PLEASE HELP!!!! Shoulder problems

[Punishermace]

First of all thanks for reading this thread

After 1.5 years of training, last year, around September, I started to focus on training my shoulders and Back because I felt they were lacking. After incorrectly adding a whole lot of pullps and a whole lot of lateral raises, I stated having problems with my left shoulder, which start from the scapula, rhomboids and moves up to the shoulder, trap and even the neck area. All over head pressing or over-head movement (lat pulldowns + pullups etc) were out of the question!!

As initial treatment, I decided to go for acupuncture, and after 3 months of therapy, I felt I was better, therefore thought I was healed, and so I gave myself a date and started to workout again, same workout, same everything, on January 5th. I slightly reduced the weight however after 6 weeks of training, the problem re-surfaced, this time much worse. If I recall correctly, I was even working through pain. I had constant inflammation, headaches and lack of range of motion and strength and also I felt extreme tightness in the neck muscles. I had to completely stop working out.

Decided to go to a specialist who told me I had rotator cuff problems and gave me NSAIDs. After 2 weeks, inflammation went away and I strated to feel better. After a couple of days the stiffness returned, over head movement to the extent that even grabbing a cup was a problem and therefore I opted to visit a doctor who recommended physiotherapy.

I decided to go to physiotherapy in April and started doing the ultrasound treatment with little to no effect on recovery. After5 months of physio, slight improvement was seen, however overhead movements are still a big problem. cannot push or pull anything. Range of motion is there however as soon as I raise my hand, stiffness and inflammation reoccurs. I tried everyhitng, form heat to ice, to KT tape, to anti-inflammatory patches, to Chinese medicine and nothing working.

At that moment I decided to go for a ultrasound and the diagnosis was as follows:

'There is soft tissue thickening and faint calcification along the superior border of the supraspinatus muscle at its bony attachment
There is normal echotexture of all rotator cuff tendons including the long head of the biceps tendon
There are no fluid collections in the subeltoid brusa of LHB tendon sheath.
No Joint effusion is evident. No soft tissue calcifications are seen.The acromio-clavicular ligmanet is intact

Findings:
Finding compatible with calcific enthesitis in the supraspinatus muscle at its superior attachment to the scaptula'

The doctor stated that its not a big deal and after a couple of weeks/months, everything will go back to normal,

Surpise, Surpise, It didn't. Can't even drive a car because pain is also referred to my left arm, and also forearm,

Now I;m going to another doctor to try and get an MRI because I'm afraid that the problem is far worse that what everyone has told me. Im sick of hearing it will go away when no improvement can be seen been hearing this bull**** for ages. Simply lifting my arm above my head gives me problems. When I wake up it feels stiff as hell. Please help! Haven't lifted weights for ages and it effected even my personality and constantly feel depressed since I love sports. Even running gives me problems which start from scapula, to trap, to neck to shoulder and even left arm

I appreciate any advice, thanks for taking time to read this thread, PLEASE HELP

[Footballa_19]

That sounds like quite the problem, you're doing the right thing by going and having an MRI done on it. At this point, you've seen enough professionals that it should be fixed if it was just an impingement or slight rotator cuff tear. You won't find much help here, get your MRI and leave it to the docs to diagnose from there, it sounds like it could be a pretty harsh injury.

[4Hunnid]

Definitely get that MRI. If you still have no tears or visible injuries, working out is going to be your treatment and recovery. Have you ever tried range of motion exercises? doing the same exercises that got you injured in the first place is not going to help. Even if it is with lighter weight. What I would suggest is look up shoulder mobility exercises on Youtube and do those. Even if you get stiff and can't complete the full motion, I would still practice. It's better than not doing anything at all. If you only let it rest then it will learn to heal in just a relaxed state. Once you start to move it around again with weights that's when injuries occur. So like i said focus on your range of motion before picking up the weights. Once you have your motion back, slowly increase the tension of weights. leave the ego at the door.



After 1.5 years of training, last year, around September, I started to focus on training my shoulders and Back because I felt they were lacking. After incorrectly adding a whole lot of pullps and a whole lot of lateral raises, I stated having problems with my left shoulder, which start from the scapula, rhomboids and moves up to the shoulder, trap and even the neck area. All over head pressing or over-head movement (lat pulldowns + pullups etc) were out of the question!!

As initial treatment, I decided to go for acupuncture, and after 3 months of therapy, I felt I was better, therefore thought I was healed, and so I gave myself a date and started to workout again, same workout, same everything, on January 5th. I slightly reduced the weight however after 6 weeks of training, the problem re-surfaced, this time much worse. If I recall correctly, I was even working through pain. I had constant inflammation, headaches and lack of range of motion and strength and also I felt extreme tightness in the neck muscles. I had to completely stop working out.

Decided to go to a specialist who told me I had rotator cuff problems and gave me NSAIDs. After 2 weeks, inflammation went away and I strated to feel better. After a couple of days the stiffness returned, over head movement to the extent that even grabbing a cup was a problem and therefore I opted to visit a doctor who recommended physiotherapy.

I decided to go to physiotherapy in April and started doing the ultrasound treatment with little to no effect on recovery. After5 months of physio, slight improvement was seen, however overhead movements are still a big problem. cannot push or pull anything. Range of motion is there however as soon as I raise my hand, stiffness and inflammation reoccurs. I tried everyhitng, form heat to ice, to KT tape, to anti-inflammatory patches, to Chinese medicine and nothing working.

At that moment I decided to go for a ultrasound and the diagnosis was as follows:

'There is soft tissue thickening and faint calcification along the superior border of the supraspinatus muscle at its bony attachment
There is normal echotexture of all rotator cuff tendons including the long head of the biceps tendon
There are no fluid collections in the subeltoid brusa of LHB tendon sheath.
No Joint effusion is evident. No soft tissue calcifications are seen.The acromio-clavicular ligmanet is intact

Findings:
Finding compatible with calcific enthesitis in the supraspinatus muscle at its superior attachment to the scaptula'

The doctor stated that its not a big deal and after a couple of weeks/months, everything will go back to normal,

Surpise, Surpise, It didn't. Can't even drive a car because pain is also referred to my left arm, and also forearm,

Now I;m going to another doctor to try and get an MRI because I'm afraid that the problem is far worse that what everyone has told me. Im sick of hearing it will go away when no improvement can be seen been hearing this bull**** for ages. Simply lifting my arm above my head gives me problems. When I wake up it feels stiff as hell. Please help! Haven't lifted weights for ages and it effected even my personality and constantly feel depressed since I love sports. Even running gives me problems which start from scapula, to trap, to neck to shoulder and even left arm

I appreciate any advice, thanks for taking time to read this thread, PLEASE HELP[/QUOTE]

[sowilson]

OP, did anyone recommend that you perform RC rehab exercises or engage in a "throwers 10" program. Both are really good for shoulder health and necessaary for those engaged in throwing sports or shoulder collision (boxing, football lineman, hockey, etc). Some examples of good routines are http://www.csosortho.com/pdf/throwers-ten.pdf and http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/PDFs/Rehab_Shoulder_5.pdf . Lite weights and/or low resistance bands are use so as NOT to engage the larger muscles.