injury to left shouldar, am i f*cked?

oscar_yeager

New member
I injured my left shouldar about 6 weeks ago doing shouldar press with somewhat heavy weight, but nothing out of the ordinary for me. I thought it was just a pulled muscle, which has happened to me several times in the five years I"ve been lifting. Usually this heals in less than a week and I'm back to normal.

But this time it's different. The pain has gone down to almost zero (just a slight nuisance). However, my left arm is virtually unable to do any weight on pushing movements. For example, if I do lying dumbell tricep raises, or dumbell bench presses, my right arm is strong as ever, but my left can barely get up half the weight it used to. I've also noticed I can't flex the left tricep as hard as I can the right.

I believe this may be a pinched nerve, and I'll be going to see the doc soon. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I'm just bummed b/c I'm starting to think this sh*t is permanent!

I'm hoping someone else has had a similar experience, and can tell me I'm not screwed for life here. :)
 
oscar_yeager said:
I injured my left shouldar about 6 weeks ago doing shouldar press with somewhat heavy weight, but nothing out of the ordinary for me. I thought it was just a pulled muscle, which has happened to me several times in the five years I"ve been lifting. Usually this heals in less than a week and I'm back to normal.

But this time it's different. The pain has gone down to almost zero (just a slight nuisance). However, my left arm is virtually unable to do any weight on pushing movements. For example, if I do lying dumbell tricep raises, or dumbell bench presses, my right arm is strong as ever, but my left can barely get up half the weight it used to. I've also noticed I can't flex the left tricep as hard as I can the right.

I believe this may be a pinched nerve, and I'll be going to see the doc soon. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I'm just bummed b/c I'm starting to think this sh*t is permanent!

I'm hoping someone else has had a similar experience, and can tell me I'm not screwed for life here. :)
Click to expand...

Welcome to my world brother. See a doc like you said and good luck, maybe take this week off till you see a doc, but do this FOR SURE, if he says you need to take say 3 months off take 4 off and let that bad boy heal!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck
 
of course the doctor is gonna tell u to take off! go there and let him take an xray and MRI though.

grab some cissus, and do some light rotator cuff work.

Feel better!
 
Thanks fellas, hey Pitbull you mean this has happened to you before?

damn... 3 or 4 months. that sucks, the most time i've ever taken off is about a month. i'm a lifting addict. :)
 
Hey bro,
If you read my pics thread, I hurt my shoulder bad right before I started college. It was an A/C joint issue.
The only thing that helped was A LOT of time off - like 2 years.
I don't want to discourage you, but just keep that in mind.
 
I had some lower back and knee problems from previous football injuries too and cissus at 6 caps a day did an amazing job for me. I'd say do what you can for now without compromising your health and take your rehab very seriously. Before you know it everything will be all good, just think positive.
 
I had similar issues with my shoulder. Went on for years and then I started cheerleading..yes I was a male cheerleader in college and it just never seemed to get better. Finally had to have surgery. It's called an A/C resection. Rehab wasn't bad and now I have no pain and my shoulder is stronger than before. Might want to see if the surgery is something you are willing to do.
 
I have problems with my left shoulder. Doc said my shoulder muscles were too big:) and that it was causing too much stress on the tendons or ligaments. Doc had me do some minor rehab but it didn't go anywhere. He wanted to cut me but said I'd be out 3-4 mos. I researched rotator cuff exercises and started those. I still have minor issues but its way better than the surgery.
 
I was back in the gym working out in a month after my A/C resection. Took a while to get the strength back but still I feel like my surgery was well worth it. And just because you are having shoulder problems doesn't mean it has to be your rotator cuff.
 
how far are you coming down with all of your motions? Maybe it is just a rotatar cuff issue. If thats what it is and you get your range of motion in check you will be alright.
 
Might be useful..........

