Shoulder injury from weight lifting....very frustrated!

schwest76
schwest76 Posts: 77 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm just venting!!!! I've been doing so good with my weight lifiting but last week I injured my shoulder while lifting. I did to much weight and now my shoulder is screaming at me. I apply bengay about 3 times a day, alternate between ibueprofen and aspirin and ice it sometimes. I have to put a pillow under my shoulder when I sleep to keep it from seriously hurting in the morning. If it doesn't get better soon I'll see a doctor but I sometimes feel like seeing a doctor is useless. I really, really don't want to quit lifting at all but I'm not sure if lifting much lighter weights will do damage. It seems like everytime I make good progress something goes wrong, whether it's back pain, plantar facitis etc. I love working out but sometimes I feel like quitting because I'm tired of hurting.

OK,,, I'm done venting! :smile:

For the serious lifters... do you seriously modify your workout or take a break until the injury is healed? I'm afraid I'll lose all the progress I made.

Replies

  • DaveRCF
    DaveRCF Posts: 266
    Do you know which lift caused the injury? Bench press perhaps?
    You have to be careful with shoulders.
    If you give a bit more info, I am sure there are people here who can give you some guidance.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    It depends on the injury.

    What were you doing when you hurt it? What does your routine look like? What part of your schoulder did you hurt?

    If you're constantly getting injured you probably need to address your form and your programming.



    When I had a shoulder injury, I lowered the weights on my pressing movements and chose to focus on squats and deadlifts while my injury healed
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    Do you know which lift caused the injury? Bench press perhaps?
    You have to be careful with shoulders.
    If you give a bit more info, I am sure there are people here who can give you some guidance.

    This.
    The majority of the time, it's due to bad form or a muscle imbalance. Both can be fixed pretty easily if you're willing to address the issues and take the time.
  • schwest76
    schwest76 Posts: 77 Member
    It was the one where you hold the free weight and lift the arm straight out from the side (sorry, can't remember the techincial name). I usually work all three parts of the shoulder and haven't had problems in a long time. The pain is in the front part of the shoulder and "under" the side of the shoulder.
  • doughnutwretch
    doughnutwretch Posts: 498 Member
    Lateral raises.

    You need to be dedicating 5-10 minutes to rotator work before doing any shoulder lifting and scale the weight back down. If you aren't sure what rotator work is, Youtube it. I have shoulder issues too but do about 10-15 minutes of rotator work every shoulder day and have not experienced issues while lifting since I started this.
  • preaser
    preaser Posts: 85 Member
    I'm no doctor but my son and husband have both had labral tears in their shoulders and subsequently eventually had surgery. You can try Ibuprofin for a week and rest it and then see a doctor if it's not better.
  • DaveRCF
    DaveRCF Posts: 266
    It was the one where you hold the free weight and lift the arm straight out from the side (sorry, can't remember the techincial name). I usually work all three parts of the shoulder and haven't had problems in a long time. The pain is in the front part of the shoulder and "under" the side of the shoulder.

    This is an interesting one because the very nature of the exercise precludes most of us from lifting too heavy. Sorrry this has happened to you; I for one can't really figure out how that would cause the pain where you say it is.

    Over to the more experienced lifters out there.
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    Yeah it seems most injuries to shoulders either come from doing a lift completely incorrectly, or doing heavy weight on bench presses or dips (as both stress the heck out of your rotator cuffs) that your body just isn't adapted to.

    I don't do lateral raises much, but when I do I use weights that are light enough that I could stop at any point in the lift if I wanted.

    I agree that the nature of that lift is usually such that not much weight is done. Doesn't help the OP, I'm just throwing that out to readers of the thread.
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    I hurt my shoulder this year while doing weighted dips. Even though my muscles were ready for weighted dips, my joints weren't.

    Luckily in my case I just inflammed where my bicep tendon and it went away with a cortisone shot and some rest.

    I feel your frustration OP.

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