fitness experts! Shoulder injury, can't lift - what now?

deanjcrawford
deanjcrawford Posts: 83 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello all, was wondering if there were any fitness experts or anyone that has been in a similar situation to me that could lend me some advice.

Mid way through last year i really got my *kitten* in gear and got into with the weights with a little bit of cardio (which in turn helped me control my diet) which lead to me losing over 14kgs (started at 124kg). However, last december i got told that not only did i have a ligament tear in my shoulder, but i also got diagnosed with AC Joint athrosis/arthritis. I knew something was wrong as i my shoulder hurt everyday, but i just thought it would be a 6-8 week lay off, but the doctor here basically told me to stay off it for 1 - 2 YEARS! I was devastated as i really fell in love with going to the gym and i also play football as a goalkeeper...obviously i can no longer do any of these. These were the reasons i started to finally lose weight and control my diet.

I live in Korea so it's pretty difficult communicating with the doctor and finding out if there is even a single upper body exercise i can do. We basically left it after having a shot in my shoulder and saying don't do anything for 1 - 2 years. I also had a thigh abductor strain so didn't exercise at all in December. Now i'm trying to exercise again but am finding it very difficult just running. It really bores me and all i want to do is lift. If i don't have a schedule to follow i find my diet goes out the window. Similarly if i don't look forward to going to the gym, which i don't anymore. I just don't feel the same after a cardio workout as i did after a weights session.

So, after this long winded ramble, my question is how do i go about continuing my (stalled) weight loss? My main concern being a big guy (currently sitting on 113kg) and using only cardio was lose, saggy skin, hence my love for lifting as i really started to see my body change. So are there any work out routines that don't require too much use of the shoulder?

Can i still tone up doing on squats and lower body exercises?
Has anyone else been diagnosed with AC Joint arthrosis?
Should i forget about lifting and focus purely on cardio and just focus on the weight loss and not aesthetics?
Or should i just ignore my doctor and lift through the pain to lose weight?

I'm seriously considering this because if the treatment is just rest, i could so this in a year or two when i have finally lost the weight.

Sorry for the long winded post, but this has been really playing on my mind and really want to know what to do in moving forward.

Thanks for looking,

Dean!

Replies

  • deanjcrawford
    deanjcrawford Posts: 83 Member
    no one? Could really use some guidance here!
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,953 Member
    Do they have any physical therapists over there that you could get referred to? A quick internet search shows that most often if you don't require surgery they begin rehab exercises once the pain eases. It seems like doing nothing with it for 1-2 years would be bad for muscle atrophy. My husband had a shoulder injury (not sure if it was the same because I can't remember and he's not home). They gave him a shot and referred to a P.T. for rehab exercises and it felt much better. If you can't get someone in person maybe you could get a consult from one online out of the country. You will want to be careful about just doing stuff on your own without any knowledgeable guidance or you could mess things up more. Good luck!
  • deanjcrawford
    deanjcrawford Posts: 83 Member
    That's the thing, the guy is a physio and i went to see him at his rehab clinic. He said some rubbish about foreigners being different to Koreans so there's not much they can do. best thing is rest. He's apparently one of the best in the city.

    Just really wondering what to do next for exercise and how it will affect my body.
  • deanjcrawford
    deanjcrawford Posts: 83 Member
    bump
  • MrJaybaybay
    MrJaybaybay Posts: 1 Member
    best thing id say is just try lifting light weights in different motions and see what agrees with your body
    if it hurts stay away for a while if it doesnt there you go.

    but im no doctor
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,953 Member
    If you have no recourse there you might try googling rehab exercises for your specific condition. There are all kinds of exercises online so I'm sure you could find some helpful things. If you look specifically for your condition you should get some direction on what to do and not to do. Just be very careful and if you feel pain while you're exercising I would stop. Good luck.
  • kimika23
    kimika23 Posts: 59 Member
    Hi there. I have quite the history with the AC joint. Are you prepared to read a book??? Hope so! DISCLAIMER, I'm not a doctor, so take all my advice with a grain of salt. I'm just talking about my own experiences and my own suggestions. There's a lot of information on the internet that you might find helpful as well.

    In 2011, I started a 60-day yoga challenge in January. In February, I fell on the ice and landed on my back. I honestly don't remember being in a lot of pain after that fall, but I'm just mentioning it because that's what my doctors seem to think caused my injury. Anyway, around day 45 (so sometime in March), my shoulder started hurting. I kept doing yoga, because it seemed to make it feel a little better during the stretches, but then it would hurt a heck of a lot more in a few hours. Anyway, around day 60, I could no longer wash my own hair, get dressed or undressed without my husband's help (sometimes that was fun!), and I couldn't sleep through the night, especially if I rolled onto my right side (definitely not fun).

