Frustrating shoulder/armpit problem

[silverb5]

I fell on my shoulder nearly 6 weeks ago. Initially was in a tremendous amount of discomfort could barely raise my arm above my head and pushing motions anywhere above chest level were impossible.

Went to my family doctor , he said no significant injury , just rest , ice , massage the usual.

Well 6 weeks later I have nearly a full range of motion but still am sore every morning and haven't even been sleeping on that shoulder at all ?

I still can't do pull ups , shoulder press , delt raises , all sorts of stuff , even my bench is suffering from it.

What is strange is that the pain or discomfort is not always inthe same places most of the time its on the outside of my shouler just below the delt , almost feels like the bone in my arm. But mostly is right in between my shoulder muscle and armpit starts on the inside of my bicep and goes around the back to the outside of my shoulder blade.

My doctor wasn't even really able to tell me specifically what I hurt can anyone take an educated gues ? And how much longer would you anticipate it taking to gain all my strength back ?


Thanks very much sorry I know it got a little long !

Andy

[weightsanyway]

Sounds like you could have injured the subscapularis, or the terres major. Both are in the area that you describe as "below the rear delt muscle." Plus, inuries or pain in this area can also refer pain to your biceps, traps, or other parts of your back.

The only reason I know is because I've been having problems in the same spot, my injury was more chronic though and not due to a fall or accute trauma. I would first follow the protocal you're MD outlined for you to make sure the injury is healed. But there's a catch: if you had any tearing or damage to anything in the shoulder, then its likely that area developed some scar tissue during the healing process - this could be restricitng the motion or causing the pain in the other muscles of the RC or upper back. IF the original injury is well healed at this point, then I would do the following:

1. Break up the scar tissue. Massage; it should help, and there are some great articles on t-nation.com ( I won't link because I don't know if BB.com will show the full link, but search on their site for shoulder rehab and tennis ball therapy, or rotator cuff rehab).

2. Lay off the direct work to that joint. Since its the shoulder this sucks, but this means almost anything upper body. Do some daily gentle stretching and continue doing cardio to promote blood flow.

3. Start incorporating some RC exercises in place of traditional shoulder exercises - Cuban press instead of dumbell press, external rotations instead of side laterals, etc. Start VERY LIGHT!, if anything these should probably be active recovery set weight, only enough to add a small amount of resistance to the muscle, anything more and you can promote additional tearing or injury.

4. Start focusing on posture and subscapularis exercises. A lot of these will be on t-nation's site, but even when training bodyparts like chest remember to retract your shoulder blades while pressing to promote stability in the RC.

The biggest thing is to stay very light with the weights, and take time off. I'm kicking myself right now because the last 3-4 months I'd jump right back in to heavy lifting after getting some massage or chiro treatment for my issues - 3-4 days later I'd be back to where I was pain/strength wise. Let me know if you want me to outline my full "rehab" workout.

[silverb5]

Thanks fior the very detaied reply. I will look into the excersises you said on T-nation. Figured i would need to contunie to take it easy but helps to atleast have an idea of what is actually injured.

The subscapularis and the teres major after looking of diagrams look like exactly where the pain is. Especially since it describes the subscapularis as controlling inward motions , and something like reaching across my body to scratch my opposite shoulder is about the most common time I will notice it.
And the teres major looks like the only muscle that travels along the pathfrom the shoulder blade to the inside of the armpit.

So again thanks very much , rep'd , take care

I am going to try some acupuncture as well since that has worked well for me in the past , hopefully that will help accelerate this process i feel like I am wasting away lol

[silverb5]

Well I picked up a small hard rubber ball from the pet store and massaged the area's feels great for the most part but came across a spot on the inside of my shoulder blade that typically isn't in pain when working out or when the other area's hurt , but the pain is absolutely unbearable when using the rubber ball on it. Like I said prior to know I hadn;t even realized that it was a problem really ?

