the reason i cant lift weights. He put a cortizone injection into it a couple days ago and told me that after 2 days when the soreness goes away i shoudl not have any pain and should start lifting light weights to strengthen my rotator cuff. Well, its been three, and my shoulder still hurts worse than it did before he put the injection in. It hurts to much to work with light weights. he told me in a month if i still couldnt go bench press that i needed to get my shoulder scoped. HERES MY MAIN QUESTION::: How effective have scoping procedures been for those of you that have had them??? ALSO, where do i go from there if the scoping DOESNT work??? I know everyone here is a huge fan of ART, but other than that what are your suggestions???
Tapton, PLEASE find a chiropractor certified in Active Release Therapy and go down that avenue before having an invasive shoulder surgery. There are options to try before scoping. ART isn’t necessarily the same as physical therapy. Take it from someone who has had probably 200 ART sessions in the last four years on my back and shoulders and arms, it’s amazing stuff.
I’m a little insulted by the previous post as a physical therapist. By the way ART is not just practiced by chiros. Anyway, sounds like you’re getting the run around with some bad medical advice (remember the guy that graduated last in his med school class is still called doctor). Your next course of action should be ART. Call ART directly if you can’t find a practioner in your area. Not all practicioners are listed on the web. In the mean time, stretch your pecs, lats, subscapularis…basically your internal shoulder rotators. BTW, not all PTs (as MDs and chiros) are created equal. Don’t let one bad experience taint your beliefs. I have found few PTs that are constantly updating their techniques and knowledge base. They are lazy. FYI…A kid just came into my clinic with a very similar history of injury to yours. He walked out with painfree ROM (and with a look of astonishment on his face) after 1 one treatment. He will be resuming his training today. Post if I can be of further assist. Good Luck.
I don’t know where you live but I can give advice on who to go to to get help. somewhere in your area there has to be a pro baseball team, find them and call and keep calling untill you get their trainer, doesn’t have to be a major league team. it can be AAA,AA,A ball, don’t matter. they deal with rotator cuff injuries more often and better than anyone else. I went thru a torn cuff (and later found out that I had torn the other one partialy at some point in time) I did not want surgery so my old coach hooked me up with someone he worked with in AA ball. I still have probs but I must say my cuff is pretty damn strong. oh yea, be carefull with the shoulder horn, some cuff injuries it helps but others it will make worse. find the team doc from a team by you (if you have a MAJOR college by you try them if you can not find a pro teams doc) they are usualy more than happy to help even if its just a recomendation of who to see. peace
I know everyone hugely supports ART, but its a little harder to come by for me. First thing, i live in Richmond, Virginia, and have no idea where i could find an ART practitioner. Secondly, all my medical needs are paid for by my parents and it would be difficult to convince them to pay for a theraputic massage (thats how they would see it) compared to an actual surgical procedure. Next, even if i could convince them to pay for it, how much does this stuff cost??? Please give me some kind of rough statement. Also for the comment about going to ART 200 times during the past 4 years, that makes me think that this stuff doesnt work very well. I dont want to be in some guys office once a month for the rest of my life. These are things that i am thinking about right now when considering ART, so if possible, please answer these questions and help me out a little. Thanks.
(from an old Ian King column somewhere on t-mag)let your arms hang naturally at your sides. OK now notice which way are your palms facing? If your shoulders are forward, and the palms are facing towards your back (not directly inward), then your shoulder problems are caused by muscle imbalances. If this is the case you need to strengthen your rotator cuff muscles. Do a search on t-mag and you should find what you need.
I’ve had my shoulder scoped. My rotator cuff was messed up due to chronic dislocation from playing sports. During the surgery they scoped it and also cut the rotator cuff and shortened it in order to tighten my shoulder up. This type of surgery is very effective, IF you take an aggressive approach to your rehab. If you aren’t aggressive with your rehab, it won’t heal properly. It took me 9 months to fully recover, but it was worth it. People on this forum support ART because it is safe and their is no risk involved as far as rehab. If you mess up the rehab from a surgery, you’re pretty much screwed.
Tapton…first of all relax. You’re not dying. You need to be more specific with your MRI results. You said that your AC joint and RTC are “messed up”. Do you have a cuff tear? AC joint separation? Sprain? Be specific. If the cuff is torn, get it fixed. If its in the tendonitis/tendonosis category, find an ART practicioner. Go to Activereleasetechniques.com and use the locator by entering your zip code. If nothing shows up, call their 800 number for the closest practitioner. I find it hard to believe that your folks would rather pay thousands of dollars for a potentially unnecessary surgery than to pay $30 to $100 (depending on a practitioner) to get your shoulder fixed. The guy who said he’s been there 200 times was exaggerating. I think he meant that ART has resolved a lot of his minor strains and pains associated with hard training (which it does). You’re not going to get roped into some endless cycle of treatment granted you learn to train correctly. Until you get to the ART practitioner. Stretch the internal rotators of your shoulder (pecs, lats, and subscapularis), strengthen the external rotators (teres minor and infraspinatus), rhomboids, middle and lower traps. Do more pulling than pushing right now. If you must push try dumbbells on an incline that is not painful. Poliquin had a decent article on ER strengthening a couple years ago on T-mag. Oh, and if you are 18 years old, learn to sit up straight. Bad posture = bad shoulders.