Shoulder Impingement - Rotator cuff Tendinitis...

dinosaurtrain · November 2014

So I'm bummed because I've been dealing with this off and on for the last three years. This is the third time it's been an issue (flared up about three months ago). I went to PT for two months, took naproxen for a month and now I'm doing daily PT at home. I've never lost strength and it only hurts if I perform pressing movements or throw a ball.

At first I eliminated all pushing lifts. Then I eliminated squats (my favorite lift) because I could feel the pain in my shoulder when I gripped the bar. So I tried the sled, that was a mistake, I loaded it up because it felt too "easy". I ended up with an intercostal strain on my ribs (hurt much more than the tendinitis but healed a lot faster). So I took three weeks completely off of lifting. I went back to the gym this week and tried a light bench and I could feel the shoulder pain right away. I love lifting, especially heavy, and playing catch with the kids. This is so demotivating.

The doctor suggested a corticosteroid shot, has anyone had experience with this? I'd prefer to wait it out but I don't want it to come back every six months nor do I want to give up on heavy lifts. I've already permanently eliminated some exercises I enjoy such as dips. I'm confident in my form (years of bad form earlier in life was probably a contributor). Has anyone "cured" this for themselves?

Lofteren · November 2014

What, exactly, is impinged?

No_Finish_Line · November 2014

dinosaurtrain wrote: »

So I'm bummed because I've been dealing with this off and on for the last three years. This is the third time it's been an issue (flared up about three months ago). I went to PT for two months, took naproxen for a month and now I'm doing daily PT at home. I've never lost strength and it only hurts if I perform pressing movements or throw a ball.

At first I eliminated all pushing lifts. Then I eliminated squats (my favorite lift) because I could feel the pain in my shoulder when I gripped the bar. So I tried the sled, that was a mistake, I loaded it up because it felt too "easy". I ended up with an intercostal strain on my ribs (hurt much more than the tendinitis but healed a lot faster). So I took three weeks completely off of lifting. I went back to the gym this week and tried a light bench and I could feel the shoulder pain right away. I love lifting, especially heavy, and playing catch with the kids. This is so demotivating.

The doctor suggested a corticosteroid shot, has anyone had experience with this? I'd prefer to wait it out but I don't want it to come back every six months nor do I want to give up on heavy lifts. I've already permanently eliminated some exercises I enjoy such as dips. I'm confident in my form (years of bad form earlier in life was probably a contributor). Has anyone "cured" this for themselves?

how old are you?

I don't have shoulder impingement, I don't think, but I do have a terrible pain in my forearm that ran all the way up into my shoulder. didn't realize it went up into my shoulder until much of the forearm pain started to go away.

I wanted to post because my progression of eliminating exercises was very similar to yours. I was also doing *kitten* tons of push ups and what not with p90x and the like. my problem was that I just didn't stop, and whatever the injury is/was got worse. I just started dropping off exercises and continuing until I couldn't pick up my nephew without my eyes starting to well up.

I don't know what the best thing to do is... but I think that without VERY significant time off... the injury will persist and probably get worse even tho it sort of comes and goes.

I just didn't like that you said you 'permanently' deleted exercises. dips was the first one to go for me, and I loved dips. I finally decided that the pain was too much and it simply wasn't going to get better without time off. i was NOT ok with the idea that i simply couldn't do things like dips. This thanksgiving will be a year since I've lifted and its been over 4 months with zero exercise.

its getting way better but I'm still not healed.

I've been through 2 rounds of PT. they suggested a shot but I didn't want to do it. it would help, but to do it and go back to exercise to early wouldn't help either.

whats helped me the most are these giant elastic compression bands

No_Finish_Line · November 2014

i always went to the dr complaining of forearm pain. it wasn't until later i realized there was damage in the shoulder/tricep tie in. do any of you experience pain in your forearm?

smarty_me · November 2014

Rotator cuff Tendinitis is another term for, "small rotator tear". If it is a small tear, it's only going to get worse. PT can make it worse, lifting heavy will make it worse. I've had 3 shoulder surgeries on my right shoulder. First two were rotator cuff, the 3rd (much worse) was a labrum tear. All within a 15 year period. My labrum tear was in 2012. Today, I'm back to benching 315lbs max, and 5x 225lbs flat bench, and 185lbs incline.

My rotator tears were very small. In my first surgery, they actually didn't repair the rotator cuff, but instead did an Arthroscopic Subacromial Decompression. Aka: shaved down part of my shoulder bone. Leaving the rotator unpaired led to my 2nd surgery 8 years later.

Only an MRI will reveal the truth behind your shoulder pain. Good luck!
By the way, I'm 47.

