No STS for me either/shoulder issue/long...

C

cocob1

Cathlete
My Dr. expressed surprise that I hadn't been in any pain long before yesterday when my arm just wouldn't work. Couldn't even blow dry my hair so I knew it was serious. LOL. I had an MRI yesterday and a follow up appointment today. I had some problems since doing STS 1r testing in Jan. STS didn't cause the problem. I guess it was brewing for awhile and now I know about it so I'm thankful I found out before I made things worse. I was almost finished with Meso 2. Now what do I do? Any suggestions for a rotation without any upper body???
Anyone know what the stuff below means??? Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Here's the long part......
1.I have moderate AC joint arthrosis with moderate inferior hypertrophic changes;
2.Moderagte supraspinatus, infraspinatus and subscapularis tendinopathy. A 1cm segment area of deep surface tendon fraying of middle one third supraspinatus fibers;
3.Moderate sized glenohumeral joint effusion with moderate generalized synovitis. Broad based tearing and deformity of the superior and anterior labra. Tearing of the base of the inferior quadrant of the posterior labrum. A 1mm area of full thickness chondral edema and mild to moderate chondral surface irregularity and thinning of the articular cartilage of the superior aspect of the humeral head;
4.And last but not least, Mild narrowing of the acromiohumeral space with mild subacromial subdeltoid bursal inflammation.
I don't know what all that means!? but I see a specialist next Thursday.
I know there's a lot of people who have it worse off than I do but I was having fun with STS and I don't know what to do now!!
 
wow! your shoulder is a mess! J/K I'm a physical therapist and what you have wrong with you isn't the end of the world but your going to need to restructure your upper body workouts. first and foremost, all the injuries you posted are due to years of overuse and possibly poor lifting techniques due to heavy lifting. What i see often is that people train their chest, shoulders, and back with very heavy weight but never work on the rotator cuff muscles. By doing this, those muscles along with the labrum of the joint capsule get beaten to a pulp. You will most likely need physical therapy. You can start doing some research on rotator cuff strengthening exercises. There are exercises called "Y's" "T's" and "I's" These can also be done laying on your stomach on a slightly inclined bench. Also doing rows to work the high/middle/low traps is a good things. All of these things are done first with no weight and then you gradually increase making sure your form is impecable. Also, its good to have the PT do some joint mobes on your shoulder which will decrease inflammation and keep full range of motion. Its very important that when you do go to a physical therapy clinic that they actually put their hands on you. There are so many crappy clinics out there where the patients are just given random exercises and then sent a long their way. Based on how large the labral tear is, it may warrant surgery so be prepared for that to come up when you see the specialist. You don't need surgery right away. I have had patients who managed well just by doing physical therapy and learning the main exercises to keep their shoulder stable. I hope this helps some. Sorry about not being able to perform STS. I would keep your upper body workouts when you do physical therapy and just focus on legs,abs, and cardio on your own. All of the tendonopathy and synovitis things you have going on is all inflammation. So first and foremost, the inflammation needs to be reduced through ice, gentle mobes, e-stem, etc and then the stregthening portion can begin. Good luck. Don't hesitate to ask me anything.
 
Sorry to hear about your shoulder trouble cocob1. I'm a devoted Cathe fan and a family practice doctor so I can give you my nonspecialist interpretation of the MRI and what I thnk may happen to fix your problem.

1. You have old damage at the AC joint and a couple of rotation cuff tendons - the AC joint is not likely causing you pain or decreased mobility. Tendinosis is a description for what a tendon looks like after repeated bouts on inflammation (i.e. tendinitis). Physical therapy maybe or no treatment.
2. That partial tear in your supraspinatus may be causing you some pain but not the decreased mobility it could be new or old. This one is also treated with physical therapy.
3. You have a subacromial bursitis as well which would make those deltoid flys painful on the STS. It could be from overhead lifting and aggravated by the arthritis that you have. Physical therapy and you could get a steroid injection into that area and get good pain relief.
4. That labrum tear that you have - it's called a SLAP tear - that's what is hurting you the most I think and making it impossible to get you arm over your head to use your blowdryer and that could need surgery at some point which is going to stink!

