Rotator cuff issues - particularly 'pushing' movements - not healing

comptonelizabeth

You could just do bodyweight squats?

geebusuk

Never really seen the point for strength gain.
Pistol squats maybe, but I'd prefer a weighted jacket, or to just make up some handles for my bar so I can hold my hands in a position that doesn't cause any problems.

Was getting the ex to sit on my shoulders for me to do squat, then holding heavier things while I was doing them (hmm, I wonder why I got the "it's not you it's me" thing? :P )

JB035

@geebusuk
I delt with shoulder pain for a while while doing the same movements. The problem turned out to be mobility issues and the muscles surrounding my shoulder blades were weak. I found that when doing bench or overhead press movements my shoulders were dropping out to a position that was causing a lot of issues. I started doing some band work for strengthening those areas on my back and also some mobility drills.

Problem is gone.

Also stopped doing bench for about a year and continued to do all other exercises.

nicolabradley87

Are you in the UK or the US? It could be something as simple as a chronic impingement which won't necessarily show up on scans, it could be a partial tear which would be best assessed with an ultrasound scan. It's unlikely to be a full tear from what you have said but obviously nothing can be ruled out via the internet!!

I would recommend seeing a physio, and also see your GP about the possibility of an ultrasound. If you're in the UK they will be much more inclined to send you for US than MRI and it's more likely to pick up a tear anyway. Partial tears can be rehabbed without surgery by physio most of the time, some incredible sports people have partial tears and don't have the surgery.

If the rehab doesn't work, surgery should be the final option as it's a long, tough recovery afterwards and often doesn't result in full recovery anyway. Do not use exercises from the Internet until you've seen a professional. If you have impingement and do the wrong exercises you can easily aggravate the problem.

I am a musculoskeletal physio so all of the above is the advice I would give any patient. The biggest thing is to see a professional! Chronic problems can be difficult to treat. Good luck!

geebusuk

Cheers JB035 - unfortunately since posting the first post I've been off all weights for some time and tried several sets of other exercises - one made it a good bit worse, others not much difference.

I'm in the UK. Cheers for the info Nicola.

Got a bit lost where I am in the thread, but while I was away from my normal GP I did get to see a GP that referred me to the local NHS physio place.

I think it was only because he was a locum and so it wasn't his budget they were spending!

An impingement was diagnosed. I was given exercises and some 'shoulder classes'. I didn't do the exercises as much as I should have, but did make a reasonable effort and didn't seem to help.

geebusuk

Got to see a doctor again today.

This was quite good - she told me the specific tendon which was likely the issue - so it's likely Supraspinatus tendinitis that I've got.

I've been taking 500mg Naproxen once a day - she's upped that to twice day (which I did have at one point, but caused some tummy issues and didn't seem to be getting better) and also said no exercise at all bar specific ones for this condition for 4 weeks*.

*Which is annoying... I do much better with 'CICO' if I can exercise, then eat cake .

We'll see how it goes!

Jm172017

Skip the medical doctor, go see a physical therapist. You definitely will waste less time and get a good answer by going to a PT asap. If you had questions on how to find a good one let me know. I'm a PT btw.