No_Finish_Line · November 2014

what i learned from my little injury was that pulled/sprained/torn all refer to the same injury, a muscle tear.

I wouldn't think tendonitis would fall under that because just by the name it would seem to be a swelling of the tendons rather then a tare. although it wouldn't surprise me that its commonly called 'rotator cuff tendinitis' when there really isn't any tendinitis going on.

as a side not, i thought the injury was just tendonitis for months as this was something i suffered occasionally in highschool as a swimmer.

dinosaurtrain · November 2014

Thanks everyone for the feedback. My physical therapist gave me a range of 1-6 months. He expected a short recovery time since I wasn't doing any stretches before PT, I had no strength loss and the pain wasn't very intense. Unfortunately, it seems to be on the long side of the recovery time.

I have no pain in my forearms. Just shoulder, I can almost pinpoint the exact rotator cuff muscle, I can do pull-ups with a neutral grip and almost no pain but a regular overhead grip burns the shoulder.

I think I'll give it another 3 months, if I'm still feeling it I'll probably request a MRI. I really don't want to give up so many lifts I enjoy. I'm 37 and I'd like a couple more decades of heavy lifting. For now, I'll stick with elastic bands.

uconnwinsnc1 · November 2014

Front squats will put less pressure on your shoulders.

v70t5m · November 2014

I'm pinching the supraspinatus tendon. Which is leading to some lifting difficulties.

My PT hates upright row ALWAYS (he wants the movement banished!) He urged me to lay off front or side raise and overhead presses while I'm recovering. Proper pushups staying within alignment plane are okay.

I'm doing side lying laterals and partial reps for front and side raises as I cannot stomach no lifts at all (and I got approval from my PT).

Other than those restrictions, my lifting routine is mostly unhindered. I started Hughston's with no weight, then 1 pound, 3 pounds, and yesterday tried 4 pounds for the first time (ay-yay-yay). My PT does not want me pushing beyond 5 pounds, which aligns with other suggestions I've read and heard. Go for higher reps and sets rather than weight.

feralX · November 2014

dinosaurtrain wrote: »

Then I eliminated squats (my favorite lift) because I could feel the pain in my shoulder when I gripped the bar.
The doctor suggested a corticosteroid shot, has anyone had experience with this?

My right shoulder has been in very bad shape for several years and I'm limited in what exercises I can do so I fully understand your situation. It's impossible for me to do back squats with a straight bar. I can still manage them in the Smith machine with my feet slightly forward, so that might be an option for you. I also bought a Safety Squat Bar (SSB) which allows me to squat with absolutely no shoulder pain. That would be ideal for you, but not sure if you have access to one.

The doctor suggested corticosteroid shots for me as well, but I declined. There's a risk of weakening the tendons, especially with repeated shots. Plus there's no guarantee that it will even work. Doc said it might work for 1 month, 2 months, 6 months, or not at all.

Good luck.

epido · November 2014

I had shoulder pain in both shoulders earlier this year, at two different times. The last one was definitely worse than the first time, and I ended up not being able to do any lifting for 6-8 weeks, and that was with getting a corticosteroid injection. My shoulder was aching all the time though, even when I wasn't using it. It did help with calming down the inflammation, which relieved a lot of the pain and achiness without movement within a day or two.

However, it still took several weeks for me to be able to use it without pain, hence the length of the recovery.

An arthroscopy and MRI revealed arthritis, tendinitis and bursitis, but "luckily" there were no tears. It also helped to determine the best spot for the doc to go in when doing the injection.

After the injection, I didn't do anything for a week, and then started in with some physical therapy.

I am back to doing all the lifts I had been doing prior to the issue, I am just doing a lower volume of them. I am still making progress - I am back to pressing what I had been able to do prior to all the issues - it is just at a much slower pace.

dinosaurtrain · November 2014

Thanks again everyone. I did try front squats, I didn't enjoy them - probably because it was my first time doing them. I never even considered using one of the alternate bars, my gym has a buffalo bar, and a cambered bar. I don't think I've actually seen a SSB there but it is likely, that would be great as it looks like a nice variation to squats with a better shoulder position during the grip.

One of the exercises by PT has me doing is YTWI's (similar to Hughstons), I actually like these because I can feel a burn. I used to do upright rows but I stopped doing them. I was only doing them to feel bad a$s at the gym because my traps would explode but then I felt like I had to do more shoulder work to offset.

sofaking6 · November 2014

smarty_me wrote: »

Rotator cuff Tendinitis is another term for, "small rotator tear". If it is a small tear, it's only going to get worse. PT can make it worse, lifting heavy will make it worse. I've had 3 shoulder surgeries on my right shoulder. First two were rotator cuff, the 3rd (much worse) was a labrum tear. All within a 15 year period. My labrum tear was in 2012. Today, I'm back to benching 315lbs max, and 5x 225lbs flat bench, and 185lbs incline.

