What pisses me off: My continuing (but improving!) joint issues.
Tried pronated grip on flat db presses today for the first time. Left shoulder blade did not like it even after a few reps and its been tight and twisting my body to the left all day now.
@unreal24278 this joint bullshit really is annoying right haha? Tagging you since you probably share my annoyance.
Iām less āpissed offā about it
Moreso entrenched in a deep, deep sadness knowing there is no cureā¦ and that it will likely continue to get worse with age
Iāll have racked up more than a dozen surgeries before the age of 23.
Another thing
Even though I could bench press around 120kg (around 270lb) at my strongestā¦ my body has never liked ANY chest movement aside from dips #hypermobilesoitneverhurt and floor press
My shoulders are very unstable. No matter how strong I got with pulling or pressing exercises, bench would invariably lead slight posterior subluxation at the end portion of ROM during every repetition. I could never figure out what caused this pain after each and every chest workout. A REALLY good physiotherapist who specifically focuses on shoulder instability pointed it out to me.
The result is a stinging sensation the next day whenever Iād externally rotate either arm. This has led to some degree of joint degeneration within both shoulders (apparently). Had the same issue with OHP.
Had to do floor press, supinated grip DB bench or DB bench but stop at 90 degrees. I always hated doing chest for this reason. Notwithstanding that deep, stabbing pain Iād get and still get deep in my shoulder joint.
I pushed through SO much pain over the years. Iād do it all over again if I couldā¦ had a blastā¦ My hope is to get another 5 years if my shoulders can be fixed (albeit less intense than before). More focus on weights (and slow reps, lots of TUT as opposed to moving heavy weight), cap martial arts (if I can ever train again) to 2-3 days per weekā¦ and actually tap early/be sane about things as opposed to letting people yank on my joints because I couldnāt feel the damage being done at the time.
I intend to retire from anything bodybuilding or sport related by age 30. Regardless of what I do, thereās a decent chance I wind up with joint replacements/other problems anywayā¦ Do I want this to be the case at 30ā¦ or 40, but for 40 I have to more/less live with egregious restrictions on activity.
Benefit of hypermobility is the ability to surpass normal ROM. Think about it like a rubber band. Consistency is good, even when stretchedā¦ Keep stretching the band and eventually it no longer reverts to initial unstretched morphology. Stretch it too far and itāll snapā¦
People with connective tissue abnormalities donāt heal wellā¦ If they heal at all. I scar TERRIBLY (always keloid or atrophic scarring). Imagine how things heal internally if even the most minor superficial wounds wonāt heal properlyā¦
Out of curioisityā¦ @startingagain, do your ribs ever dislocate/sublax? I have slipping rib syndrome (bilateral). Can be excruciatingly painful, have had it from the age of 14. Has gotten worse with time. Always gets worse when I lose a lot of muscle mass/following deconditioning. SRS = injury leads to cartilage breaking or (in cases like mine) the cartilage is too lax/defective, allowing ribs to move out of place and pinch intercostal nerves. Imagine the worst stitch youāve ever had x100.
I remember boxing, and a particularly hard punch knocked a rib out of place. Sparring partner thinks heās gotten a good liver shotā¦ But in actuality itās a rib that has been knocked out of placeā¦ Iāve been offered surgery but have turned it down as while itās always somewhat painful, severe pain is intermittent and uncommon. I can dislodge the cartilage at the bottom of my rib cage with hooking manoeuvre on both sides. Youāll know if you can do it, youāll hear a loud pop as the rib slides out and pops back in.
Didnāt want surgery because minimally invasive techniques to treat SRS havenāt been around for long. Iāll wait until the technique has been perfected as to facilitate decent outcomes. @startingagain
Alsoā¦ minimally invasive surgery for SRS is still invasive. Involves suturing ribs in place, potentially inserting a metal plate into ribcage, excising some cartilage, potentially removing portions of and/or an entire ribā¦ No thanksā¦ I value my ability to walk, bend and twist.
My shoulders are very unstable. No matter how strong I got with pulling or pressing exercises, bench would invariably lead slight posterior subluxation at the end portion of ROM during every repetition. I could never figure out what caused this pain after each and every chest workout
Sorry if you answered this before, but what rehab moves have you tried for your shoulders? Mine didnāt improve until I got up to literally 1000 band pull aparts (mostly supinated) a week. That plus a ton of serratus work and other band work thatās hard for me to describe on here. External rotations helped a bit, but not much on their own.
Benefit of hypermobility is the ability to surpass normal ROM
I had this, but my muscles were so atrophied that my body tightened basically all of them to the point that I had tiny ROM everywhere. Stretching did nothing until I strengthened the joint/surrounding muscles. But yeah, once the joint was strengthened, my ROM is way too big, which is actually an issue since I recently started dips. Iāll accidently go TOO low.
I always hated doing chest for this reason.
Same. Even now, itās so weak that my pressing is all shoulders and triceps. I could barely fire my chest without pain until recently.
