Mine have been a mess for years, I'm sure largely due to very heavy weightlifting through college. I've finally had enough--it's difficult to work out hard, and it hurts to do everyday things like reach above my head or reach back to grab my parachute risers when strapping into the jet. My right shoulder isn't perfect, and it's pretty bad in terms of flexibility, but the left one is the one that hurts badly enough to really cause me problems.

From reading about it online, my symptoms sound to me like an impingement with the resulting inflamation. I personally don't see how anything other than surgery would fix it, as I've tried resting it, stretching it, etc. I've stopped working out for a few weeks before, and it got a lot better, but even moderate pressing immediately reaggravated it.

Anyone have any similar experiences with a chronic rotator cuff injury? Were they able to fix it 100%? How long did it take to recover if you had surgery?

3/29/2009 7:51:41 PM

I had arthroscopic shoulder surgery last September. I had to wear a shoulder wrap that was connected to a ice bucket that circulated cold water over the shoulder, to reduce the swelling. Sucked having to swap out the ice in the bucket every 3-4 hours. Most of the PT involved stretching and range of motion exercises. I was probably 80-90% recovered within 3 months and now 6 months later its pretty close to 100%. I still have some strength to get back but range of motion is back to normal.

If you need a orthopedic reference I would fully recommend the guy that did mine. PM me if you want his name.

3/29/2009 9:00:30 PM

i decided against surgery the last time i injured mine and i regret it, the scar tissue rolls over my shoulder when i am lifting and it sucks. despite doing all of the pt they told me to do and additional work with a trainer, it still pops all the damn time and gets inflamed and hurts.

if you do decide on surgery i'd be curious how much it helps, i may be going down that road too

3/29/2009 10:12:43 PM

i had pt on my left rotator cuff. lots of theraband workouts and stretching. it took about 2 months to get better.

3/29/2009 10:19:09 PM

I had done physical therapy in the past and I always end up re-injuring my shoulder. Doc tells me that surgery is likely as effective as the therapy.

I've had a lot of success lately with a single exercise:
http://intensemuscle.com/6997-how-cure-shoulder-problems-trust-me-will-do-90-time.html

3/29/2009 10:40:02 PM

i tried that stretch; I can barely do it even with my grip so wide that the towel touches the top of my head at the top of the movement. I did a few reps, and it hurt pretty badly. At this point, I'll be home very soon, and I'll just wait to see a doctor and physical therapist before I do anything else. I don't want to take a chance on making it even worse.

3/30/2009 5:02:59 AM

i have had torn rotator cuffs in both shoulders for about 7 years now, and cortizone shots are your best friends, once you irritate it, the inflammation will not go away on its own, unless you dont use your arms for weeks

a cortizone shot will knock down the inflammation long enough for it to heal itself as best it can and you shouldn't have any problems until you aggravate it again, it will feel good at first due to the lidocaine in the shot, then wear off in a day or so and after a couple days the cortizone will start kicking in

the biggest thing that has helped me is stopping incline press and overhead press altogether in my lifting routine until i do get surgery on them, if i ever do

3/30/2009 7:22:59 AM

yep, i don't do inclines anymore. If I press anything overhead, it's with a push-press, squat-thruster, etc, so I don't have to push it out of the bottom with my shoulders.

I'm not really interested in putting a band-aid on a bullethole with cortizone shots, though. I want it fixed, so I can do whatever in the gym or otherwise. I don't care if it's surgery or PT--I just want it fixed.

3/30/2009 7:27:40 AM

yeah i'm in the same boat as you.

My left shoulder has bad rotator cuff tendinitis. Generally, I can lift without too much trouble, but throwing is completely out for me. 3 or 4 throws with just about any type of ball, and I get a flare up that'll require weeks of ice and aleve. I can't sleep on my left side at all, either.

Right now, I just avoid things that aggravate it, but it sucks that I can't play softball or throw a football around anymore.

3/30/2009 8:59:43 AM

yeah, i can't throw anything hard with my right arm, but i generally manage ok with the right shoulder. I mean, I can throw, but I can't repeatedly throw hard (like, if I play baseball/softball, I usually play 2nd base now, as throwing from 3rd base nowadays is asking for trouble). Hopefully I can get away with just PT and stretching on the right side.

my left shoulder is a mess, though. Just stuff like taking a jacket off, picking up something heavy from a high shelf, putting on my flight gear/harness/strapping into the jet, and certainly lots of exercises in the gym are painful or impossible. I have little faith that anything other than surgery will fix it--I just hope THAT can fix it, as it's been a mess for a long, long time.

