[quote]jstreet0204 wrote:
No way of knowing without an MRI. I would have sworn I tore my rotator cuff a while back doing heavy bench. After months of going back to the doc and getting steroid injections with no relief they finally refered me to an ortho nd got an xray and MRI which shows I have an artheriic bone spur which if I let my shoulder get too inflamed starts to rub and then keeps it inflamed.
My advice would be take ibuprofen and rest it for a week, if it is still hurting try to get an appt with an ortho.[/quote]
Bone growth on the lower side of the acromion is exactly what I had. But, it was substantial. It was inflaming the bursa something awful, and was “wearing” into some of the rotator cuff tendons. But, an enhanced MRI showed no actual tears or full thickness wear-thru.
It was severe enough to warrant acromioplatsty surgery, which I had five weeks ago. Lots o’physical therapy. Pain slowly going away. Looks like a long road.
I ignored mine, thinking it was a twinge that would go away.
Since you’re just starting out with this pain, start babying it right now. Rest it for at least two weeks, maybe more if you can stand it. If you weigh over 210, then take something like three Advil, three times a day for about a week, like jstreet said. Be sure you have it with food. Take less if you weigh less.
Keep your back muscles (in the clavicle area) strong and keep your chest stretched and not tight.
Your symptoms are EXACTLY what I had - overhead pressing hurt the most, with flat pressing hurting a lot less, and pulling exercises (pulling from the front - like rows)hurting not at all. And, the pain is on the outboard side of the shoulder, slightly to the rear and down from the top. (The actual injury is up higher than where you feel the pain, and the doctor called this pain lower down on the shoulder “referred pain”.)
Baby it! Don’t do any bench presses or overhead pressing or anything where your arm raises over your head and closes up your shoulder and pinches muscles between the acromion and humerus.
And, if you have to go to the doctor, do all you can to get an MRI up front and a diagnosis NOW. When I went in for my pain, the first thing they did was 6-weeks of physical therapy (PT) with little more than an x-ray. Then, when that didn’t work, a cortisone shot and four more weeks of PT. When that didn’t work, an MRI - but then they wanted six more weeks of rest and tons of Advil. All useless. I started in April of '07, and they just consented to surgery in December. I’m looking at march before I can begin any lifting again - and June before I’m 100%. And that’s IF this all worked. If the surgery didn’t work (and the pain doesn’t go away) then I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Good luck. Google “impingement syndrome” and “sholder rehabilitation” and read, read, read.