Do I want this to be the case at 30ā¦ or 40, but for 40 I have to more/less live with egregious restrictions on activity.
Iām taking the opposite road. If Iāll have bad joint issues in old age regardless, then itās a free pass to be an idiot since thereās nothing to lose. That said, Iām still trying to be safe by picking safer moves and capping weight/volume on riskier moves.
do your ribs ever dislocate/sublax? I have slipping rib syndrome (bilateral).
I had some sort of rib issue in 2018 - 2019 related to hypermobility but forgot exactly what. Stuff like pull aparts helped fix it by 2020 since it was apparently caused by a dysfunctional scapula.
Moreso entrenched in a deep, deep sadness knowing there is no cureā¦ and that it will likely continue to get worse with age
Iāll have racked up more than a dozen surgeries before the age of 23.
I hate that I canāt do anything more than offer my sympathy and talk about what helped me (even though it might not help you). I 100% relate to that sadness, though. Iām 28 now, but at 23 I hated myself since I was supposed to be in āthe prime of my lifeā but I felt like an 80 year old with pain and limited physical activity. I tried boxing through it but had to stop.
I seriously hope you find something that even fixes 50% of this. Like, in 2020 when the only lifts I could do was db rows and curls with 3lbs, I was so happy because I could finally do something. It felt good to be in the game after nearly a decade of being forced not to play.
Edit: All the Advil after my first hip surgery also fucked up my stomach to this day. Could barely eat or drink without pain until 2020. And even now Iāll get pain leading to bloat that makes me look pregnant lol. Bleh, and Iām supposed to be a pharmacist haha.
As an add-on: If you have hip tears, even if theyāre repaired, thatāll add to the shoulder instability. I donāt know how to describe it or its exact mechanism, but the hip issues lead to posture issues which messes with the natural movement of the scapula.
Which is why standing OHP is extra annoying for me. It evens affects standing laterals, curls, etc.
This is the guy they should put on beer cans.
Was money really the issue there though?
Yes,
The VA is poorly funded and doesnāt pay its doctors what they need. Therefore they get the worst doctors and have insane wait times.
Why did you delete the post?
I felt as if it was too revealing and probably contained information that shouldnāt be disclosed on a public forum.
Fair enough. Iām fine with talking about my symptoms online, but that doesnāt mean others should have to post personal info online too.
As for pain killers, thoughā¦ NONE of them helped me outside of the acute post-surgery. I consider it a blessing long-term, though, since it means Iāll never need to take them for joint issues.
Really? I found the opposite to be true
Post surgical pain =/= a lot of pain almost irregardlees of what I took. As a result post surgery Iād generally stay in bed for the first 4-5 days or so
I could actually manage the chronic pain.
While the US did crack down on painkillersā¦ iāve actually been looking at the laws state by state
There are exemptions for chronic pain, and while caps are present in many states (states have recently been removing caps on MME as this wound up doing a lot more harm than goodā¦ and putting caps on MME for chronic pain but not substance abuse disorder is ridiculousā¦) Australia has no exception for chronic pain
As of 2021 the guidelines suddenly shifted to āonly for cancer painā. And patients were cut of en masse as medical board started auditing doctors left right and centre because the docs were prescribing for those who had chronic pain.
If you can get for chronic painā¦ the MME cap is ridiculously low. Think 5-10mg mme/day. That wonāt do shit if youāve got a crushed diskā¦
A lot of chronic pain patients have been pushed out to methadone clinics.
That does piss me off.
Its flat out evil that after fighting tooth and nail against the damages our troops sustained in battle to things like agent orange and gulf war syndrome, they finally decided to work the troops half to death with record numbers of tours in combat, then send them home to finish the job themselves.
Hell of a way to shirk liability.
It should be a national source of shame, and has me strongly reconsidering whether I should encourage my son to enlist when he comes of age.
It isnāt just money, but itās a big part of it.
To be blunt, unless certain things change I will not encourage my boys to enlist, which is sad to say the least because being a Marine was a huge part of who I have become as a person.
Yeah. It has been part of my familyās history since they arrived here. We have our own section in one townships service/war memorial.
Its one thing to send them off knowing they may be in harms way. Its a whole other knowing that theyāll be in harms way then left in the lurch due to bureaucratic infighting and political whimsy.
I enlisted so that my children would never have to, but I understand your disappointment. What the military was certainly isnāt what it has become now, and my service only ended in 2018.
Regarding the VAā¦
I believe that it doesnāt matter how much money the VA pays their staff or how much money they throw at it. It is Government Funded Healthcare and will always be shit, no matter how much money is thrown at it. Had this been task been contracted out to individual providers or networks - I think the quality/service would be 10x better at 1/5 the cost. There is a reason why San Francisco paid 1.y million dollars to install a toilet.
Was in the hospital for the last couple of days with what they think is pancreatitis. No bueno. They want me to eat a low-fat diet. I currently eat like a picky 5 year old.
