effin suck...

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oicdn

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Well, my shoulder popped, and now it hurts to the point when I lift up my arm straight in front of me, there's a sharp pain. It popped like when you pop your knuckles when I went to warm up and do arm circles/windmills to stretch before riding.

After the pop it didn't hurt immediately, but the pain started to grow as I went riding, and about an hour into riding it became unbearable to do anything but pedal around. Pain when I yank up on the handle bars or lean forward to do a nose manual. Just leaning on the bars though, the pain is nonexistent.

So, looks like all my decently quick progress is coming to a halt because my shoulder is gay. What do I do in this down time? I figure there has to be SOME light exercises so my muscles don't "atrophy" (I know they don't actually atrophy, but I'm using it as a couple steps back context). If I do a push-up, it hurts, but it's not unbearable, just annoying/uncomfortable. Imagine somebody squeezing your joint. That's what the push-up pain/threshold is in that shoulder.
 
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Look man, you've got to go to a doctor or a physiotherapist to find out what the heck is going on in your shoulder before you end up losing major ROM and functionality in your shoulder.

Don't do anything with your shoulder if it hurts. Period. I'd lay off any upper body stuff until I knew exactly what was going on in there.

Trust me on this. Gymnasts are plagued with shoulder injuries all the time, and I've been there and done that in spades. Don't ignore this unless you want to end up like John McCain.
 
Yeah...scratch the push-ups or dips. It's feels like somebody is stabbing me just past where my collarbone meets my arm. I got to 16 and was done. Gonna hit up a therapist tomorrow since I luckily have the day off. Suck....
 
dips can be very bad for your shoulders...all the strain is there and in a bad position. sounds like you did a number on your shoulder.

the nature of the shoulder joint also makes it very susceptible to injury. it's a ball-socket, which allows you the range of motion but also leaves you open to a variety of injuries. if it hurts, rest it. shoulders are notoriously difficult to repair and regain full motion after injury.
 
Looking back, I think dips are what got me into this whole thing.

I started doing dips when I started riding again, but only really noticed the pain showing up during dips. It probably got aggravated during everything else and made me think it was other activities.

One thing I did notice though, was when I was sleeping on the shoulder was it was soothing. Weird. Usually an injury like that makes it hurt, but I fell right asleep laying on my shoulder.
 
Two exercises nobody should EVER do: tricep dips and leg extensions. Those exercises put way too much stress on the shoulder and knee joints, respectively.
 
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Doc said "soft tissue injury". He said it was aggravated by an activity that I should quit doing. Well no sh!t.

When I told him of what I did actively, he was in disbelief that I did that much. He said I should at the very least lay off the biking, working out, and carrying things with my right arm.


I was told to heavily minimize the use of my arm for the next two weeks and get lots of rest. Seriously, $300 out the window.
 
It cost you $300 to go to the doctor? Where do you live?

It costs me nothing to go to the doctor. Just the monthly insurance premium. I think I pay about $20/month for Alberta Health Care and my employer pays for my extended health insurance.
 
I don't have health insurance. Last time I saw a doctor was literally 4 years ago. I'm throwing money out the window. Call me cheap, but I'm not throwing money at something I don't use. If I did have an emergency, the cost I paid the past 4+ years in premiums would be about the same as what the emergency cost. Insurance is the biggest legal scam known to man.

But yeah 4 XRays and an exam sucked away $300. They offered me pain meds, but I said no.
 
What about physio? Medical doctors aren't often up on sports injuries.

How much does physio cost for you? Actually, my BF is a physio. If you tell me exactly what is wrong with your shoulder, I can try to pick his brain tonight and get some rehab exercises for you.

Ultrasound and muscle stim would be good for your shoulder and make it feel a lot better ...
 
Haven't looked into physio, but I don't think I could afford another exam.

Pretty much now, it's whenever there is anything involving lifting and using my shoulders for the muscles. Imagine lifting things out of a box about waist high and placing them on the ground.

A motion like:
Shoulder Exercises - Two Arm Dumbbell Deltoid Upright Rows

My shoulder gets a sharp pain at the top corner of my arm. You know, where the seam of your shirt for your sleeve falls. Alittle higher than where the shirt ends on the guy in the above link. Also depicted in my thread here:

http://training.fitness.com/injury-prevention-recovery/sharp-shoulder-pain-36495.html

The pain is only at the top. Not surrounding the shoulder or anything. And it's very area specific about the size of a quarter as far as area of pain/sharpness.

I greatly appreciate it!!! I've taken a week to rest it out, but the nature of my job requires me to lift things. not heavy, but around 20-30 lbs (bicycles).
 
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Upright rows have the potential to impinge the shoulder joint. You probably shouldn't do those unless you're doing rotator cuff stabilization exercises. Don't do tricep dips, either.

Whenever you do any exercise that involves shoulder movement, set your shoulder so it doesn't move.