    Anyway, I was finally diagnosed with an AC separation early April. The ortho I saw found the separation by x-ray while I held a sandbag weight. My treatment was basically medicine (Vicodin and Naproxen) and a shoulder sling for four weeks. I stayed on the pain medicine for probably two months. What they didn't tell me - pain meds do a number on your digestive system, so be sure to take an OTC laxative or something to help with that! (Sorry if that's TMI).

    By June, my ortho said I was mostly healed and could start to resume all my normal activity. At the time, I wasn't lifting, just using the elliptical, but the few times I tried to do yoga again it would hurt. I started to modify my movements and it would be a little better. But it still hurt!

    I went back to the ortho and every time he'd say, "it's only been four months...come back if it still hurts in six months." And then, "it's only been six months...come back if it still hurts in ten." and so on. I gave up on him and stopped doing exercising.

    In the summer of 2012, I moved to Louisville and started lifting weights. The pain came back with a vengeance! I would ice and stretch, but I was basically doing all of this without any doctor supervision. Well, it got to the point where I couldn't dress or wash my hair or sleep through the night again, so I found a new doctor in Louisville. I didn't go to him until December - why I decide to live with so much pain, I couldn't tell you...

    He took x-rays, which showed the shoulder was still separated. The x-rays also showed that my other shoulder was slightly separated, even though it did not hurt, so he thought I might have been born with this and it only hurts when I lift. I call BS on that. I was an athlete all through my grade school / high school years. Including swimming and tennis, which all include heavy overhead shoulder usage. But anyway, he said I also had arthritis and bursitis of the shoulder, as well as something called bi-scapular dyskinesis (which means my shoulder blades don't move like they're supposed to). He prescribed a difference anti-inflammatory (diclofenac), put me in another shoulder sling, and sent me to physical therapy. It was really helping for a few weeks! My mobility was almost back to normal! If you want any details on the shoulder exercises I was doing, I'd be happy to describe further by PM.

    Something happened this past Wednesday and I'm suddenly back to no mobility above 90 degrees and a LOT of pain. I'm going back to the ortho for more x-rays and a possible discussion about surgery.

    Did your doctor mention surgery as an option? Even for arthritis, they can go in and do some work. Or so I was told. Anyway, I don't know how much all this information helps you, except to know that shoulder injury can be a real pain in the *kitten* if not treated properly! I really wish I'd gone to the doctor sooner and started physical therapy after my original AC separation.

    Another option for you to check out. Google "AC joint brace". This is an alternative to the sling that's a little easier to hide under clothing. I'm about to buy one myself. My PT said that a good brand is the DonJoy and EVS. They run around $50 in the states. Not sure about overseas. Also, you can buy a shoulder sling from CVS or Walgreens (in the states) for about $20, but I don't recommend those as much. At least in my experience, it hasn't helped me.

    Most important, don't stay in the brace or sling all day for weeks or you will end up with something called "Frozen Shoulder" (google that), which is a long recovery / PT process. If you wear a sling, you should take it off at least three times a day and do little stretches and move the shoulder as far as you can go without causing pain.

    Good luck to you and I really hope you are able to heal quickly and start lifting again before the two years are up. But don't push it too soon either! Feel free to add me if you want too or message me for any more info!

    EDITED for typos.
  • j75j75
    j75j75 Posts: 854 Member
    I tore my left rotator cuff my junior year of hs. WORST injury ever!! Couldn't do any upper body work for years. And this was after I saw 2 drs, a nurse practitioner, and a physical therapist. What ultimately helped the most though, swimming.
  • Kamalka
    Kamalka Posts: 164 Member
    I got diagnosed with joint arthrosis in my back. I used to run (too much) and do some weight lifting but gained too much weight after my baby's birth so here I am, having to lose plenty of weight as each kg is putting extra pressure but I can't go the easy way (running 20K 4 times a week) as most cardio is forbidden. I can't even swim the way I want to but that is all I got.

    What I do sometimes is to work quickly at home with very light weights and I go like 100 reps for a serie. No harm is made and it is tiring.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    It sounds like you have another shoulder, abs, quads, glutes... lots of things to get working on :) Practically your whole body!

    I'm not joking, actually :) It's what I have to do with an upper back/neck condition that isn't supposed to ever go away. I do mostly isolation exercises so that I can control everything really well and stop moves that just won't work with that condition. I do much more work with the lower body, because that's what I can train the best now.

    I don't know what you'd do about that one shoulder for now. But everything else that isn't injured is free game, I'd think.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Tough call. Get a pair of light bands or something and do band pull-aparts, try and do 100 per day if your shoulder will tolerate them. Also, Google "John Meadows and Spider Crawls" which are another good shoulder exercise. Normally I would say see a physio or sports med doctor but under these circumstances this is the best you can probably do.

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