Shoulder Pain.... ideas?

[donjoy]

So to make a long story short I have some bad joints and a tendency to injure them. This thread won't even go into my complete ACL, MCL, and Meniscus replacement at age 16

When I was about 19 (24 now) I was playing basketball and my left shoulder came out of the socket. Ouch!

So between then and now I have seen three different orthopedists regarding the injury. None of them want to operate and all three have said that at my age the surgery is not worth it.

However since the injury my shoulder has a tendency to pop out now and again. Think Mel Gibson in "Lethal Weapon," except that it snaps back in much quicker and then just hurts for a few days after that.

Every orthopedist I have gone to just tells me to exercise and keep in shape to prevent the shoulder from popping. Lately it has been slipping out when doing curls and really preventing me from working biceps (no matter how slow and strict I am with my form).

So I wanted to see if anyone had/has similar problems or advice on how to deal with this. I should note that this is the only lift that has been giving me problems. Everything else has been fine lately.

 

[donjoy]

I should also note that rotator cuff exercises help somewhat but to limited success.

 

[EVERLAST]

rope rehab...

Get a piece of rope about 4 feet long. Towel will do.
Holding in each hand with arms oustretched you touch the waist and then go up and over to touch your low back. Repeat.
I do 25 reps, nice and slow and shake it out and stretch a little before doing another set. Work up to 2-3 sets. This rope rehab has really improved my range of pain free motion and helped with pain later on after workouts.

I use it to warmup...cool down...etc.

Much improvement for me...hope it helps!

 

[donjoy]

I will give this a go starting tonight. Thanks so much. I hope my left shoulder will be singing you praises soon enough.

 

[RationalGaze]

Hop on YouTube and search for "Diesel Crew.com shoulder rehab" and watch the vid. The guys have a lot of good ideas for strengthening the RC and shoulders.

 

[Iceman1800]

Hop on YouTube and search for "Diesel Crew.com shoulder rehab" and watch the vid. The guys have a lot of good ideas for strengthening the RC and shoulders.

also check for their video on scarecrows. its another angle for rotators but it rocks.

 

[Chrysler]

My shoulder hurt me for about a year, and it hurt the most when I would do curls and close grip bench presses. I thought I had hurt it doing close grips, but when I stopped doing close grips the pain didn't stop. After some research and finding out how bad wide grip bench press is for your shoulders I stopped doing bench press even though they never really hurt my shoulders all that much. Voila! A few weeks later it's like my shoulder was never injured. Plus it's been said before, when you hear of a guy tearing his pec its always from doing wide grip flat bench presses. That's a potentially physique ending injury I rather not endure.

 

[RationalGaze]

My shoulder hurt me for about a year, and it hurt the most when I would do curls and close grip bench presses. I thought I had hurt it doing close grips, but when I stopped doing close grips the pain didn't stop. After some research and finding out how bad wide grip bench press is for your shoulders I stopped doing bench press even though they never really hurt my shoulders all that much. Voila! A few weeks later it's like my shoulder was never injured. Plus it's been said before, when you hear of a guy tearing his pec its always from doing wide grip flat bench presses. That's a potentially physique ending injury I rather not endure.

Wide benching isn't that bad if you're arching and tucking your elbows properly. The typical "bodybuilder" style of benching with elbows out and a flat back is asking for rotator and pec problems. But if you've got RC problems chances are good you're benching too much and not doing enough rowing anyways.

 

[triathloncoach]

Shoulder Pain

I injured my rotator cuff while wrestling in college (1983 - you do the math) I went through rehab on and off for years, but I kept lifting and it never really felt good again. That's 25-30 years of pain. About 6 months ago I added Dec to my HRT - 150mg/wk (plus pramipexole) I have zero pain now. Maybe this isn't the best ethical advice, but I tried everything short of surgery (with the benefit of a D1 college PT program) and nothing worked for me until the Dec.

 

[donjoy]

I injured my rotator cuff while wrestling in college (1983 - you do the math) I went through rehab on and off for years, but I kept lifting and it never really felt good again. That's 25-30 years of pain. About 6 months ago I added Dec to my HRT - 150mg/wk (plus pramipexole) I have zero pain now. Maybe this isn't the best ethical advice, but I tried everything short of surgery (with the benefit of a D1 college PT program) and nothing worked for me until the Dec.

