Sudden Shoulder Pain

Theoldguy1

Really strange thing this morning. I have shoulder issues and tend to be very purposefully with any upper body work to ensure shoulder health (worked with a physical therapist who is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning specialist to develop my routine). Worked out yesterday evening, felt fine, went to bed. I woke up about 1/2 hour before my alarm due to intense shoulder pain. Had trouble showering, dressing and shifting my manual transmission car driving to work. Pain is a bit better tonight and getting some range of motion back. Anyone have an issue like this? Wondering if I just slept weird on it. Feel like if I hurt it lifting I would have felt something before I went to bed.

L1zardQueen

That sucks. How old are you, @Theoldguy1? I have the same issues.

spiriteagle99

You wouldn't necessarily know. When I tore my shoulder, I didn't know right away. I was doing a pushup challenge and one day I woke up with pain. I stopped doing pushups, but the pain got worse and worse over time. When it started interfering with my daily life, I finally went to a doctor, but that was a couple of months after I started feeling pain. By that time I couldn't lift my arm above chest level. I also wasn't sure whether it was the pushup challenge that tore the rotator or if was the two falls I had when I rolled on my shoulder a few months before that was aware of the actual damage. The orthopedist tried cortisone shots in case it was bursitis, but when that didn't work, he referred me for PT.

When I got my pelvic stress fracture, I just felt a very minor twinge while running on the TM, then a day or two later I had pain during a run which had me shorten the run, then the pain got worse over the next few days so I couldn't run at all. That time I went to the orthopedist quickly because the pain was pretty severe and I was hoping to go back to running again so I could do a race two months later. Didn't happen.

My usual method is to wait a week or so, babying the injury. If it is no better, or if it gets worse, I go to a doctor. If it is better but still interfering with daily life, either see a doctor or wait another week or so. If I think I know what the doctor is going to say, I'll skip the doctor and just do what he would undoubtedly advise -- rest. If that doesn't work, I go and ask whether it needs intervention or PT.

BillInColSprings

Sadly - what you are describing sounds like a rotator cuff or possibly a labrum injury. I rolled my ATV, and at the time, it seemed ok - in truth, I had many other bruises consuming my attention. Then a couple of days later, I noticed my shoulder was a little achy, then the aches became more and more painful. Eventually, I couldn't raise my arm above my shoulder. By the time I went to the doc, and he did an MRI, I had shredded two of my tendons, and tore the biceps tendon - this resulted in a complete reconstruction of the joint, and several months of PT.... Get it looked at sooner rather than later!

Theoldguy1

L1zardQueen wrote: »

That sucks. How old are you, @Theoldguy1? I have the same issues.

Thanks all for the comments, keep them coming.

I just turned 63. Have been doing resistance training since high school. Have had 6 shoulder operations (both AC joints, both long head of bicep, left labrum and left rotator cuff) and both thumb joints rebuilt so I have a real good relationship with my orthopedic surgeon and drool looking at his BMW LOL (actually he drives a Honda CR-V).

I asked him after first surgery (around age 54) if the lifting was tearing up me up. His comment was he really didn't think so, thought it was due more to the 30+ years hunched over a desk at a computer.

sgt1372

No way for any of us to judge what's,going on.

You already have extensive experience w/shoulder injuries/ surgeries and that experience should be most infornative.

FWIW, I've had 2,rotator cuff injuries & surguries. The pain was immediate and persistant. Only surgery fixed it

If your shoulder pain doesn't go away on its own after sufficient rest, go back to your ortho and get an MRI to assess it.

Theoldguy1

sgt1372 wrote: »

No way for any of us to judge what's,going on.

You already have extensive experience w/shoulder injuries/ surgeries and that experience should be most infornative.

FWIW, I've had 2,rotator cuff injuries & surguries. The pain was immediate and persistant. Only surgery fixed it

If your shoulder pain doesn't go away on its own after sufficient rest, go back to your ortho and get an MRI to assess it.

That was my thought, I've been down this rabbit hole before. I've had sharp pain like when my bicep tendon tore while doing rows and I've had the nagging pain get worse over time.

Never went to bed feeling fine then wake up due to pain.

Yep, I have another week until we go on a vacation for a week. Plan to do some rehab type work I have from a PT. If not noticeably better by middle of second week, calling for an appointment for when we get back,