All that swelling and the effusion - did you fall and catch yourself with your hand? Let me know what the specialist recommends. I could learn something!
It's going to be tough to do much upper body weights until you see the orthopedist. Ask him if you can do rotator cuff exercises with the Cathe bands. She demonstrates those exercises so well in STS as well as some of her other DVD's.

Nat
 
Natb and Kariev you are both angels! Thank you so much for the information. No wonder my Internist/Rehumatologist was concerned. I really trust him and if he says I need to see a specialist I trust him. Now I believe him.
I will not lift one weight until I get checked out next week.
I've done affew really physical jobs over my 55 years so anything could have done it. I was a ski bum and ran a chairlift for a year and shoveled a ton of snow, cleaned fish on a floating fish processor in Alaska, waitressed and was a flight attendant (very heavy carts on a steep incline) among other jobs. I'm betting on the flight attendant stuff being a big contributor to this problem and possibly poor body mechanics when working out but I never had a fall or anything like that.
I appreciate what you both told me tonight, so much. Now I can begin the road to healing. Maybe I'll get back to running for awhile. :) I'll let you know what the orthopedist says.
Colleen
 
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Colleen, sorry about your situation, but you have had some wonderful experiences :).

And now a question for our professionals!...I know that in other workouts of Cathe that she includes exercises for the rotator cuff...are these included in STS...if not, would you recommend that we add these?
 
lala1 said:
Colleen, sorry about your situation, but you have had some wonderful experiences :).

And now a question for our professionals!...I know that in other workouts of Cathe that she includes exercises for the rotator cuff...are these included in STS...if not, would you recommend that we add these?
Click to expand...

in meso 1 she does some Y's and T's with the band. I think doing such exercises a few times a week in addition to your sts workouts would be great! it would only take 5 minutes to go through the Y's, T's, and I exercises. Its good to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles especially before going into meso 3.
 
cocob1 said:
My Dr. expressed surprise that I hadn't been in any pain long before yesterday when my arm just wouldn't work. Couldn't even blow dry my hair so I knew it was serious. LOL. I had an MRI yesterday and a follow up appointment today. I had some problems since doing STS 1r testing in Jan. STS didn't cause the problem. I guess it was brewing for awhile and now I know about it so I'm thankful I found out before I made things worse. I was almost finished with Meso 2. Now what do I do? Any suggestions for a rotation without any upper body???
Anyone know what the stuff below means??? Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Here's the long part......
1.I have moderate AC joint arthrosis with moderate inferior hypertrophic changes;
2.Moderagte supraspinatus, infraspinatus and subscapularis tendinopathy. A 1cm segment area of deep surface tendon fraying of middle one third supraspinatus fibers;
3.Moderate sized glenohumeral joint effusion with moderate generalized synovitis. Broad based tearing and deformity of the superior and anterior labra. Tearing of the base of the inferior quadrant of the posterior labrum. A 1mm area of full thickness chondral edema and mild to moderate chondral surface irregularity and thinning of the articular cartilage of the superior aspect of the humeral head;
4.And last but not least, Mild narrowing of the acromiohumeral space with mild subacromial subdeltoid bursal inflammation.
I don't know what all that means!? but I see a specialist next Thursday.
I know there's a lot of people who have it worse off than I do but I was having fun with STS and I don't know what to do now!!
Click to expand...

