Possible Rotator Cuff tear?

Bigmatt57

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Yesterday Morning I woke up with a slight pain in my right shoulder. Nothing crazy whatsoever. But something you would notice. Didn't really think anything of it just thought I had slept on it wrong. The pain then went away and I continued on with my day, then night came around and it was time to go to the gym. It was chest day. First I did 5 sets a dumbell bench press, then I moved onto to do 5 sets of incline dumbell press. On my 3rd set of incline as I'm pushing up the weight my right shoulder starts to feel painful. Nothing crazy but definitely enough to make you stop working out and head home. Once I got home I noticed that when I move my arm up and down it makes a loud crack/popping sound. It's now the next night. My shoulder isn't very painful but the pain is definitely there, if that makes sense. I still have full motion in my arms. The pain gets worse when I lift my arm up. And then went I put them down you hear a loud pop/crack. Should be able to get a doc appointment in sometime next week. But as have now I'm not working out and just taking it easy. Have you torn your rotator cuff before? How was your experience with it? Does it sound like mine is torn?
 
Ptlhains

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You may have a tear or not. Minor tears are very very common if you lift and they repair easily and the repair process ends up making the shoulder stronger in the long run. If it was anything more than a minor tear, it would more than 'starts to feel painful'. Do lots of sets of light bicep curls on a preacher bench (20 rep sets where you could do 30 reps) using full range of motion to stretch out the bicep tendon. Do one arm rows focusing on the mid and upper back and rear delt. Always do rows (bent over, one arm variations) before pressing and after pressing (and between pressing sets for a while until your shoulder is happy). Do twice as much back work to front work. Next level is to perform light shoulder band work from multiple angles after pressing (I do it two times a week). It keeps the shoulders happy and in place. I am 52 and still press heavy weights (no machines) naturally.
 
Bigmatt57

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You may have a tear or not. Minor tears are very very common if you lift and they repair easily and the repair process ends up making the shoulder stronger in the long run. If it was anything more than a minor tear, it would more than 'starts to feel painful'. Do lots of sets of light bicep curls on a preacher bench (20 rep sets where you could do 30 reps) using full range of motion to stretch out the bicep tendon. Do one arm rows focusing on the mid and upper back and rear delt. Always do rows (bent over, one arm variations) before pressing and after pressing (and between pressing sets for a while until your shoulder is happy). Do twice as much back work to front work. Next level is to perform light shoulder band work from multiple angles after pressing (I do it two times a week). It keeps the shoulders happy and in place. I am 52 and still press heavy weights (no machines) naturally.
Thanks for the response, you think I should just take a complete week off of lifting, Then slowly get back into with those exercises?
 
Dutch guy in asia

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I had a rotator cuff problem, cost me 2 to 3 months of workouts. I am now slowly back trying to recover. I did read a lot about it and face pulls and a kind of side pulls on a cable machine, to target the muscle and strengthen it.

These things can take a long time, i hope yours is just minor.
 
Ptlhains

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Thanks for the response, you think I should just take a complete week off of lifting, Then slowly get back into with those exercises?
No. The 'rest' will just allow the shoulder to tighten up. Get right back to it. Just lighten up the presses and do more sets while you incorporate rows in between sets. One thing that works really well is to one arm row on one side and then do a set on the incline and then repeat for the other side. Lots of sets, lots of pump, not allot of rest in between sets. Do a set of incline and then directly do a set of one arm rows, take a break and repeat etc... Vary the hand position for the one arm row so you focus on different parts of the mid and upper back. I do hot / cold shower after working out and that has really helped my recovery...just sayin.
 

Resolve10

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No. The 'rest' will just allow the shoulder to tighten up. Get right back to it. Just lighten up the presses and do more sets while you incorporate rows in between sets. One thing that works really well is to one arm row on one side and then do a set on the incline and then repeat for the other side. Lots of sets, lots of pump, not allot of rest in between sets. Do a set of incline and then directly do a set of one arm rows, take a break and repeat etc... Vary the hand position for the one arm row so you focus on different parts of the mid and upper back. I do hot / cold shower after working out and that has really helped my recovery...just sayin.
This is some pretty good generalized advice.