DC knows his stuff



How to cure shoulder problems (Trust me this will do it 90% of the time)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a large towel or broomstick I want you to hold it with straight arms for the entire time of what i describe in the following movement--a large "rolled up like a rope" beach towel works good but honestly a longer broomstick (without the bristles) works best in my opinion. Start out with it with a really wide grip (with straight arms) in front of you (on your quads) and with straight arms bring it up and overhead and then down and back to the middle of your back--STRAIGHT ARMS ALL THE WAY--this is going to be very difficult and hard the first couple times out and then will be "old hat" with time----and its going to be painful in a stretching pump kind of way---i want 50 reps each time you do this--one repetition is from in front of your face (all with straight arms) to up overhead and back, and then down all the way to the middle of your back and then back up overhead to in front of your face again (again all with straight arms)--the important part of the movement is the area overhead that is really tight--do all of this carefully/slowly---dont just whip it over and back---if your hand is slipping off the broomstick even with the widest grip, or you cant bring your arms over straight and the start bending on you, you have some serious shoulder inflexibility and need to work this hard and get up to speed (or you could just need a longer broomstick too)--again do all of these revolutions controlled and carefully--push into the stretch as you go along toward the 50 revolutions, your chest will be pushing outward and your shoulders rolling back--your shoulders are going to blow up with so much blood its going to be incredibly painfull pumpwise--Do this once a day at nite as many times a week as you can---sometimes I have people do it every single day---but every time you do it try to move your grip inward (thats the key)----its going to be very hard to do but try your best to move your grip inward for the next 2-4 weeks and your range of motion with shoulders will increase dramatically and any impingement and the majority of other problems should be gone in 2 weeks--also try to move your grip in as you are doing the 50 revolutions--start off with a stretching but relatively easy 10 to warm up some, then try to move your grip in even by a centimeter if you can for the next 20 revolutions and then at 30 try to move the grip in another centimeter--really try to push what you can do stretchwise once your warmed up here--trust me this sounds easy but your going to be muttering "**** you dante" after you get to your 25th revolution--Ive cured too many shoulder problems with this simple movement now its pretty ridiculous, and this and a menthol rub applied liberally daily and before sleep has cured alot of shoulder/bicepital tendonitis in trainees ---Heres a pic attached to this post so you can get an idea (thanks to a trainee of mine who cured his shoulders with this)--but remember the broomstick goes overhead and all the way back to the middle of the back (he just drew the start of the movement when you begin)

Compliments of DC.
 
For me it isn't about what I lifted today, its what I had to learn and relearn to be able to do it right today. You have to hit reverse to proceed sometimes. Peace be with you. Stay the course.
 
oscar_yeager said:
I injured my left shouldar about 6 weeks ago doing shouldar press with somewhat heavy weight, but nothing out of the ordinary for me. I thought it was just a pulled muscle, which has happened to me several times in the five years I"ve been lifting. Usually this heals in less than a week and I'm back to normal.

But this time it's different. The pain has gone down to almost zero (just a slight nuisance). However, my left arm is virtually unable to do any weight on pushing movements. For example, if I do lying dumbell tricep raises, or dumbell bench presses, my right arm is strong as ever, but my left can barely get up half the weight it used to. I've also noticed I can't flex the left tricep as hard as I can the right.

I believe this may be a pinched nerve, and I'll be going to see the doc soon. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I'm just bummed b/c I'm starting to think this sh*t is permanent!

I'm hoping someone else has had a similar experience, and can tell me I'm not screwed for life here. :)
Click to expand...

Shoulders are a tricky body part. They are responcible for a wide range of motion. When you sustain a severe injury to a shoulder you realize how many ways you need to move them to fuction through out the day.
I have seperated my left shoulder once and my right shouder twice. There was about 6 weeks of severe pain. Then about six months of loss of function. Then about two years of total rehab. That was for each occurance. I tried to comeback from my first right shoulder too soon and literally just rolling out of bed reinjured it! So, I am F-ed for life, as seperations tend to reoccur. However, I do have full range of motion, thanks to an agressive flexability program during 2 years of rehab. I have more flexation than before the injury. I cannot do military presses. I have switchd to lateral raises and rows with an augmented dip rotation. This routine has given me a more asthetic look. I have greater stability. I do some light dumbell(25lbs)shoulder pressing. I would say that flexation is the best rehab. I have developed a subconscious awarness of my shoulder motion. Good luck, don't be discouraged if this process takes longer than expected. There was a point where I couldn't shake hands or use a pen. Today, I am perfecting my jump shot for the summer hoops scene.
 
First I want to say thanks very much for all the responses, I really really appreciate it.

Yeah, it's been hard, I was never stronger than I was about 2 months ago. I was making good gains and feeling great. This just kinda struck outta nowhere.

But I'm going to stay positive, try the non-surgical approaches first, and see how that goes. If after a couple months I don't see some improvement I'll see about the surgery.

I'll let you know how it goes. For the time being I'm going to browse the forum and expand my knowledge. I'm new here and I'm getting a good vibe from all the support I received on my first post. :)

Cheers!
 
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