Workout routines when you have shoulder arthritis? Advice?

dontlikepeople
dontlikepeople Posts: 142 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Google has been entirely unhelpful as the only thing that comes up in search terms is exercises FOR my shoulder and occasionally a word of encouragement that you should still continue lifting.

I recently developed it. I've had to drop all of my weights way down, but it still gets irritated.

Lat bar pulls irritate it (I can no longer do pull ups, which makes me sad)

Bench press and push ups irritate

Any sort of tricep dip destroys it

shoulder presses and lateral raises irritate it

Basically any and all upper body movements irritate it even with low weight and higher reps.

I have lifted weights all my life, and I'm kind of at a loss of how to move forward with a regular routine.

Is anyone else in this situation?

- How much rest do you give your shoulder between upper body workouts?
- What weight lifting exercises have you found that irritate it the least?
- What does your routine look like in general, both in frequency and exercises performed?

I try to stretch a lot but even that irritates it. Weirdly enough, doing nothing irritates it even more! I have lost quite a bit of mobility as well.

Replies

  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    Question for you - on your pushing and pulling movements, have you experimented with different grips (eg, supinated vs neutral etc)? Just wondering if one may be more comfortable (tolerable?) compared to another. Or possibly working with different angles (eg incline pressing vs flat)?

    I've had multiple shoulder injuries over the years, but not arthritis. Have you gone to a specialist (or can you)?

  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    Have you thought about a PT to help adjust to movements that you can do safely?
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    It's a hard one. I've had to drop back on my lifting, but I love doing other stuff, like cycling, jogging, hiking, SUPing, inline, swimming. I'd rather get outside and so stuff than lift, and lifting turned out to be the hardest thing on the joints, so voila!

    Don't be cheap. Pay for advice. (e.g., don't be like me!)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,598 Member
    I'd see a physical therapist. Good ones have excellent, useful insights, IME. Physical problems tend to be pretty individualized, i.e., "arthritis in shoulder" is a pretty broad idea.

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