My rotator tears were very small. In my first surgery, they actually didn't repair the rotator cuff, but instead did an Arthroscopic Subacromial Decompression. Aka: shaved down part of my shoulder bone. Leaving the rotator unpaired led to my 2nd surgery 8 years later.

Only an MRI will reveal the truth behind your shoulder pain. Good luck!
By the way, I'm 47.

I would love to hear about the labrum tear, I've got one of those and have been avoiding surgery for a long time bc I'm more scared of the aftermath than I am sick of being crippled. I can't even get an MRI while conscious because it will fall out of joint from holding it away from my body. (Or because I'm so guarded that I freak out...same result tho.)

OP: I get cortisone shots in my foot (Morton's neuroma) and they work very well, but with my situation there's no chance of me hurting myself because I can't feel the pain. If it would put you in danger of exacerbating the injury, I wouldn't recommend it. But, if it's safe per your doctor, then I'll just tell you that they're not real bad shots and it does work.

slider728 · November 2014

I went through this, though I know what caused mine. I hurt my shoulder in a car accident. It was the beginning of my slide into a ton of bad habits that led to me gaining a boatload of weight.

I believe the seatbelt got me in the accident. I knew I was hurt, but it started feeling more like a bruise. I was put in a sling for a few weeks. I recall going to South America right afterward so I probably did not do any exercise for about 6 weeks. When I got back, I started trying to lift and do pushups again and realized something wasn't right. I had lost strength big time on that side. At my worst, I could barely lift a book. PT helped and I did have 3 cortisone shots. All helped, but I couldn't do pushups anymore and I could only bench about 60 pounds plus the bar.

Finally, I had surgery. I don't recall the exact prognosis (it was about 15 years ago), but I believe it was tendonitis caused by a break in the cartilage that was rubbing against the tendon and irritating it. I think they ended up cutting some of the cartilage and sewing cord through my tendon to tighten it up.

The PT afterward SUCKED!!! That was a whole new level of pain. I remember popping Vioxx like they were M&Ms.

I think I was 24 when I was hurt. I spent 2 years prior to surgery with issues and then it took 3 years after surgery to be what I would call "pain free."

So no, I didn't fix it on my own. Am I 100% today? I would probably say 95%. The only time it really bothers me is when I haven't exercised in months and I start again. I go through a short period where I am guessing scar tissue gets disturbed and it gets sore. Once I get some muscle built again, it is pretty good.

I was a bit worse off then you from the way it sounds, but to be honest, there is not a day that goes by where I am not glad I had that surgery (as painful as it and the recovery was).

Probably not the answer you are looking for, but I just wanted to share to let you know that the surgery sucks but can be well worth it if that is what it comes to.

dinosaurtrain · November 2014

feralX wrote: »

dinosaurtrain wrote: »

Then I eliminated squats (my favorite lift) because I could feel the pain in my shoulder when I gripped the bar.
The doctor suggested a corticosteroid shot, has anyone had experience with this?

My right shoulder has been in very bad shape for several years and I'm limited in what exercises I can do so I fully understand your situation. It's impossible for me to do back squats with a straight bar. I can still manage them in the Smith machine with my feet slightly forward, so that might be an option for you. I also bought a Safety Squat Bar (SSB) which allows me to squat with absolutely no shoulder pain. That would be ideal for you, but not sure if you have access to one.

Update on squats if anyone is curious... no SSB but I used the cambered bar. It made a huge difference, I was able to grip the bar with no pain. It actually rested on my back nicely although it did have to sit a little higher than I like with the straight bar. I also had to go a little lighter as I had to concentrate a little more on not leaning forward. Thanks for the tip feralX!

feralX · November 2014

Happy to help

dinosaurtrain · March 2016

If anyone comes accross this post and is curious about the situation 2 1/2 years later.... No issues for me. I can squat with a regular bar just fine. I can flat bench fine as well, my grip is shoulder width apart and my elbows are 45 degrees out not as much power as a wide grip but it feels good. I don't go as heavy on shoulder presses as I used to and I don't do them as frequently. No problems throwing a ball. I'm happy I declined the corticosteriod shots. I do rotator cuff exercises once a week to reduce risk of future injury.

msujack · March 2016

What exercises are you doing that seemed to work?

dinosaurtrain · March 2016

I kept up with the YTWIs and elastic band exercises until I had no pain in my shoulder, I stopped doing them probably about 2 years ago. Now I do Internal and external rotations with cables and scaption with dumbells. I also regularly do a doorway strecth.

Shoulder Impingement - Rotator cuff Tendinitis...

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