(I searched the entire forum for info on this and found nothing. If it’s out there, please direct me towards it.)
On Saturday, I did some damage to the rotator cuff on my right shoulder. It hurts like hell. I was trying out a new narrow press-up to warm the triceps, and it totally backfired. I heard my shoulder crack and a flash of pain shot through it, but it then passed so I ignored it and finished the reps and the workout.
Afterwards, however, it hurt like hell, and it’s got worse each day. I’m pretty sure it’s my rotator cuff - I can’t really raise my right arm above shoulder height without serious pain and it has become incredibly weak. It feels ‘heavy’ and is slow to react to my brain telling it to do things.
I’ve been icing it 2-4 times daily and taking some medication, but it’s starting to feel heavier. I’ve decided a week off is a minimum.
I’m seeing the doctor tomorrow because it doesn’t appear to be getting better, but I wondered if anyone on here has any direct experience with this? I realise everyone is different but how long did it take for you to get better, and is this now going to be something that is always there for me, threatening under the surface? I assume I’m going to need to start doing direct rotator cuff exercises, which is probably no bad thing.
Thanks for your reply. Yeah, I noted another post about Eric’s rotator cuff article(s) but the links posted were dead, and the search function on here doesn’t appear to be working since the site was changed.
If you have a direct link that works, that’d be great.
I know how you feel and a rotator cuff injury is very painful. It sounds like you had a rotator cuff tear.I injured my rotator cuffs(yes both of them) a few years ago when I did three sets of heavy decline bench presses. This was the first time I tried this exercise and it was the last time. I was in pain for about two weeks and worked around the injury. First, I rested for the first week. I then returned to the gym and did no bench work. I did incorporate rotator cuff exercises in my routine and that helped. You will heal but it will take time.
Thanks for the link. I’m encouraged that you got back into it mentally so quickly. I must admit it’s depressed the hell out of me. I’m going to leave it a week as I said and then focus just on legs if I have to. I think I can curl and probably do some tricep work, but anything requires too much shoulder is going to be a no-no until this feels a lot better.
It’s less the pain and more the feeling of weakness that scares me.
OK, just got back from docs. He thinks I’ve strained the muscle and damaged some fibres, as opposed to tearing anything in the rotator cuff area itself. This is all good news.
Two weeks rest or until the pain totally subsides. If the pain comes back when I return to weights, it’s physical therapy, however. Still, this is a big relief!
Cheers for your help guys, and to Eric for his assistance via email.
What kind of doc did you see? What he an ortho or sport’s med. specialist? Did he do any diagnostic testing?
Not to sound critical, but it sounds like they are taking the ‘time heals all wounds approach’ If they are confident that there is not significant damage, I think early PT would help with pain control and help to promote healing if your goal is to try to return to normal activity quickly. That’s just my two cents, as I did not evaluate you, and I’m sure I wouldn’t like it if someone was questioning my treatment over the internet.
[quote]drryan wrote:
What kind of doc did you see? What he an ortho or sport’s med. specialist? Did he do any diagnostic testing? [/quote]
No, fair comments. No - it was my local A&E (ER to you - I’m in the UK). The system in the UK is different - medical care is free, but you don’t really see a specialist (say, sports med.) unless you are recommended on with a genuine problem.
He seemed reasonably thorough and to be honest, the pain had decreased so much today (I haven’t needed any painkillers since yesterday) and my motion has improved that I think he’s probably right.
It’s still sore but nowhere near as bad and I can get my arm comfortably in a forward/military press movement with only minor discomfort. A couple of days ago I could hardly raise it above shoulder height. It feels a little weak, still, but that also has improved in the past 24 hours. I guess the icing helped a lot.
I’ll continue to rest it and it if shows any signs of flaring up again I’ll take it further. Right now it appears that is only minor, fingers crossed.
I’m glad you are doing better. Ice works great if you use it soon after an injury and do it often enough. Most people under estimate it’s effectiveness. I hope it continues to improve. Take care.
[quote]ckeller14 wrote:
Tomorrow when I’m at work I’ll send you some info, I work at a sports medicine clinic and deal with rotator cuff injuries on a daily basis.[/quote]
That’ll be great - cheers! PM me if you need my email or anything like that. Thanks.
I injured my rotator cuffs a couple of years ago. The injury seems to manifest every once in a while so be careful when you think they have ‘healed’. I had no pain for about 6-8 months, but the pain came back a week ago. As other people have mentioned there is an article that goes into detail of the rotator cuff muscles. Using the article i was able to make a hypothesis as to which part of the rotator cuffs were injured. The article also gives examples of some direct rotator cuff exercises and they definately he. I think the sooner you start doing the exercises the better, but obviously you’ll want to go light at first. Really light.
I have had rc problems in the past. The 2 best things I found to rehab it were ART therapy and the shoulder horn. This problem will not just go away. You can not just rest it either. A great book to read is “The 7 minute rotator cuff”. That is not the exact title but it is close. I have let many friends borrow this book and all claimed it to be extremly helpful. You must learn to balance the external rotators with the internal ones or you will have a recurring problem. Just my 2 cents
jsal33
Just a quick update on this in case anyone else has similar problems - after a couple of weeks now my shoulder is almost 100%. Just a very marginal pain when I reach back around behind myself (i.e., to touch my back). But it’s been fine in the gym and I’ve improved all my PBs since it happened. So, all’s well that ends well.
Can anyone give a link or advice for some of those excersises a person should perform to treat this injury? I have it for a year now, so I went to the website one the guys recomended. They say you MUST exercise the cuff in order to overcome this injury. My strenght gains have been really suffering since the injury (not to mention the pain), any help would be welcome.
I suffered a tear in my rotator cuff years ago doing flies… it literally sounded like tearing fabric. It took a few months before I could really do very much…
a few years later and I find I still must change the way I do certian lifts (mostly military style presses)… I keep my elbows adducted when I can and that eliminates any pain…
A side from the cuff there is also A possibility of an “A.C. inpingment” I did it doing way to much on bench with out a proper warm up it had taken 4 mons. before I could bench even plates agian with out incredible amounts of pain. even now all I can press is 3 set of 8 at 225. and this happend in november. hope you have better luck.
