Shoulder Problem

My shoulder's been having problems for more than 3 months. The problem's neither gotten worse nor gotten better, you'd think one of those would have happened.

It only hurts in specific positions. A bridge with narrow stance, or when I pull the theraband behind my head to stretch my shoulders. I can feel pain on those things, not with a whole lot else. It's annoying though, because now it pops all the time. If I do circles with my arms, it pops so easily, and not a comfortable pop like the fingers, it feels pretty annoying.

I tried resting it for 2 weeks during Xmas vacation, but it's not gotten better. I don't know if I should continue shoulder stretches, or if that might make it worse.

I can't afford seeing a doctor about this right now.

I can tell you that while I have nowhere near your flexibility, the use of chest expander-type exercises has helped me immensely with my shoulders. I'd definitely suggest you look into doing them as rehab and prehab. Any type of scalable elastic resistance will do in a pinch.

Ha, thanks for the compliment!

Are you talking about something like this?

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/aa/back.html

I've never used anything like that before, but I'm willing to give it a try. Can such exercises be done with a theraband, or would it be worth investing in the actual equipment?

I have a similar thing for more than 1 year already, so take care not to underestimate it because I just made things worse and turned the injury into a chronic problem because of that. If your body is sending you an alarm signal, don't ignore it. Just a quick note: it may well be a biceps tendinitis instead of something at the shoulder itself, like rotator cuff problems. I misjudged mine as a shoulder problem at the beginning, but later it became clear it didn't have much to do with the shoulder. The inflammation can however, extend to other areas and become a more widespread problem, as happened to me

It might be your case as well, if the pain is in specific positions and it hurts in the front part of your shoulder (where the tendon of the long head of the biceps passes through), it will hurt when you do the moves you described (inlocates/dislocates), especially when you take your arm behind you, stretching the biceps.

If you have someone to ask to help you, you can try these massages below or improvise by yourself doing some self-myofascial release and ice massaging to help improve your condition.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=biceps+tendinitis&search_type=&aq=f

jamesters said:

Ha, thanks for the compliment!

Are you talking about something like this?

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/aa/back.html

I've never used anything like that before, but I'm willing to give it a try. Can such exercises be done with a theraband, or would it be worth investing in the actual equipment?

I'd suggest buying the lifeline products, but that one will probably do in a pinch. It'll save you money in the short run, but the lifeline products are infinitely higher quality and go up to truly superhuman resistances that I can't even budge right now. I got the whole set for 99 bucks, but that may be out of your price range. I suppose the Altus could be a good introduction to this type of training.

You could do it with therabands, but the grip won't be ideal and you'll have trouble scaling the resistance. I'd definitely start now with whatever you've got and at least get the Altus.

Romulo: Nice link!

If your going to ice it, do remember to put something between the ice and your skin. It's conventional wisedom, I know,

but recently I asked my girlfriend, who is a medicine student with impeccable grades, wether I really needed to put something in between.

She claims that she can't remember giving me the lecture about how it didn't matter, and blames the memory laps on the stress of exams. Anywho... I ended up with a giant 2. degree skin burn on my shoulder. So don't forget :wink:

James,

A woman who practices yoga with me has had a damaged shoulder for some time now. She feels immediate relief when she performs light arm bars with a 10# sandbag. Not that it has cured the issue for her, but it does help it to feel better. You might Google "kettlebell arm bars."

I can't recall if you practice acrobatics and yoga or not; it might be helpful to have someone with experience eyeball your form on some of those asanas and tricks because if you're unknowingly aggravating your injury, it won't heal.

Sometimes the case is not so much that people are tweaking their shoulders, but they're performing activities that simply prevent the healing process from occurring (for example, high volume kipping pull-ups might not directly injure your shoulder, but definitely won't allow it to heal).

best of luck,

jason

Well, I've started taking naproxen and using icyhot creme and my shoulder feels better yet still not 100%. I wonder though, is the naproxen simply making it "feel" better, but maybe it's not any better, perhaps masking pain and symptoms?

I'm reluctant to stop training because I don't like the idea of not training especially if I don't feel guaranteed that my shoulder will get better by not training. I'm hoping naproxen and icyhot creme will eventually heal my shoulder without me having to stop training. Regardless, I've made a list of things that cause my left shoulder discomfort and things that feel therapeutic.

Discomfort:

- one arm leg lifts

- iron cross training

- open shoulder stretches

- any stretches with shoulders externally rotated

- flags

- sometimes juggling

Therapeutic:

- front raises with theraband with shoulders internally rotated

- any stretches with shoulders internally rotated

- fighting the urge to pop my shoulder which feels psychologically uncomfortable yet physically seems to make it feel better

I've been have troubles in my right shoulder recently as well. With my shoulders closed, if I rotate my straightened right arm clockwise while at my side, my shoulder clicks. It does not have any pain associated with it, but today, it feels as though on of my tendons is sore (and I have been using triggerpoint therapy to soothe it). This started happening after showing off (of course) a muscle up and accidentally dipping too low after the transition.

I have been avoiding any exercise that I feel might aggravate the injury and will continue to do so until it stops clicking.Is this similar to what you are experiencing, jamesters?

Yes, it is, schlaffman. It's gotten better, but doesn't seem to be fully healed.

Jamesters, i see you are also having some problems with your shoulder in addition to the knee and mention narrow bridge which is another type of movement that is actually quite technical. I'm worried that even though the shoulder is ok now, the problem will come back. The shoulders are quite vulnerable in deep bridges. This is unfortunately something i learned the hard way.

I would caution you to not push through the shoulders in bridges. I have found that most of my students come to me after years of doing bridge pose, but without being taught how to proceed safely. Almost every one of these kind of students will push though the shoulder heads, you can actually see a round bump in the arm pit. That the head of the humerus being pushed out of socket. It will often feel to the student if i just stretch there more it will get better. THIS IS WRONG!

In almost every case the problem is not enough mobility in the Thoracic spine. The arms and shoulders themselves work almost exactly as in a good handstand. Shoulder heads packed, and arm bones press towards the feet.

You're a young guy with lots of potential, please find a teacher. If money is a problem, very often if you can just get to a few classes and explain your situation, teachers can arrange some kind of work exchange. I've cleaned studios for classes, and now have someone who does that for me.

It also should be recognized that these injuries take many months to be completely resolved, and even longer to strengthen the joint and prevent further injury. Take your time and be safe! I'm glad you're feeling a bit better Jamesters!

slizzardman said:

It also should be recognized that these injuries take many months to be completely resolved, and even longer to strengthen the joint and prevent further injury. Take your time and be safe! I'm glad you're feeling a bit better Jamesters!

Good point, and one too many of us have learned the hard way!

That'd be me! :oops:

Thanks for the knowledge and glad to hear you are feeling better, Jamesters. I feel like there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

In the meantime of this recovery, I plan on doing Ido's scapular exercises.

I have learned the hard way too. I've had a similar problem for several months. For me the pain is at the back of the shoulder, near the acromion. The doctor thought it was a small labrum tear. I went to rehab and discovered that many of my stabilizer muscles were weak: external rotators, lower trapezius (which needs to be strong to allow the shoulder to open up completely), and serratus (I have some winging of the scapulae). They say I have naturally loose joints, and combining that with weak stabilizers is a recipe for injury (especially when you push yourself too hard like I did).

I too can pop my shoulder "to make it feel better" (I used to do this by holding my arm out to the side and internally rotating until it popped), but as with you it felt like something that I shouldn't be doing. I have stopped popping it since I read your comment, and it feels better.