im desperate

Hi guys.

I am your ametauer gym dude. was overweight etc. decided to change my life.

started hitting the gym alot. got excellent results.

started pushing too hard around july 2010 because of some other reasons.

i sustained a shoulder injury. i was in really bad pain at the time but didnt realise what i had done.

went thru the process of seeing doctors/physios etc. Had a mri which revealed a partial tear of the supraspinatus on my tight shoulder.

my question is, more than 18 months later i am better but no where near healed that i can lift again. i only started proper rehab about 1 month ago.

what i want to know is that my shoulder generally feels ok and i feel like lifting but i get what i call "impingement" or a burning sensation when i lift my right arm and lean it all the way back and also lean it back at 45 degrees. from what i have read on the net, this impingement is normal with this injury. what i want to know is:

- do i need massage to help fix this impingment?
- should the rehab im doing with light weights fix this? sometimes i feel that when i push thru this pain with a light weight, the next day i feel better. or is it just my imagination?
- is this impingement or burning sensation the actual tear that i am feeling or is it something else. i read that somewhere on the net and my physio said that is is the tendon "rubbing/moving" over other stuff in the shoulder chamber and thats what im feeling

im really depressed at the moment cause i also have some leg injuries and cant exercise at at.

i feel that if i can get rid of this impingement, that ill be able to start doing medium size weights again and slowly build up. so is the impingement the actual tear or something else? also because my understanding is that the tear will never heal (unless you have surgery)

thanks in advance for youre responses guys

You are only doing rehab now? 18 months after the injury, why has it taken so long?

Don't seek medical advice online. Their is a reason it takes years of study and training to become a doctor. Seek professional help!!

You only started rehab 1 month ago for an injury that occurred over 18 months ago? EithWhat was the reason for this?

Shoulders are a pain. Good that it is not ligamentous like mine. The rotator cuff will heal over time, but they're a prick. From memory the supra will give you pain when you lift your arm laterally above 30 degrees (been a long time since uni!).

You've left it a long while to do rehab, but plenty of internal/external rotations will be good. Google cuban rotations, they're a necessity for shoulder health. Once you can start lifting, strong pecs/rhomboids/serratus will also help shoulder stability. Key is to not over train one area (often the chest is over done, with everything else underdone)

This is coming from someone who has had shoulder surgery due to a sublaxation. Be thankful it's not ligamentous!

hi guys thanks for youre replies

Well i know its not an excuse but at the time, my life was just a mess and i was trying to get it back on track. i had bad anxiety (overweight and no secure full time job) and i was travelling to brisbane for work during the week and still managing to train 3-5 times a week. it was very hectic and my ultimate goal was to lose weight but i wasnt having much success as it was all a learning curve for me. i had to lose 13kg and it was a nitemare at the time as i had never been successful in the past.
so when i got injured i rested the shoulder all together and as i didnt know exactly what i had done, i just decided to wait. but it never got better

not a good excuse but yeah


so i am not trying to seek medical advice online. i am asking what other peoples experiences have been with this type of injury. i am not entirely convinced of what my physios say as i beleive in talking to people who have actually sustained the injury and gone thru the rehab. i dont think thats unfair of me to ask that??

i am concerned about the impingement. someone commented about lifting laterally above 30 degrees. i think we are talking about the same thing. Does this ever get better? do i push thru the pain when doing rehab?

hey mate keep on doing your rehab and ask your physio for some good thera bands exercises to build up the strength and stability in the rotator cuff. with the impingement massage is good. when the rotator cuff is strong enough from the thera bands you can advance to a close grip dumbell press and work within your pain free range of movement. (usually under 30 degrees so keep your elbows in close). Once you start to get more pain free range of movement gradually bring your elbows out working towards a normal dumbell bench press. remember to keep the weiights very low and around the 15 rep range. dont push through the pain! impingement is often caused by overuse so if you dont feel up to it one day give it a rest.

I can understand how it took you 17 months to start your rehab. I injured my shoulder in a similar fashion (although my physio diagnosed the injury as "multi-directional instability" and i think i stretched ligaments rather than tearing anything) and it took me about 5 months to start rehab. Oh the regret.

I had impingement syndrome for about a month when my injury happened. The sharp shooting pains were severe and occured doing the most random things (ie. reaching out to shut a window) and it was pretty frustrating. They do go away as you continue to rehabilitate your shoulder properly.

I'll cut my story short here and give you the advice you need. Bear in mind i'm not going to try and answer any of your specific injury related questions because im not a physio.

1. Go see a good physio. If you physio can't diagnose your injury within 2 minutes they don't know what they are doing.
2. They will give you some exercises. Do them exactly as they say.

Demonstrate some discipline. Don't skip ahead to 20kg dumbells etc.. In my case i started with pushups against a wall and 1kg front raises. Maintaining the discipline to perform the exercises as intended was by far the hardest part.

Hopefully your pathway will be similar to mine (ie. no surgery), but it will be a long road ahead for you

yes i forgot wall push ups to in my post there good one LAandE

I know from personal experience how annoying shoulder problems can be.
Have you had any imaging done on the shoulder? ultrasound or MRI?

Have you been to your GP recently? they may prescribe a course anti-inflammatories or refer you to a rheumatologist or sports physician who can administer local cortisone injections to reduce the inflammation.

Applying a heat pack is a good way to loosen up the area and improve blood flow. It helps me alot when my shoulder gets painful.

If you can't exercise at the moment take this opportunity to improve your diet.

Good luck with it.