Also forgot to mention in my original post that when I actually fell on my shoulder ALL the initial pain was in the armpit area nowhere near my shoulder or this new spot on the outside of my shoulder blade ?

TIA , Andy

[weightsanyway]

Well I picked up a small hard rubber ball from the pet store and massaged the area's feels great for the most part but came across a spot on the inside of my shoulder blade that typically isn't in pain when working out or when the other area's hurt , but the pain is absolutely unbearable when using the rubber ball on it. Like I said prior to know I hadn;t even realized that it was a problem really ?

Also forgot to mention in my original post that when I actually fell on my shoulder ALL the initial pain was in the armpit area nowhere near my shoulder or this new spot on the outside of my shoulder blade ?

TIA , Andy

You mean inside of your shoulder blade as in the area between your shoulder blade and your spine around the rhomboid/lower trap? What you're describing is a latent trigger point, basically a trigger point (knot) in the muscle that has probably been there, but doesn't hurt unless pressed upon. This would probably still be the subscapularis muscle (depending on the depth of where you feel the pain). You could still look into getting an xray or mri though.

One was to work this with the ball is to stand or sit up against a wall and press the ball between that area of your shoulder blade and the wall. If you mimic doing a bench press out in front of you in this position it will move the rhomboid out away from the shoulder blade and allow you to really work on the subscap muscle.

Most people will have these in this area since its a typical spot to hold tension. If your one side is in much greater pain then I'm sure it was still effected by the injury - remember that even injuring one muscle around the shoulder can have a ripple effect through many of the other RC/upper back/shoulder muscles. If you work on the trigger points in general you can cause the other muscles of the back to relax and indirectly help the injured area, there's actually some things I've read that direct you to start with the plantar muscle on the bottom of the foot and work all the way up your posterior chain to loosen fascia and promote healing.

A good chiro is still probably worth looking into, I finally got to the root of my problem last week - compression in my upper spine was causing some of the nerves radiating to my upper back muscles to fire constantly and cause some wicked knots (this is how my chiro explained it to me), I'll be damned if I wasn't 70-80% after one adjustment. You'll gain your size/strength back though pretty quickly, today was my first heavy chest workout in a while and I have lost A LOT of strength, but muscle memory is a wonderful thing I hear.

[silverb5]

Yes I think you hit it right on the head again , because when i extend my arm out in front of me and hit the spot in between the shoulder blade and spine i really get it good and yes that is pressed up against a wall

Don't have the option of an mri unless I pay for it , would an x-ray really be of any benefit ? couldnt hurt obviously I guess

Thanks again for the excellent reply

[weightsanyway]

Yes I think you hit it right on the head again , because when i extend my arm out in front of me and hit the spot in between the shoulder blade and spine i really get it good and yes that is pressed up against a wall

Don't have the option of an mri unless I pay for it , would an x-ray really be of any benefit ? couldnt hurt obviously I guess

Thanks again for the excellent reply

X-ray might be ok, an MRI would be better, but I think the x-ray would show you where the tear is/was. You can go to an Imaging center (non-hospital) and pay around $50 for an x-ray at some places. I'd just see what a MD says, or call an Imaging center and ask for the radiologist on site, they can recommend what type of exam for the injury you had (don't take the front desk/recpt word for it).

[Hardbody316]

Definetely read this and make sure you do it...it will help stretch everything out and warm it up properly and keep it moving and it will give you flexibility and breakup scar tissue

http://www.intens************/showthr...7&page=1&pp=25

[Xgameslion]

This is extremely OLD. BUt how is everything now?

[Szyszak]

This is extremely OLD. BUt how is everything now?

Shoulder pain and under armpit might be cause of scar tissue is subscapularis muscle, most of the time happens to people who have lack of internal rotation and trying to do all pressing movement which requires internal rotation. It can be fixed by massage, good stretching both internal and external rotators of the shoulders and strenghten subscapularis with band.