shoulder pain

[Trajan]

Curious if anyone has any experience with shoulder pain or rotator cuff injuries.

So a little about me, 35 male, prior military service (9 years). Got kind of out of shape when I left the military but after some lifestyle changes, I am getting back in shape.

However, I have had one small issue materialize. I have what I thought was a bruise initially on the top of my right shoulder. The problem is that it has lingered now for around two months. I have injured this shoulder in the past but cant remember a specific cause for pain this go around. I have done shoulder impingement exercises and generally stayed away from any type of lifting outside of bodyweight or light dumbbell work. The issue however has lingered for an extended period of time and right now getting an MRI is probably off of the table unless I am able to get one via the VA. In terms of day to day activities it is no big deal however I want to get back into the gym HARD and can really tell that this is creating a muscular/skeletal/symmetry imbalance in terms of how I am lifting weights. Anything heavy is pretty much off the table right now as well, I am ok with that.....for now.....but am seeking resolution and my poverty stricken self is coming here for the free advice,

thanks in advance.

 

[Phlebas]

Hi Trajan

From about the age of 30 onwards I suffered a lot of shoulder pain and rotator cuff injuries if did weighted shoulder press exercises until someone in the gym recommended using a resistance band to stretch out my shoulder muscles. Doing a set of five different shoulders stretch exercises every morning and before working out stopped those injuries coming back for me.


Been a while since I watched this video but seem to remember it being pretty good. Hope you find something that helps.

 

[iamthatis]

Hey there, sorry to hear about your shoulder.

A while back, I totally ruined my levator scapula. I ended up going to an acupuncture clinic, and after a month, I had my mobility back. But it took a long time after that, about two years, in order to trust my shoulder again.

Acupuncture can be expensive, however, and you mentioned that you don't have a lot of funds. The clinic I went to operated on the basis of the 'community acupuncture' model, where it isn't a one-on-one setting with the practitioner. Instead, there is a semi-circle of chairs in a common room, and people in various states of zonk. It was about 75% cheaper than usual, and no less effective for that. You could look and see if there is anything like that in your area.

You wrote that you want to hit the gym 'HARD'. Would you mind sharing a bit more about why you want to do this? What is your motivation here? The reason I ask is because you can't force your body to heal. In fact, trying to speed up healing, or not fully healing and trying to take shortcuts, can often just prolong an injury. It sounds like there might be some impatience with your shoulder?

With any injuries, there's a constant lesson that's really easy to forget - slow down. Everything takes a long time in 3D. I was reading a book by mythologist Michael Meade, called 'Men and the Water of Life'. It's an absolutely great read, discussing the incredibly annoying and challenging (and wonderful) family dynamics, patterns, and hidden dramas that we all carry around with us - in our bodies, hearts and minds wherever we go. Anyways, he writes:

Once source of the word bless comes from the French, blessure, which means wound.

We're not accustomed to the idea that an injury showing up is the body trying to teach us something. I'm going through my own kinda health armageddon at the moment, and boy did I get impatient. It's not easy for me to slow down, or even stop, when the mind wants to keep moving forwards in it's customary direction. It was particularly hard for me to see 'the wound', or my pain, as a form of blessing. The idea was there, but my frustration would show up and cover over the understanding with a thick, dark cloud.

So pain is information. That's what I keep coming back to. But what is the pain trying to say? Am I interpreting the sensation properly? Am I actually listening? Do I know how to listen, internally? Or am I just treating my body as a useless lump that won't cooperate with 'my' plans? Am I capable of treating my body a precious gift from the Divine Cosmic Mind, a vessel for my Soul? Or do I moreso think of my body in a purely materialistic way that I instrumentalize in an unconscious way? This is one way of seeing the wound as a blessing - it can actually get one off of a certain mental track, and offer a chance to drop into a deeper state of 'Know Thyself'. If the frustration can be held at bay, then these kinds of questions can be of enormous importance to the trajectory of one's life. One could call a wound 'the opportunity for a state of Being'.

What I think is true for all wounds is that there's always an emotional and mental correlate to the physical injury. And all wounds are therefore opportunities to learn about harmonizing our inner 'separate spiritualized aspects' to borrow a quote from Gurdjieff. I can say this, but sometimes I just gotta grit my teeth when I repeat the C's oft-used motto, "Learning is fun!" Harmonization ain't easy.

Anyways, back to possible treatment. I've done a 30-day yoga challenge a few times. It's a lot harder than one might think. It's actually a huge challenge. Especially do it day after day - no excuses. And it will definitely increase flexibility - simultaneously in the mental, emotional, and physical aspects. It's very humbling. So in that sense, it's good for the ol' self-importance. Plus - it's free! This is the yoga lady who I like best, if you are interested:

Other than that, you could try topical applications of DMSO for your shoulder.

