Shoulder impingement, best way to recover?

Okay, so I'm currently experiencing what I believe to be shoulder impingement (right upper shoulder). About 2-3 months ago I had some shoulder issues, most likely caused by not properly warming up and/or bad form. Regardless, I felt like I had almost overcome that issue. But recently, while I was playing volleyball, my shoulder suddenly "cracked" (this happened after a sudden move and I guess "overreaching" with my right arm). Ever since then, I've been having some mild pain when moving the shoulder and a LOT of cracking (although usually not accompanied with pain during natural movements).

No real pain when not moving it, but I can reproduce the pain when doing bar muscle ups, sudden movements or overreaching up with my right arm. And just now I tried some shoulder rehab exercises, the pain is most sharp when I put my hands all the way up in this exercise:

I'll be blunt, I really don't want to rest. But then again, I don't want screwed up shoulders either. I know I'm a horrible human being, but I honestly find it incredibly hard to accept that I can't do any exercises, especially since I just got into training.

So here are my questions in a nutshell:

- Would it be possible to continue my training with pull-ups, push ups (slow ones, controlled), provided that I DON'T feel pain while doing them?

- Would they help the process of recovering, or would they just slow it down?

- Would doing the exercises listed HERE be any good for fixing shoulder impingement?

- If I feel pain/mild discomfort during the REHAB exercises, should I stop doing them or would they help ease the pain in the long run?

- How long does it usually take for a shoulder to fully recover from shoulder impingement? Does it even go away permanently?

Honestly, I feel like I already know the drill - rest / don't do anything that hurts / go to a doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment, but I still would like to hear from someone who's been through a similiar situation or has knowledge in the area.

Thank you.

This post might be helpful

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/9238-8-months-of-being-injured-what-finally-helped/

Demon said:

Okay, so I'm currently experiencing what I believe to be shoulder impingement (right upper shoulder). About 2-3 months ago I had some shoulder issues, most likely caused by not properly warming up and/or bad form. Regardless, I felt like I had almost overcome that issue. But recently, while I was playing volleyball, my shoulder suddenly "cracked" (this happened after a sudden move and I guess "overreaching" with my right arm). Ever since then, I've been having some mild pain when moving the shoulder and a LOT of cracking (although usually not accompanied with pain during natural movements).

 

No real pain when not moving it, but I can reproduce the pain when doing bar muscle ups, sudden movements or overreaching up with my right arm. And just now I tried some shoulder rehab exercises, the pain is most sharp when I put my hands all the way up in this exercise:

 

I'll be blunt, I really don't want to rest. But then again, I don't want screwed up shoulders either. I know I'm a horrible human being, but I honestly find it incredibly hard to accept that I can't do any exercises, especially since I just got into training.

 

So here are my questions in a nutshell:

- Would it be possible to continue my training with pull-ups, push ups (slow ones, controlled), provided that I DON'T feel pain while doing them?

- Would they help the process of recovering, or would they just slow it down?

- Would doing the exercises listed HERE be any good for fixing shoulder impingement?

- If I feel pain/mild discomfort during the REHAB exercises, should I stop doing them or would they help ease the pain in the long run?

- How long does it usually take for a shoulder to fully recover from shoulder impingement? Does it even go away permanently?

 

 

- It's possible.

- They're likely to do more harm than good.

- The 'scapular floor slides' are by far the most useful exercise for helping to relieve shoulder impingement. You can also do them against a wall for a harder variation. The other exercises may help, but I would consider the scapular slides to be mandatory.

- Mild discomfort is ok. Pain is not.

Another thing I would recommend is taking an NSAID (such as ibuprofen) to help quell the inflammation. I'd recommend asking a doctor about this. Icing immediately after your workout can be helpful, as can applying a heated pad throughout the day. 

I had it, what helped me was.

1. Realizing what was causing problems - at the time they were cubans which I did with way too much weight and way too often.

2. Icing few times a day every day (this is what I think is necessary)

3. Pecs stretching exercises and RC strengthening exercises

4. Rows

I did all of it without icing and it did not help so I credit icing the most (heating made it worse and I'm talking months here, it took me a year to recover)

Mats Trane said:

This post might be helpful

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/9238-8-months-of-being-injured-what-finally-helped/

Thank you, I will give the routine described in that topic a shot (at this point, I'm pretty much willing to do anything that would help).

Joshua Slocum said:

- It's possible.

- They're likely to do more harm than good.

- The 'scapular floor slides' are by far the most useful exercise for helping to relieve shoulder impingement. You can also do them against a wall for a harder variation. The other exercises may help, but I would consider the scapular slides to be mandatory.

- Mild discomfort is ok. Pain is not.

 

Another thing I would recommend is taking an NSAID (such as ibuprofen) to help quell the inflammation. I'd recommend asking a doctor about this. Icing immediately after your workout can be helpful, as can applying a heated pad throughout the day. 

So in other words, any exercise that burdens the shoulder (even a little) should be avoided to maximize the speed of the healing process. I feared that would be the case, but I guess there's no way around it. Oh well, I'll focus on other muscle groups, then.

As for the scapular floor sides, I'll continue doing them, in combination with some other rehab exercises.

And as for the medication - for my last injury, my doctor prescribed me Perskindol Active Gel (more info here) and it does relieve the pain, but I don't think it contains ibuprofen... Still, I think it helps the process (plus from what I was able to find, the ingredients have anti-inflammatory properties), so I'll continue using it.

As for the icing, I'm sort of confused. The gel I'm using "heats up" the area and ice would do the opposite. Should these two be combined and wouldn't they get in each other's way?

Thank you.

C.MARIVS said:

I had it, what helped me was.

 

1. Realizing what was causing problems - at the time they were cubans which I did with way too much weight and way too often.

2. Icing few times a day every day (this is what I think is necessary)

3. Pecs stretching exercises and RC strengthening exercises

4. Rows

 

I did all of it without icing and it did not help so I credit icing the most (heating made it worse and I'm talking months here, it took me a year to recover)

Well, I think I narrowed down what was causing the pain, now I just have to get rid of it.

I'm already doing RC strenghtening exercises on a regular basis with 3 kg dumbbells.

Haven't done a lot of stretches lately, come to think of it, I'll give those a shot too.

Thanks.

Demon said:

 

 

Haven't done a lot of stretches lately, come to think of it, I'll give those a shot too.

 

Thanks.

How is recovery going? You might find this post from Kit helpfull:

1. I made a rotator cuff/shoulder recovery routine on my own.
 I got some exercise ideas after researching the subject profusely. Now I do this routine basically every other day. I'd post it, but I don't think it's universal. In my opinion, everyone should find what works best for them.

2. I stopped doing muscle-ups and dips (for now), as those two exercises seemed to be what triggered the pain. Even with push-ups I'm rather careful nowadays, because I'd rather do less reps, but at least have them be pain-free and with good form.

3. I started paying A LOT more attention to warmup.

4. Right now, I'm focusing on building a strong foundation, because my workouts before the injury were pretty much chaotic and very uneducated, I was trying to learn elements that I simply wasn't ready for yet. After I've mastered the basics, I'll move on to more advanced stuff.

Overall, the pain is almost completely gone, but I'm also very careful now. In a strange way, I feel better because of the experience.