Shoulder Injury Help

[jsr2188]

9 days ago, last Saturday, I fell pretty hard onto a wooden block that was about 2 feet from the ground smashing my right shoulder off it. It hurt like hell the next day, but the following 4 days after it happened it started hurting less and less, but after that the pain has been pretty much the same, still hurting today. It hurts mostly when i lift my arm straight up over my head. I can do bench presses fine, but i can't do flies, military presses, and for some reason cable tricep extensions. I haven't been working out since it happened, I just know what hurts and what doesn't because 2 days ago i experimented with it. I'm a pretty quick healer, and I never injured my shoulder before and I'm starting to get concerned now, seeing how it still hurts almost 10 years later, and I'm young so I guess maybe I should heal a little quicker. Does anyone know what kind of shoulder injury this is and how long it might last, I'm pretty sure it's the bone and not the muscle, seeing how I hurt it falling and not from working out. Althougn it's possible that I made my shoulder prone to injury fron working out. I'm anxious to get back into working out, I hate setbacks, any feedback would be appreciated. By the way I fell when wrestling with a friend, we both fell with velocity, him being on top of me when we fell, and he's 200 lbs and I'm 180 lbs so that's 380 lbs falling with momentum onto a solid object.

 

[oldfella]

Go and get it looked at by a doctor. Could be the AC Joint, could be biceps tendon, could be rotator damage, could be a lot of things! Get it seen too.

 

[jsr2188]

There's a problem with getting it seen, I have no insurance at the moment. It's probably rotator cuff damage though. I'm just wondering how long it will take to heal, I hate not working out.

 

[oldfella]

There's a problem with getting it seen, I have no insurance at the moment. It's probably rotator cuff damage though. I'm just wondering how long it will take to heal, I hate not working out.

Roughly 6-8 weeks with active rehab.

 

[muscle96ss]

With the mechanism of injury, there are just way too many things that could be going on in the shoulder that it is impossible to diagnose over the internet. In fact, you may even need films to rule out a possible fracture/bonechip or hill-sachs lesion.

 

[jsr2188]

Really? Wow that's pretty long. I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but what exactly is active rehab? Is that just like moving the joint and whatnot? And if an exercise isn't hurting my shoulder, will it be alright to do that? Like I said, bench presses don't hurt, both flat and incline. Also, is age even a factor here? I'm only 19 and I usually heal pretty quick. I pulled a lat muscle a few months ago and a few people told me it would take a month and it only took about 5 days, though it might have not been a pulled lat, but it had all the symptoms of a pulled lat. I even had my aunt look at it and she's a nurse and she told me that i was in fact a pulled lat and that it would take about a month.

 

[BrooklynBB]

I even had my aunt look at it and she's a nurse and she told me that i was in fact a pulled lat and that it would take about a month.

Isn't there a way that your aunt can talk to one of the doctor's she works with and get you a diagnosis? We can't tell you exactly what's going on here, and you can't rely on one diagnosis by a nurse either. You need a professional to take a look at it and reccomend a course of action.

I think OldFella provided you with the best advice here, so if you are reluctant to get it checked out, then you'll have to listen to his advice and lay off training it for a while.

Yes, you're 19 and heal quick. But you don't want to depend on your healing factor every time you have a problem. Please try to see if your aunt can hook you up with a doctor OR, get a job, save some cash, get it checked out by a professional and come back and tell us how it went.

 

[jsr2188]

Yeah I really want to get it checked out just have no insurance. I live in Massachusetts and it's now a law to have insurance by the 1st of January. So I'm going to apply for Masshealth, it's freecare, I just don't know how long that will take and a lot of people are getting rejected.. I have a job but it's under the table so it doesn't provide me with any health care. It will probably be expensive to get it checked out but that's probably what I'm going to have to do. I understand I can't get adiagnoses over the internet, and that the shoulder is complex, I was just wondering if anyone had anything similar at any point in there life that could shed some light on my situation. But thanks for the help, I'm going to wait it out a little longer and see what happens before I go and pay for an appointment.

 

[oldfella]

Active rehab is when you have a set of prescribed exercises to help keep the joint mobile and build up strength in the supporting muscle. Usually given to you by a physio. These will be specific rotator cuff exercises. But until you find out exactly the trouble you are in no mans' land I'm afraid. None of us here are qualified or can see through the net to find out your problem. I strongly recommend gettting it looked at by a doctor! I know about the insurance issue but in the long term HOW MUCH IS YOUR SHOULDER WORTH TO YOU??

 

[MightyJohn]

Well....

The problem with that as already commented is You don't know what it is..I've personally had an AC separation, a minor rotator tear, a SLAP tear & a fractured humorous(probably spelled that wrong)...the only thing they all had in common was that I didn't know what I did until properly diagnosed(the SLAP tear & the fracture were actually intially misdiagnosed)...so My advice, if You can atleast see a chiropractor...they know ALOT more then given credit for in joint injuries...just My 2cents Bro

 

[maxwell807]

oldfella is right. you can't fix the problem until you have a definitive diagnosis from a physio, chiro or doc. that way you'll know if its a problem with the rotator cuff, ac joint, shoulder joint, subacromial bursitis etc.
make sure you get a proper functional evaluation done as well. this will address any over compensation that your body will make for the injury and allow normal function to return much more quickly.