What did I do to my shoulder?

[Zero Tolerance]

Thanks again, guys.. And thanks for these new links. I'm getting ready to head back home so I'll read them tonight or tomorrow. My "plan" dictates that I need to get a referral for a specialist. Waste of time....

Otherwise.. It's been a few years since I had a problem with this shoulder but some of the exercises on those linked pages remind me of what my doctor told me to do during my last injury. I didn't think they could be related, but now I'm thinking they must be.

I used to have a great throwing arm. I could be playing the outfield (baseball) and throw the ball to homeplate with one short hop to catch a runner trying to score. Well, one day I decided to play a softball game and felt very discouraged when I couldn't even get the ball to second base on one-hop. To make a long story short, I DID get that softball to home plate on a single hop after a few shots - and I did that for the rest of the game.

The next day, my shoulder was shot. Much worse than it is now. The specialist told me the bones in my shoulders weren't ideal for this type of activity and that "this" was bound to happen. I'd need to get the bones cut a bit in order to throw properly. I never did get that surgery but I stopped throwing and things have been fine until now..

I guess that's a good little bit of information in case someone else has this trouble and does a search later on...

[joshingyou]

Sounds to me like Osteolysis of the distal clavicle. can you locate the pain specifically to the AC joint? Does the pain
hurt most when you cross your bag arm to touch the shoulder of your good arm?
The big issue with shoulder problems is their vague pains that could be several things. A major problem would be
a "full thickness tear" of any of the rotator cuff tendons. Weakness and limitied range of motion are signature trademarks
of tears.

In whatever the case, stop doing anything that hurts the shoulder completely until you visit an orthopedic dr. Make sure
the dr. you see specializes in arthoscopic shoulder surgery. Otherwise you'll be wasting your time. If your plan gives you issues
on referrals you'd want a specialist from the start. Don't be afraid of surgery, it may be your best option for a quick recovery.
If it IS a ODC problem, that's pretty much cutting out some bone and other than pain, you'll be recovering and back to lifting sooner
than tears.

[Zero Tolerance]

Ohhh!! I've stayed away from these forums for a while now. I can't stand it anymore! Well, here's where I'm at.. I went to the doctor, hoping for a referral to an orthopedic surgeon, but the doctor said I didn't need one. The strength in my shoulder, when I went about two weeks ago, was fine. I had full range of motion.

The doctor said I had tendonitis. I forget exactly what TYPE of tendonitis he said, but it was one I remembered from reading and following those links posted above.. At any cost, for the past couple of weeks, the only time I feel pain is when I, like Joshingyou mentioned, touch my good shoulder with the hand of my bad shoulder. In other words, when I take my right hand (bad shoulder) and touch the left, I feel the pain. But, every day becomes less and less painful. In fact, now I've got to pull on that left shoulder to feel any pain.. So I'm healing...

Oddly enough, I think I had two injuries at the same time on the same shoulder.. At the very top of my shoulder, where one might 'pat you on the shoulder', I had some pain. I noticed that I couldn't flex the traps on my right side and that actually still felt funny until a couple of days ago. Still, when I do a shoulder-shrug without any weight, it gives me a little pinch at the top of the movement. Again, getting less and less noticable every day...

I think I'm going to go back to the gym next week and try a little bit of everything with very light weights and very slow movements...

By the way, I think I have a feeling why this happened.. On the last day I trained, my Wife needed me home (what else is new) right away, so I rushed all my sets. I was going so fast that I felt like a crack-addict, bearly resting 20 seconds in-between sets.. Hell, you can't please everybody - I should have taken my time...

[Lean One]

Glad to hear you're healing. Sounds like you're learning a lot from this.

[rajscorps]

How about you give “Trigger point therapy� a try? I had severe shoulder problems (impingement and subluxation) and no amount of rehab worked. Behind neck presses, dips and all those. The rotator cuff exercises do strengthen your shoulders but the pain would cause you to cringe even then. Much of the pain is actually referred pain. So if your shoulder hurts it may actually be your rhomboids or subscapularis that’s causing the trouble. In other words the cause of the pain is not always found at the site of the pain. The medical community has done a fair bit of research on trigger points.

Google or look up triggerpointbook.com.

[Tad50]

No more barbell bench presses or dips. I can get by with most other pressing movements as long as I'm careful with form. And everything is slow and controlled.

I agree. After I had surgery on my shoulder, the Orth. surgeon told me to stay away from barbell bench presses. He said it's one of the worst exercises for your shoulder. I listened.....stayed away.....only dumbells/cables for chest....I can still get a hell of a workout with no shoulder problems

[Lean One]

He he. I always chuckle to myself when I get asked "how much do you bench?" and I reply " I don't bench"

[Zero Tolerance]

I'd love to hear more about what Joshingyou was getting at... Anybody know?

[joshingyou]

Zero, How are you doing with this condition? Is it getting any better. From all you say I don't think its a tear of the rotator cuff. I'd go with what I said before about the ODC.

If your dr. brushes you off find a specialist that will give you a thorough exam. The best test would be to inject the AC joint and numb it. If the pain goes away you can pretty much be sure its that.

[ivydude]

I have a bad case of rotator cuff tendonitis and I would reccommend taking Zyflamend (It's OTC). I had better results on this than on Vioxx. It doesn't completely alleviate the pain, but it definitely helped.

[The Paper Route]

I have had the same problem for years i messed up my right rotater cuff from playing baseball.

[TheGame46]

could be bercitus