Shoulder/neck muscle injury and training

[Martin]

I have, what i call for a lack of a better word, a few "knots" in my trapezius on the right side. I have gotten these before when doing many pull-ups in my routines, now they are back and hurt even more. So I took a break, it's been almost 2 weeks, the swelling has gone down, but it's still there. Massage seems to help with pain relief somewhat, but the problem persists.

Can I start training again?

Are there certain exercises/stretches I can do to help the situation?

Do I need to see a doctor about this?

Thank you!

Martin

[Coach Sommer]

Too Much, Too Soon

You have classic symptoms of overtraining. You are attempting more volume and intensity than your body is currently comfortable handling.

Before beginning more training, allow the current injury to heal. Massage, stretching, EXTREMELY light workouts, one teaspoon of fish oil per day and one to two grams of vitamin C per day will all help to accelerate this process. Given your current state of discomfort, this process will probably extend at least for two weeks.

After you have sufficiently recovered, I recommend that you engage in an active recovery phase. For this phase, I would like you to cut both your total volume for the week, as well as your number of reps per set in half. You will continue to use this reduced workout for 4-6 weeks to further aid recovery and to more fully establish a stronger foundation from which to proceed into more aggressive strength work in the future.

Also, during this time you should engage in no Chinese pullups, or kipping pull-ups as they are sometimes known.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Martin]

Thank you for the advice, Coach Sommer. I bet you've seen countless of other examples like this. As much as I hate giving up training now, I know I should take your advice before this becomes a lifetime injury (it has already returned several times over the past few years).

I had actually been training consistently for a year without any injuries to my shoulder, but had a 6 week lay off in October. I started building up slowly in December, and started working "hard" by mid January.

I think the knots started to develop from doing exactly that, the kipping pull ups or in my case doing chins explosively.

I'm already on 1000 mg of fish oil capsules and Vit C, I will up the intake.

What kind of stretching and extremely light workouts do you recommend?

Can I still squat or do exercises in which my shoulder is not involved? Or would you not recommend training the lower body hard either during this phase?

As for "sufficiently recovered", I assume I must be completely free of discomfort before starting training again?

Also, for the active recovery, what volume should I look at for which exercises on the rings? I put together a workout program here:

http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=197

Thanks again, I appreciate the help.

Martin

[Martin]

Hello Coach Sommer,

I did as you recommended and more. I've not been training for the past 4 weeks (really a punishment). I've had multiple massage treatments, and also receiving some muscle relaxant injections following recommendation from a doctor. I recovered almost 2 weeks ago, then wanted to show some exercises to a friend, of course hurting myself again. Now, the pain has gone away again, I can still feel one spot in the trapezius, right next to the neck, but barely noticeable. Still applying a hot pack every day.

I've spoken to a trainer who focuses on posture improvement about what I could do for active rehab, he said to do reverse flys to practice retracting the scapula, also a row with extending/retracting the scapula. I've also done another exercise focusing scapula retracting, by hanging from a racked barbell, feet away from me on the floor, and extracting/retracting the scapula.

Am I on the right track for recovery? Any other rehab exercises I could do? I'm doing some light cardio and leg work at the moment, nothing big.

I want to get back to training as well prepared as i can.

Best regards,

Martin

[ASForum]

How did you fare with the shoulder injury afterwards?