Shoulder injury - but afraid to stop UB weights

lauramangano

lauramangano

Cathlete
Ok, I think that I have torn something in my shoulder, but I am scared to death of stopping my upper body exercise for fear of losing all of my strength gains. I just take a couple of Advil and power through the pain. :( I was wondering if anyone knew if I could be damaging anything? I haven't gone to the doctor either 'cause I just haven't had the time. Thanks, Laura
 
Laura~

What happened that leads you to think you tore something? Did you suffer a sudden blow to your shoulder or is this something that has been festering for awhile now? I ask because I completely tore my rotator cuff 2 yrs ago. I was experiencing pain but continued to work thru it until I suffered a major blow at karate, it completely tore off the bone. My orthopedic surgeon believed that I initally had tendonitis which went untreated and led to a raveling and weakening of the tendon.

So please heed my advice. Do NOT continue to lift and irritate your shoulder until you get it checked out by a doctor. You may only need some rest and physical therapy but if you push it too far, you could be out for much longer:( And that is no fun!

Good luck. Keep us posted on how you are doing.

JJ
 
JJ - This was not a sudden thing....it has slowly been getting worse over time. I think I irritated it with all of the push-ups in the P90X series (I loved that series and totally miss the Chest/Back workout). It hurts so badly now that toe push-ups are out of the question, and I have had to drop the amount of weight that I have been bench pressing. I was kinda hoping that my body would just heal itself:confused:, but it's not happening. So bummed.....
 
Listen to your body. Get thee to a doctor. Overuse injuries can worsen. If your tendons are inflamed, you could develop bursitis, impingement, bone spurs, tears or frozen shoulder. All of which is no fun! Not to mention holding patterns due to poor posture and poor form as your other muscles compensate for the weaker ones.

Wendy

ETA... I know I sound harsh. I waited three months before I saw a doctor when I injured my rotator cuff. The pain will get worse if you continue to inflame your tendons regardless if they are torn or not.
 
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I'm no doctor but it sounds like it could be tendonitis as your symptoms sound very similar to what I felt before the tear. I completely understand how you feel and maybe your body will heal itself in time but that is going to require rest. But rest alone won't help if you have some muscle imbalances. That would need to be addressed and corrected through proper strengthening exercises in physical therapy.

Don't dispair. Even if you need to take some time off, you will get your strength back. I'm 2yrs post surgery and lifting heavier than before my injury. Plus I completed P90X with all those toe pushups, pullups, chinups etc.:)

JJ
 
lauramangano said:
I was kinda hoping that my body would just heal itself:confused:, but it's not happening. So bummed.....
Click to expand...

Well, it's not going to heal itself if you don't give it time to!:confused:

Sorry to be blunt, but you're headed for some chronic problems or something more serious if you don't get it checked out now and STOP taking pain killers and working through the pain.

Your body is trying to tell you something, listen to it, and get to a doctor/PT ASAP so you can work on it.

Even Cathe had to take time off exercise to help her injury heal.
 
Everything Massaging mom described happened to me....pushing through it destroyed my shoulders.....
 
Thanks everyone for your replies! I guess what is stopping me from seeking treatment is the fact that, from what I have heard, it takes quite a long time to heal from shoulder injuries. Sometimes, even months! I don't want to stop lifting for that long. Wahhhhh......
 
I highly recommend ignoring it and seeking advice from unqualified strangers on the Cathe forums. ;)

My SO has had major shoulder issues going on years now. He is in chronic pain and has working with a top specialist in the country. While I highly doubt his shoulder issue is anything like yours, suffice it to say that shoulder pain IS NOT something to fool with.
 
Laura - my two cents as someone who is almost 3 months post-surgery for spur removal on my shoulder - STOP working upper body until you get to a doctor. I started feeling something was wrong with my right shoulder but worked through it for about a month. When I noticed the bone sticking up where my clavicle meets the shoulder, I finally got an appointment with an orthopedic doctor who specializes in shoulders. Now, I didn't have pain to speak of before I went - but it was really tight and felt wrong (and a bone protrusion is NOT normal). I was diagnosed with impingement and tendonitis, and a bone spur. After 6 weeks of physical therapy, it was not getting any better. In fact, it started to become painful. I opted for surgery and had that on October 10th. Good move says the doctor post-surgery. The spur was very large, there was a 20% tear in the tendon (which he didn't repair cuz it will/should repair itself now that the spur is not rubbing on the tendon). So back to PT for 7 weeks. It was KILLING me not being able to do ANY upper body exercises for 6 weeks - and I hadn't done shoulder work for 4 months! I feel like my muscles have atrophied... but I am very slowly starting back with upper body exercises and my last PT session was yesterday.

The shoulder joint is the most complex joint in your body - nobody here can diagnose you. Just know that if you continue to work out without having it checked, you WILL cause more damage. My sister ignored her shoulder pain for almost a year and continued to work out. She completely tore her rotator cuff and had to have MAJOR surgery - then developed frozen shoulder after that. Her recovery has gone on for 5 months - whereas if she listened to her body instead of being obsessive about exercising through it, she might not be in the condition she is in now.

So.... in a nutshell - get to a doctor - the sooner you find out what it is, the better, the easier your recovery will be, and the QUICKER you can get back to working out.

Keep us posted and good luck!
 
Get thee to a doctor!

I'm another one who suffered through a shoulder overuse injury. I ignored it for too long, then finally saw a doctor and got into physio. I was diagnosed with a "turned-off" supraspinatus muscle - basically, that muscle, which is part of the rotator cuff, had stopped responding to instructions from my brain because of my poor body mechanics, and my other muscles had been trying to take over.

The physiotherapist gave me... EXERCISES! Lots of shoulder exercises that isolate the individual rotator cuff muscles (there are 4) and the other little muscles that don't usually get a lot of attention. Lots of stretches as well. I had to relearn how to activate them. It ended up being a really good thing. I was in progressive physio for 6 months and by the end of that period, my exercises were pretty tough, my posture was lovely (no more forward shoulders), and the clicking noise/rubbing feeling in my shoulders was gone. I was very surprised, when I got back to my regular Cathe upper body workouts, that I found the shoulder, chest and back exercises very easy.

So don't sweat it. It does take time, but you'll build up your strength in the right way (not working just the bigger muscles), get a good base, learn a lot about your shoulder anatomy, and learn how to recognize when you are developing muscle imbalances in the future (and correct them before you are injured).

I had my problems 6 years ago and I have not had any major issues since I finished my physio.

Stebby
 
Me too!!!!!

lauramangano said:
Ok, I think that I have torn something in my shoulder, but I am scared to death of stopping my upper body exercise for fear of losing all of my strength gains. I just take a couple of Advil and power through the pain. :( I was wondering if anyone knew if I could be damaging anything? I haven't gone to the doctor either 'cause I just haven't had the time. Thanks, Laura
Click to expand...

Hi, I just read the other post about this not being sudden, but gradual. I have the same problem with my left shoulder, and my left wrist also cannot support weight. I also can no longer do push ups on my toes either.

I went to the orthopedic surgeon. the xrays did not show anything so I had a bone scan of my wrist and an mri of my shoulder last Friday. In the meantime, I am restricted to lower body, cardio, and core - no planks or weight bearing on the uppoer body though.

I get my results on Jan. 7th. Yes, I am disappointed about not being able to do anything on my upper body. But - I am going to listen to my body and the doctor and take a rest until we know what is going on with these injuries.

I agree with the others - go to the doctors!!!

Good luck!
 
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