The pain you have coincides with impingement. But there are so many causes of impingement that it's pretty tough to diagnosis without actually testing the joint in person.

Where you've placed the arrow is directly beneath your acromion and sitting right on top of the head of the humerus/rotator cuff. Your bursa sac may be irritated/impinged. You might have bursitis. Or your supraspinatus (one of your rotator cuff tendons) could be irritated.

Ultrasound would certainly help. But I think you need to stop using your shoulder. I'm assuming you don't have workers compensation in the US ... what about short term disability? If you keep using your shoulder, you will ultimately exascerbate your problem and you could potentially tear your rotator cuff. That would suck.

My BF can't give his professional opinion because that would be irresponsible of him ... and he could lose his certification ... but off the record, he said stop using your shoulder for a week or so. Ice it twice a day. Start doing very simple shoulder girdle exercises -- don't move your shoulder or your shoulder blades when doing these exercises. You want to strengthen the stabilizers in your shoulder; not your larger muscles.

If you do a wall push-up and only move your elbows and use your triceps/pecs and keep your shoulders 100% motionless (that means don't squeeze your shoulder blades together), does it hurt?
 
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A wall push-up, no, it doesn't hurt if I don't squeeze my shoulder blades together.

I wasn't doing those exercises (upright rows), but I was referring to the motion of which/when/what causes it to hurt. Lifting a bicycle out of a box is the same movement as an upright row. It also hurt is doing anything where I have to hold out weight out in front of me with my arms straight or slightly bent. Motions like that. Not so much in any other motion. I mean, I can feel a little annoyance, but those positions are what hurt. Weight with my arms in front of me, and weight when pulling up in front of me. If I put a TON of pressure on the armrests when getting out of my chair, I can feel it. But it doesn't hurt if I'm just getting up, only if there's alot of pressure. It doesn't get aggravated unless there's alot of weight, or pressure.

Here is a picture of what/where it hurts:



Not necessarily THAT muscle, but right there. I can feel where my humerus ends, and it's just past/above my rotator cuff on the top of my shoulder. But deep, because nothing happens to it if I poke it or massage it or anything.


I'm well aware of his licensing, and am also very appreciative of any advice/quasi-diagnosis he can give, and in no way would hold him responsible for anything. This thing is just a major annoyance.
 
I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and say it's your supraspinatus (one of your rotator cuff tendons).

The area you've circled is also where your bursa sac is, but I think if you had bursitis, it would hurt all the time.

The area you've circled is also close to where the long head of the biceps tendon attaches to the humerus, but any use of the bicep would be extremely uncomfortable, so that can't be what's up, either.

Try these and tell me whether or not any of the following hurt:

1. Hold your arm out in front of you, thumbs down and have somebody put pressure on your arm.

2. Hold your arm out to the side and gently lower it to your side.

3. Hold your arm at 90° with your elbow bent. Have somebody pull your arm towards the middle of your body.

4. Have somebody move your arm forward until it is over your head.

5. Hold your arm out laterally with your elbow bent and move your arm forward and backward. Tell me if you hear any crunching sounds.
 
1. Not really any pain. It's there, just not bad.

2. Same as number one, but it's most noticeable at 45 degrees-ish down.

3. There's the pain you were looking for. That hurt easily on the top of my shoulder. Didn't have to use much force at all.

4. Nothing. Well, I can tell it's underlying there, so same as 1 and 2.

5. Don't understand which direction laterally would be.:angry3:

But definitely #3 was the pain I feel typically.

Again, I appreciate it.
 
#3 was the Hawkins-Kennedy test. 90% chance it's your supraspinatus (impingement of the subacromial bursa).

Hopefully it's just microtears, not a complete tear although you did say you heard a "pop". That usually happens with complete tears.

#5: As for laterally, what I meant was hold your arm out to the side your body with your elbow bent, and then move your arm forward and backward.

Of course, this might be wrong because without actually seeing you, it's hard to diagnose, but this is probably what is going on.

Please do not do anything with your arm that hurts. You need to give that tendon time to heal (most likely 6-8 weeks). If it is a complete tear, you need to get it reattached, because your job requires you to use your shoulder. Plus you're young and active. You don't want to have a rotator cuff injury and not get it treated by either a physiotherapist or a sports physician because it will hamper you for the rest of your life.
 
Well, I just googled Hawkins-Kennedy test and turns out I did the wrong exercise, lol. When you said inward, I thought to meant the entire arm, not just the forearm rotating.

I put my arms out with my elbows bent and my hands in the air, as if I were doing chest butterflys on a Nautilus machine.



As soon as he started to put pressure to pull in my arms to get to the "finish" position, I felt the pain when I was trying to resist. The pain isn't there when just doing the motion, only if I'm trying to resist or force against it.
 
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None of these really caused any pain:
 
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