Haha at 24 I just don't think I am ready for the HRT/deca route, but the joint benefits I read about in reference to deca sound nice for sure. I almost want the surgery at this point but three Drs have advised against it.

 

[kandaandm]

My sports therapist injected cortisone in my shoulder a few days back...he said max injection in an area is 3 times in a year otherwise you could damage a tendon.....I was told to promote healing one should stay away from milk, gluten products, add a good multi vitamin/mineral with zinc and load up to 3000 to 4000mgs of Vit c a day.....You have to work ur way up to 3 to 4 thousand slowly over a few week period.

Gluten increases inflamation which hampers healing.

 

[Malic777.com]

also get a big fat anatomic mattress...if you sleep on your sides you constantly "Grind" your joints and it hinders your training in many ways...Alex

 

[Moen]

I will have an anterior stabilisation of my right shoulder done on 14th august due to shoulder subluxation and joint inflammation that started basically since I started training. 'Posterior labral tear' in both shoulders was the verdict.I tried all kinds of things, the standard PT rotator cuff training, cortisone injections etc but with no results and in some cases even negative results lol. Left shoulder will be done asap afterwards.

The 28th of June I'm getting a prosthetic disc put in between L5-S1 as well.

You're not alone in your suffering and falling apart

 

[Moen]

also get a big fat anatomic mattress...if you sleep on your sides you constantly "Grind" your joints and it hinders your training in many ways...Alex

Never heard of this before but sounds interesting, definitely going to look into this, thanks!

 

[j4ever]

Get a piece of rope about 4 feet long. Towel will do.
Holding in each hand with arms oustretched you touch the waist and then go up and over to touch your low back. Repeat.
I do 25 reps, nice and slow and shake it out and stretch a little before doing another set. Work up to 2-3 sets. This rope rehab has really improved my range of pain free motion and helped with pain later on after workouts.

I use it to warmup...cool down...etc.

Much improvement for me...hope it helps!

i can verify this,my shoulders have been hurting me alot lot,i started doing this but had to use a pole that would allow me to have a wide enough grip to bring down behind my back,i could not use a narrow grip because of pain and lack of rom,i started off with 50 reps and now i do 100 reps and i can tell you that i have received more benefit from doing this for 2 weeks than i have from months of rotator cuff exercises,i also do as mentioned above 25 reps for a warm up,when you first start doing this it will give you a crazy burn and pump,when i first started i would have to stop after 25 reps and rest for 30-60 seconds,since you are having dislocation problems be very careful and slow with the movement.

 

[bloodshed]

My sports therapist injected cortisone in my shoulder a few days back...he said max injection in an area is 3 times in a year otherwise you could damage a tendon.....I was told to promote healing one should stay away from milk, gluten products, add a good multi vitamin/mineral with zinc and load up to 3000 to 4000mgs of Vit c a day.....You have to work ur way up to 3 to 4 thousand slowly over a few week period.

Gluten increases inflamation which hampers healing.

why do you say you have to work up to that dose? i started straight of at 6gs a day. fora day or 2 there is fairly bad gas and more frequent defacation, but aside efrom that, its not that bad.

 

[hossienda]

Ice and massage works wonders for me. Pick yourself up a heated percussion massager for about 40 or 50 bucks and you'll be good to go. You can get them at Wal-Mart or just buy online.

 

[ddcmdb]

Hey you know what's good for shoulder pain?......
If you lick my butthole. Sorry couldn't resist quoting a lil step brothers

 

[gassy]

Iv'e had 4 shoulder surgeries, so maybe you should do the opposite of what I say!
Things that have helped me since I've gotten smart about things
-do chest, delts, and shoulder rehab all in the same day 1x a week, gives them plenty of time to recover and rotators are a muscle too so don't overwork them

-ice ONLY for 10 minutes at a time, any more does more harm than good, had many drs tell me this

-pick exercises that don't hurt, while doing them or the next day, it may take several weeks or month to determine what ones make it hurt the next day, keep a record and be systematic with this

-find a good ART practitioner who is merciless!

God luck and be smart, no single exercise will make or break you