Colleen, Don't get discouraged. Wait to see the specialist and get his opinion. My experience has been that some diagnostic studies are over read and sound worse than they really are. Some changes you describe can be within normal limits as we get older.
Hang in there and keep active.
By the way, the stitches in my hand come out on May 5. Please keep us posted on your progress.
Lina
 
Lina. May 5th will be here before you know it. Yea! You won't believe how careful I was tonight cutting a tomato. I thought of you. How scary.
I've done my icing and took some Ibuprofen. I see that Fitness Freak has a old rotation with no upper body in it that she created awhile back. I copied it and I'm going to start that and do core work. (no planks/no jack knifes on the ball though). I'll substitute walk/running for the cardio.
My STS collection is so pretty. I know it will be waiting for me when this is over.
Colleen
 
Injury Issue

Hi Colleen

So sorry to hear about your shoulder problem. Isn't it frustrating when the mind is keen but the body has other ideas. I've had a similar thing with my back/hips. Its a problem I've been having for along time way before STS. Also I love STS and Cathe and I am hoping to find a way round this. I went on holiday for a few days in London, came back started meso 3 with plyo legs which was great and I've been going along okay all week. Anyway I've recently started some temp work that requires me to do alot of bending and putting files on shelves. Also occassionally I've been lifting boxes (which to be honest I don't think are safe) anyway yesterday I started meso 3 wk one back and chest and slowly my left hip and lower back started to get painful. It wasn't really when I did the barbell rows or one arm rows but when I lay down to do the chest press and flyes. My left hip was so painful to ly on I had to stop and put my workout items away.

I workout at home and have to move some of my equipment around which I think doesn't help. I'm beginning to think I need to join a gym where I can use cabel machines or lat machines to work my back to take the pressure off my lower back. Today I was due to do plyo legs wk 2 but I'm not going to risk it. I'm going to do joint mobility exercises and possibly abs and core on the ball.

After rest my hip feels alot better but I'm going to the doctors next week to get things checked out. Good luck with your shoulder and I hope you feel better soon.

Sorry to waffle on lol

Love
Laura
 
Hi Laura - so sorry to hear about your hip pain but I'm glad your able to get to a Dr. very soon.
I'm amazed at all the information we're learning about our bodies on our fitness journeys thanks to our Cathe friends here on the forum. I hope your problem is something that can be healed quickly.
Let us know how it turns out for you once you see the Dr.
Colleen
 
Hi Colleen and all: Colleen; our shoulder issues sound very similar. alot of that verbiage in your post are the same as my MRI reading. I don't ever remember hurting my shoulder, but I played collegiate Volleyball and have worked our for over 20 years...I know overuse and possibly just too much overhead motion is the culprit. At this point, my Dr. is having me just to the stregthening exercises, icing and ibuprofen. I have to be honest though, they pain isn't gone, the issues are not gone, and I can hardly sleep some nights. I do have full range of motion though, although it can hurt. But I also can still work out with Cathe and I modify only a little. So although I am in pain, it isn't exrutiating when I work out; although I do worry about what the future (older age!) is going to have in store for my shoulder though. I am just now noticing a loss of strength (I have been able to do push ups on my toes all day for years...not anymore. My shoulder just can't support it well enough.) So something will have to be done. I am going to get through the summer...and then really see what I need to do. My doc said it would be a open incision, so 6 weeks in a sling. Yikes...but would rather see me continue in PT and anti inflam. But I have to say, I have tried this with my shoulder over the last 4 years and it never gets better. So after golf season (I know...I am my own worst enemy most of the time) I will probably really have to fix it. I can kind of live with it, I am used to the pain...but worry about being older and not having a shoulder that I can live with...

Keep us posted on your appt. with the specialist. I am interested in keeping track of this with you.

Becky
 
I'm sorry to hear that you too are going through the same thing. I'll keep you posted as to what the "shoulder doc" says. Wish I didn't have to wait until Thursday... I want to know now!
Colleen
 
