Exercise with a shoulder injury

littlebear0121
littlebear0121 Posts: 1,073 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm looking for ideas for exercise while I have a shoulder injury. From what I have read, it seems like I have bursitis in my shoulder. The pattern of pain that it shows is similar to other pain that i have related to an autoimmune disease--pain is worst upon waking or with certain movements, pain is not constant, it feels like I have a pinched nerve in my elbow and wrist, some exercise helps, and doing recommended stretches daily for bursitis helps. I love to Nordic walk, and that makes it feel better. Biking doesn't feel good, and I'm guessing that rowing doesn't, either. My other standby for exercise is Fitness Blender workouts, but any of those that put weight on the arm do not feel good, which eliminates quite a few of their workouts. I would like to hear your recommendations for what types of exercise would be beneficial. Or let me know if you think this does not sound like bursitis.

Replies

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Get evaluated by your doctor and ask for PT referral.
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Get evaluated by your doctor and ask for PT referral.

    Agree. I have bursitis and tendonosis confirmed by MRI. I did very little upper body work for 6 months while giving it a chance to rest and the inflammation to subside. Ice is your friend. What I did do was concentrate on strengthening my scapula and rotator cuff. Fixing my posture. Try to figure out what is causing the bursitis in the first place and attack that.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    Sounds more of your autoimmune disease acting up on your tendons which is fairly common as the tendons are attacked it takes longer to heal, but it will eventually if this is the case.

    According to studies, weight resistance training is extremely beneficial for those with autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia. The problem is the pain sometimes scares the person into not training. Which is the exact opposite of what will help.

    If it is your tendons flaring.

    1. I would not suggest ice. It slows the blood flow and subsequently healing. Tendons are very course and take longer to heal because of already restricted blood flow. A good sign it's in fact the tendon is it feels better as it warms up, sometimes a good bandaid is a neoprene elbow sleeve to help train.
    2. Look into your programming and either adjust the intensity and volume so the pain does not worsen or find a lift or variation of a lift that doesn't aggrivate the tendon more. A good sign is the pain decreases as you do more.
    3. I would discuss with your rheumatologist on the benefit's of resistance training and go from there.

  • littlebear0121
    littlebear0121 Posts: 1,073 Member
    Chieflrg, your explanation really makes sense. It explains why Nordic walking feels great for my shoulder. My understanding is that Nordic walking is a form of resistance training. You're right, I have been afraid to lift, but I will do it again -- I actually love it. I'm also going to talk to my rheumy about the resistance training, and I'm going to read more about it.

    I haven't gone to the doctor for this pain because it is mild, most of the time it doesn't hurt. Sometimes it doesn't hurt for a few days. Some activities aggrevate it. Also, there was not an incident that happened causing the pain to start.

    Thanks for the helpful responses.
  • 33gail33
    33gail33 Posts: 1,155 Member
    You might want to try resistance bands to strengthen the shoulders. I had bad shoulder problems a while back (frozen shoulders) and that is what the physio gave me coming out of it.
    The basic ones : stand on the resistance band and pull up to the side, same at the front, and hold with both hands and pull back (like bring your shoulder blades together).

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