Another q - what is your diet like? Are you taking in inflammatory foods? And what supplements do you take, if any?

And, finally, last question - do you practice the breathwork program, Eiriu Eolas? Relieving stress and toning the vagus nerve can do absolute wonders for all manner of symptoms.

Take care out there!

 

[cinnamon]

So, I keep accumulating rotator cuff injuries in some way or another, between aerial silks, crossfit, and hypermobility - right now I'm actually taking some time off from pushing hard at the gym. Most serious one was a rotator cuff impingement preventing my left arm from going overhead - I managed to fall off a pole while upside down from about 10 feet up - it took 3 months of consistent recovery exercises before I could even begin to do aerial/pole again, and I don't think I was fully recovered for another 3 months after that.

These days, I usually spend about 5 minutes before working out doing a variety of band exercises specifically for rotator cuff strengthening - here's a video of some of the ones I knock out:

Hope this helps!

 

[Seamus]

I would second what @iamthatis said about acupuncture, I'm a practicing acupuncturist and I treat shoulder pain and injuries all the time with good success. At your age you should respond very quickly unless its something serious.

I treat a lot of VA patients actually, the VA will pay for acupuncture for all kinds of things and shoulder pain is definitely on the list. I'm not sure if it needs to be service related, but if I were you I would call your local VA and ask them about it. If they give you an auth for it you won't have to pay anything.

What I usually recommend to my patients is to go light weight and high rep with something like this to give the body a chance to heal and work through any compensatory imbalances that might have developed. So for instance switch to wall pushups for a while and do as many as you can without causing pain. You can still make gains while you do this, it will be gains in endurance, perfecting your form and increasing your endurance. If that sounds interesting the book I refer to and recommend is Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade.

I hope that helps, good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Trajan]

Hey there, sorry to hear about your shoulder.

A while back, I totally ruined my levator scapula. I ended up going to an acupuncture clinic, and after a month, I had my mobility back. But it took a long time after that, about two years, in order to trust my shoulder again.

Acupuncture can be expensive, however, and you mentioned that you don't have a lot of funds. The clinic I went to operated on the basis of the 'community acupuncture' model, where it isn't a one-on-one setting with the practitioner. Instead, there is a semi-circle of chairs in a common room, and people in various states of zonk. It was about 75% cheaper than usual, and no less effective for that. You could look and see if there is anything like that in your area.

You wrote that you want to hit the gym 'HARD'. Would you mind sharing a bit more about why you want to do this? What is your motivation here? The reason I ask is because you can't force your body to heal. In fact, trying to speed up healing, or not fully healing and trying to take shortcuts, can often just prolong an injury. It sounds like there might be some impatience with your shoulder?

With any injuries, there's a constant lesson that's really easy to forget - slow down. Everything takes a long time in 3D. I was reading a book by mythologist Michael Meade, called 'Men and the Water of Life'. It's an absolutely great read, discussing the incredibly annoying and challenging (and wonderful) family dynamics, patterns, and hidden dramas that we all carry around with us - in our bodies, hearts and minds wherever we go. Anyways, he writes:



We're not accustomed to the idea that an injury showing up is the body trying to teach us something. I'm going through my own kinda health armageddon at the moment, and boy did I get impatient. It's not easy for me to slow down, or even stop, when the mind wants to keep moving forwards in it's customary direction. It was particularly hard for me to see 'the wound', or my pain, as a form of blessing. The idea was there, but my frustration would show up and cover over the understanding with a thick, dark cloud.

So pain is information. That's what I keep coming back to. But what is the pain trying to say? Am I interpreting the sensation properly? Am I actually listening? Do I know how to listen, internally? Or am I just treating my body as a useless lump that won't cooperate with 'my' plans? Am I capable of treating my body a precious gift from the Divine Cosmic Mind, a vessel for my Soul? Or do I moreso think of my body in a purely materialistic way that I instrumentalize in an unconscious way? This is one way of seeing the wound as a blessing - it can actually get one off of a certain mental track, and offer a chance to drop into a deeper state of 'Know Thyself'. If the frustration can be held at bay, then these kinds of questions can be of enormous importance to the trajectory of one's life. One could call a wound 'the opportunity for a state of Being'.

What I think is true for all wounds is that there's always an emotional and mental correlate to the physical injury. And all wounds are therefore opportunities to learn about harmonizing our inner 'separate spiritualized aspects' to borrow a quote from Gurdjieff. I can say this, but sometimes I just gotta grit my teeth when I repeat the C's oft-used motto, "Learning is fun!" Harmonization ain't easy.

