I have been lifting seriously for around 2 years now. Over this time, I continued to participate in varsity basketball for my school team. Sometime over this summer after playing pickup, I noticed an odd shooting type pain in my upper left arm, which i could not quite locate. I did not think much of it and kept lifting/playing basketball and it didnt get worse at all. I took an advil before working out as precaution, and began to warm up and cool down as well.
However, a couple of months ago, I noticed that after chest day, my shoulders would be more sore than normal, and would take a couple more days to recover. Also, after playing basketball, my shoulders would get a bit more pain than before. I began to read things on the internet, and self diagnosed myself with rotator cuff tendonitis,
although a mild form, as my ROM and pain was not TOO bad.
Around this time I decided to go to my family doctor for proper diagnosis. My Doc is not very good with sports injuries and said I had milf shoulder tendonitis and just do RICE. A waste of time, except for that i got a referal to physical therapy. The physical therapist said the same thing, and said i should lay off my shoulder for a month and go to therapy, and it will be better.
The problem is, I cant lay off my shoulder because I am in the middle of basketball season, and am into lifting too much. By the way, I was still making gains during this time. I encountered a major problem however. My shoulders, and body in general, was staying sore for too long, so i had to change my workout plan. I switched from a 5 day split, to a split in which i worked my upper body twice a week and legs once. My goal in this split is to give my body more rest so I can still lift.
This is where I am at now. A major problem so far in this program has been that after 3x benchpress lets say, my whole upperbody is fatigued for some reason. I can lift effectively for a couple excercises, but after that my strength goes down significantly. I am also warming up for 10 mins before and 10 mins after, doing special stretches and movements for the tators.
Also, I am going to physical therapy twice a week, taking MSM/Glucosamine/Chondritin, and doing rotator excersises on my off days AND playing basketball. My shoulders are not getting better, and i am worried and frustratetd. I see my friends at the gym doing what they are doing and I am afraid I will get left behind.
NOTE: I feel the pain most after a set when I put the weight down, and I have completely eliminated barbell incline press and direct shoulder work. I stretch everyday, and have a good ROM, but the shoulders are stiff.