Rotator Cuff Popping/Cracking/Pain...

[nate.the.great]

I have seen lots of people post Rotator Cuff issues on here, so I figured I'd post my experience.

I've been working out on and off for around three years, and recently I've been getting serious about it. Unfortunately, I underestimated the importance of doing RC excercises, and I developed some pain in my left shoulder during flat bench, incline dumb bells, and shoulder excercises. I also noticed that i had some clicking in my left shoulder when moving it around in a circle. This really limited my increases in strength, and I was concerned about it in general so I went to see a my doctor. My doctor recommended a shoulder specialist to me right away. A week before my shoulder specialist appointment, I started having pain in my right shoulder. There was no clicking in that shoulder though.

At the doctor's office he was more concerned about my left shoulder due to the clicking sound. He took 4 X-Rays of my left shoulder, and told me that my Bursa was inflamed. He said that my larger muscles had overpowered my rotator cuff and it wasn't strong enough to support the stress placed on it. The official diagnosis was impingment. The treatment was that he put me on an NSAID (Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drug), and I have to go to Physical Therapy twice a week for 6 weeks. It said something about therabands. I will post back on my progress with his recommended treatment.

I guess it's cutting time for me. I hope this post helps some of you with RC issues. I'm really happy that this doesn't require surgery, and I would encourage anyone with a RC issue to go see a doctor.

[Ez_Eclipse]

Did you have XRay dye injected into your shoulder? An MRI would help out much better with the diognosis with contrast. Im an Xray tech student. Im sure it would explain more.

[nate.the.great]

Did you have XRay dye injected into your shoulder? An MRI would help out much better with the diognosis with contrast. Im an Xray tech student. Im sure it would explain more.

In my case he said that he could see my bursa was inflamed from the X-Rays. He said that he could tell by my bone position in the X-Rays. I agree a MRI would've been better, but that's just what he said. He's a part of the Rush Medical Group which I hear is very good so I trust him. I'm guessing that my injury wasn't severe enough to warrant a MRI.

[Vinny_Au]

It is time to do some rehab work for the shoulders.

Internal and external rotation exercies for the shoulders (there are some good articles on shoulder rehabilitation on t-nation, i started to do them when i heard clicking sound in my left shoulder, however, i can do every exercise besides short grip flat bench press. I do a 5 min warmup for the rotator cuff before my main routine using minimal weights.)
cuban press
streches
light overhead squat (just the bar, it really works HELPS! your shoulders, increases rom to)
Swiss ball pushups, it was difficult at first to maintain balance.