3/30/2009 9:22:31 AM

Duke
I continued to tear my rotator cuff playing rugby. Every time I re-agrivate the injury it is worse. Right now it feels fine however I should probably opt for surgery at some point. Last fall I was constantly loosing feeling in my arm because of it and I was having troubles sleeping because of it for about 1 month.

What helped me through it especially the latest time it happened is even though it was painful I continued to exercise my shoulders. I focused more on exercises that forced me to actually rotate my shoulders with very little weight of course (all dumbell exercises...no military press or shrugs). It sucked at first but my shoulder now feels 100% for now even though they take a constant beating with rugby and football.

3/30/2009 12:11:57 PM

i have had the same problems since highschool wrestling

i think its 4 lyfe

but then again i never regularly maintain my shoulder, just when it fucks up again ill do rehab, mainly thera bands and shit for a few weeks then its good again

based on that i would say surgery would be a good alternative, but for me id rather not

i cant throw a football or a softball cuz of my shoulders (ha and my elbows) kinda sad considerin i have had one hell of an arm through college


^i feel the opposite, i feel liek every time i fuck it up it recovers faster, same thing for my ankle and elbows but at the same time its easier to fuck up. like if some new cat in the gym cranks an armbar too hard or if i throw a punch and miss the dude completely and allow it to fully extend that shit snaps and my elbow is fucked


[Edited on March 30, 2009 at 12:21 PM. Reason : d]

3/30/2009 12:19:28 PM

I'm glad i'm not the only one with this throwing situation, though i hate it for y'all who are in the same boat as me.

I always feel like such a pussy when folks are throwing a football around at tailgate, and i can't because i know just a few throws will cost me weeks of agony.



at least i can still throw a frisbee since it's all wrist.

3/30/2009 12:24:49 PM

shit takes FOREVER to heal, thats all it come down to.

surgery, pt, whatever you do, be patient. Rotator cuff muscles are some of the weakest in the body and take the longest to heal. Even if you feel ok, that doesn't mean anything. You're talking months of dedicated recovery before you're close to 100% if you get there at all.

3/30/2009 12:39:21 PM

My bro-in-law had the surgery then the corp couldnt get him into pt afterwards so he had the surgery twice and its still fucked up so might want to wait until you are on private ins again. Mine is pretty bad,bball is about the only sport I can play and it hurts all the time but doesnt keep me from doing anything, just always there.

3/30/2009 1:19:44 PM

that's crap that they did that to your brother-in-law

on the other hand, being aircrew (and particularly being a Prowler ECMO, which is a pretty hot commodity), i think i kinda get the golden treatment when it comes to medical stuff. it might not be right, but it is what it is. i can't imagine that they would screw me over like that on something medical--they're pretty protective of their investment.

3/30/2009 2:40:17 PM

My left shoulder is pretty screwed up and the PT person says my right one isn't much better.
The Doc says that because of my age they want to do as much PT as they can and see if it gets better before they consider surgery.

I can't sleep on my left side and can't carry, drag, or lift more than 30 lbs or so with my left arm without pain for the next few days. I have one of the elastic bands that I do exercises with, but I feel that it keeps me at one level of broken as opposed to making my shoulder any better.

3/30/2009 3:15:21 PM

hey duke i have the same problem and its gotten worse lately

my question is "when you are in exercises and miss a radar lock or whatever it's called, do you have to supress an urge to say "the force is strong with this one"?"

3/30/2009 10:02:53 PM

Count me in as another that will probably never throw another ball any time soon. It really only takes one or two and I'm done. I always do something stupid like reach to the back seat pick up something heavy (like a 200 CD case) and it just kills me. I can't play basketball anymore because posting up and catching a high pass wrecks it too. Golf is out of the question because the upwards rotation on the backswing. Hockey is my only sport now because it keeps my arms low (as long as I don't take a slapshot).

3/31/2009 1:44:03 AM

Try physical therapy at the Student Health Center.

4/20/2009 6:36:03 PM

Can you just sign up for physical therapy at Student Health? I think its going to be a long time before I can get in to a doc for my shoulder...fucking TriCare

4/20/2009 7:29:20 PM