Anyways, back to possible treatment. I've done a 30-day yoga challenge a few times. It's a lot harder than one might think. It's actually a huge challenge. Especially do it day after day - no excuses. And it will definitely increase flexibility - simultaneously in the mental, emotional, and physical aspects. It's very humbling. So in that sense, it's good for the ol' self-importance. Plus - it's free! This is the yoga lady who I like best, if you are interested:

Other than that, you could try topical applications of DMSO for your shoulder.

Another q - what is your diet like? Are you taking in inflammatory foods? And what supplements do you take, if any?

And, finally, last question - do you practice the breathwork program, Eiriu Eolas? Relieving stress and toning the vagus nerve can do absolute wonders for all manner of symptoms.

Take care out there!

You wrote that you want to hit the gym 'HARD'. Would you mind sharing a bit more about why you want to do this? What is your motivation here? The reason I ask is because you can't force your body to heal. In fact, trying to speed up healing, or not fully healing and trying to take shortcuts, can often just prolong an injury. It sounds like there might be some impatience with your shoulder?

I would say that for me the gym has always kind of been the loofah for my brain. I was always drawn to it from a young age but into my 20's and early 30's I kind of deviated from that path. There were some reasons for that that I will not delve into here, but more or less I just wasn't steering my own ship. Now however, I have decided to see just how far I can take it. I am not talking about taking roids or doing bodybuilding competitions, but I want to see just how in shape I can get, it is something I always wanted to do but just always seemed to have some sort of mental block holding me back.

I am going to look into doing some Yoga, thanks for the link. Now as for my diet, I actually like to believe that I eat a pretty decent diet. I generally eat meats, veggies, utilize butter, ghee etc etc. If I can get grass fed or organic I do and as for supplements I currently have protein powder I am taking from biotrust and the 30 day/night vitamin pack from Onnit nutrition as well as a Total Body Detox powder from hempusa.org.

For me one of the bigger issues is not so much the pain as it is the lack of symmetry it is creating. I can feel the left side of my body compensating for the right side and would prefer to address this issue in an expeditious manner.

 

[Seamus]

For me one of the bigger issues is not so much the pain as it is the lack of symmetry it is creating. I can feel the left side of my body compensating for the right side and would prefer to address this issue in an expeditious manner.

Yoga might help with that. You could try some work with mirrors so that you can see how you're moving and holding your body, you probably have a rotational pattern in your spine. Look up Alexander Technique, or Rolfing might be a good choice, or some PTs and acupuncturists and chiros are trained to evaluate and treat postural and movement imbalances.

 

[Trajan]

Hi Trajan

From about the age of 30 onwards I suffered a lot of shoulder pain and rotator cuff injuries if did weighted shoulder press exercises until someone in the gym recommended using a resistance band to stretch out my shoulder muscles. Doing a set of five different shoulders stretch exercises every morning and before working out stopped those injuries coming back for me.


Been a while since I watched this video but seem to remember it being pretty good. Hope you find something that helps.

thank you for the response.

 

[Trajan]

I would second what @iamthatis said about acupuncture, I'm a practicing acupuncturist and I treat shoulder pain and injuries all the time with good success. At your age you should respond very quickly unless its something serious.

I treat a lot of VA patients actually, the VA will pay for acupuncture for all kinds of things and shoulder pain is definitely on the list. I'm not sure if it needs to be service related, but if I were you I would call your local VA and ask them about it. If they give you an auth for it you won't have to pay anything.

What I usually recommend to my patients is to go light weight and high rep with something like this to give the body a chance to heal and work through any compensatory imbalances that might have developed. So for instance switch to wall pushups for a while and do as many as you can without causing pain. You can still make gains while you do this, it will be gains in endurance, perfecting your form and increasing your endurance. If that sounds interesting the book I refer to and recommend is Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade.

I hope that helps, good luck and keep us posted!

Thank you for your reply, I will certainly check with the VA to see if there are any treatment options available that are low or no cost.

 

[Trajan]

So, I keep accumulating rotator cuff injuries in some way or another, between aerial silks, crossfit, and hypermobility - right now I'm actually taking some time off from pushing hard at the gym. Most serious one was a rotator cuff impingement preventing my left arm from going overhead - I managed to fall off a pole while upside down from about 10 feet up - it took 3 months of consistent recovery exercises before I could even begin to do aerial/pole again, and I don't think I was fully recovered for another 3 months after that.

These days, I usually spend about 5 minutes before working out doing a variety of band exercises specifically for rotator cuff strengthening - here's a video of some of the ones I knock out:

Hope this helps!

thanks!