Back from Orthopedic Dr. He also did an xray, looked at MRI film and did some hands on tests. (ow,ow ow).
Showed me where a bone spur is pressing down on a tendon every time I lift my right arm. That spot has major inflammation. He said he can't tell if there is a tear in the tendon because it's so inflamed... He gave me an option of doing another MRI with a dye to see if a tear is there or just open the shoulder up, scrape the bone spur and clean out the joint and repair tendon if there is a tear. I opted for the MRI with the dye and that will be next week.
I've only done walk/runs & plyo legs with #3 weights in my hands. Boring. I miss my STS.
Went to the library on checked out every sports rehab book I could find and some books on proper weight lifting techniques. I can see once I'm healed I'm going to want a proper weight bench to support my back for any shoulder work. I'm also going through older posts about shoulder problems here on Cathe's forum and I'm learning tons about shoulder rehab and issues. Any book suggestions Kariev or Nat?
The Orthopedic Dr. said I could do workouts with low weights but NO above the shoulder raises. Not even T's & Y's with the band.
I'm following his orders.
Becky, I kept thinking of your post and wondered if I'm doing the right thing or if I should've said "just open the sucker up and get it fixed now".
Laura, hows your hip?
Lina, May 5th is almost here! How's your hand?
 
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{{{{{Colleen}}}}} I have no further advice to add. I just wanted to give you a hug along with my best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. Keep us posted and don't worry -- STS will be there when you're ready for it.
 
Michelle, Thanks for your kind support! My shoulder hurts & catches even doing step or kick boxing so I found a beginners program on Runners World and started it this past week while I wait to find out what's happening with my shoulder. I've been thinking of taking out my Cardio Coach mp3s -and, voila - there your name is - my cardio coach buddy from last year. Coincidence? I think not. :)
 
Back from 2nd MRI w/dye and ortho. appt. Yikes. He wants surgery. I'm not so sure. 6 weeks in a sling and no cardio except walking? Then PT? Has anyone healed a torn tendon w/ bone spur? I had plantar faciaitis years ago and did ice and ultra sound and it healed nicely. I've herniated L4 & L5 with foot drop and it took almost a year but they healed.

I took a look at the surgery and the pictures look awful and I'd have to be put under. It's major stuff!

I'm feeling really bummed.

I posted this in the Open Discussion link as well to get as much info as I can so I can figure out what to do.
Colleen:(

Conclusion
4mm x 8mm area of contrast material extending into deep surface fiber tearing posterior to the mid supraspinatus tendon less than 1 cm proximal to its insertion. This appears to focally involve, at maximum, nearly three fourths of the fiber thickness. Mild fraying and tendinosis of deep surface fibers of the supraspinatus anterior to this.
Diffuse appearance of tearing of the glenoid labrum. No discrete paralabral ganglion is seen. AC joint DJD with mild to moderate supraspinatus deformity. Mild subacromial/subdeltoid bursitis. The long head of the biceps tendon is intact and nondisplaced from the bicipital groove. Glenohumeral joint distended with contrast material status post arthrogram injection. 6. Mild to moderate synovitis, but without evidence for a discrete loose body.
 
Colleen,

sorry to hear about your injury. I have been also healing an injury that came about 3 weeks into doing STS. I doubt it was STS that did it, but it is aggravating. It just came on so suddenly for me. One week I was lifting my weights and the next week I could get anything lifted with my left arm. My bi/shoulder were weak. I didn't have any pain so I didn't think anything of it but it happened again a second week so I went to the doc. My doc sent me to a Physical Med and Rehab doc who then had me get an MRI and EMG. Both showed C5 & C6 vertebrate protusion/inflammation that was pinching a nerve. I have just come off of oral meds and done some upper body weights and will have an epidural injection on 5/19. That scares me but I am having the same burning sensation in my neck so I am hoping that it will go away. I am doing a lower body leaning out rotation that Fitness Freak had made up and enjoying it. Even though STS is sitting there. I am hoping to get to it in June but we will have to wait and see. The doc said I could lift but if I had problems to stop.

So here is to us to heal and get better. If you decide to do the surgery, good luck to you and wishing you a speedy recovery.

Rhonda
 
sorry to hear about everyone's injury's - I'm right there with you, but with surgery on a broken finger. It's been 2 months and now I'm in a splint for another 3 weeks.

If surgery will help repair and heal, I say go for the surgery. Good luck!!
 
I think we need another thread on Cathe's Forum for those of us recovering from our "owies). Just for moral support, healing information and most importantly ... sympathy and encouragement.
How did you hurt your finger Weener?
 
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