Don't just rest, that won't help.

The best bet is to meet with a specialist (Physical Therapist or someone similar who can actually diagnose you) and get a good actual action plan.

As mentioned before lots of people probably already have a "tear" it isn't the end of the world. My wife has one, I am pretty certain I have another one (I had surgery from a sports related injury for one before), and neither of us are held back from anything, we just did the proper things to get to the point to use them again.
 

SlimJim16v

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I don't agree with carrying on training, at least not until you've seen a specialist for a diagnosis. The shoulder is a complicated joint and can cause big issues if not correctly treated.
For it to be clicking, it sounds like the supraspinatus, which passes between 2 bone; or possibly the infraspinatus.

If you must train, go easy and don't do anything that causes pain.

I would start swallowing the max daily dose of Ibuprofen until you see a specialist.

You will always get opposing viewpoints, the final decision is yours.
 
Ptlhains

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I don't agree with carrying on training, at least not until you've seen a specialist for a diagnosis. The shoulder is a complicated joint and can cause big issues if not correctly treated.
For it to be clicking, it sounds like the supraspinatus, which passes between 2 bone; or possibly the infraspinatus.

If you must train, go easy and don't do anything that causes pain.

I would start swallowing the max daily dose of Ibuprofen until you see a specialist.

You will always get opposing viewpoints, the final decision is yours.
If one treats the weight lifting / minor injury game like this bro, they will never get anything done.
You can thank me later.
Signed: 52 year old powerlifter
 
Dutch guy in asia

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If one treats the weight lifting / minor injury game like this bro, they will never get anything done.
You can thank me later.
Signed: 52 year old powerlifter
I am 45 and have had my first serious injury (rotator cuff) and for me it was not doing anything that helped at first I had your mindset kept training on. It only got worse even with correction exercises and all. Later i stopped training for 7 weeks and it still was not 100% but a lot better then when I was training.

Now i am slowly regaining my strength back. IMHO it really depends how bad things are what you have to do.
 
Ptlhains

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I am 45 and have had my first serious injury (rotator cuff) and for me it was not doing anything that helped at first I had your mindset kept training on. It only got worse even with correction exercises and all. Later i stopped training for 7 weeks and it still was not 100% but a lot better then when I was training.

Now i am slowly regaining my strength back. IMHO it really depends how bad things are what you have to do.
I agree; however, if you are able to bench press a moderate to heavy weight with 'some pain', you don't have a bad tear. Exercise selection is very important or all you is inflame that area. If one does not figure out the correct exercises and weekly conditioning work, they will be right back at their problem in no time. I train many people through these injuries and maybe 1/100 needs to rest - where the others need to keep going, but take corrective measures. Good luck....hope you can get back to working consistently and not have to take months off in the future.
 

sammpedd88

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It may not even be your rotator cuff. It could be a labrum tear, to be specific, a SLAP tear. Google it. A very high percentage of people that are over 35 have a SLAP tear. They’ll never know if unless they do any repetitive over head motions, which includes lifting weights. Surgery on a SLAP tear really isn’t worth getting. If that’s what it is, my advice would be PT after seeing an orthopedic.
 
Dutch guy in asia

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I agree; however, if you are able to bench press a moderate to heavy weight with 'some pain', you don't have a bad tear. Exercise selection is very important or all you is inflame that area. If one does not figure out the correct exercises and weekly conditioning work, they will be right back at their problem in no time. I train many people through these injuries and maybe 1/100 needs to rest - where the others need to keep going, but take corrective measures. Good luck....hope you can get back to working consistently and not have to take months off in the future.
I could not bench anymore even doing abs at the captains chair hurt. It was bad I hated it training is part of my life.

Anyway now I'm slowly regaining my power bench is still a bit painful but more the painful you have when something is weak not the pain I had before.

Doing a lot of face pulls now and one other corrective exercise. I slowly feel I'm getting stronger.

It was a good lesson for me that I'm not bullet proof.

But I agree each injury is different. Thanks for sharing it's good to read other opinions.
 
Bigmatt57

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Still haven't worked out yet, shoulder feels 100% fine. But it is still cracking very loud.
 

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