Shoulder injury and exercising - what can I do? Missing strength training.

CarbingTemptation
CarbingTemptation Posts: 50 Member
edited December 1 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi there

I have a shoulder injury which I've been advised not to work until a physio can help me resolve it. My movement is not as it should be and there's some pain occasionally, so I'm prone to further injury if I try using it.

Obviously, weight lifting is off the menu. I was only just building some strength but found it much more enjoyable than the monotony of the treadmill and the body changes much more motivating.

Currently, I'm swimming (which is permitted) and do some running or elliptical work, it is fairly dull and I'd like to know if anyone has any suggestions for what else I could be doing.

Thanks!

Replies

  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Ask your physio
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    edited May 2016
    HIIT work outs based upon: sprints, hill sprints, box jumps, jump-rope.

    Strength work which has no shoulder usage includes: body weight squats, single leg squats, curtsy/side lunges, most of the "on your back" abs work should be fine. Back/glute work using the Roman chair should be fine. Calf work and quads work on the leg press should be fine as should seated leg extension and ham curls.

    Note: do not ignore any shoulder pain, even if you are not working or using that area and take a conservative approach until you are able to check with your physiotherapist on the exact exercise that you can perform.

    Now may be a good time to perfect/learn how to pistol squat? Slack lining looks really good (although you need equipment and space)? Cycling, for some reason unknown to me, appeals to many people.
  • CarbingTemptation
    CarbingTemptation Posts: 50 Member
    Thanks all. I'm still a bit of a gym newbie but I was so happy with progressing with gentle lifting so having to find something new isn't ideal.

    I'm still waiting on a physio appointment but obviously, as you said, being cautious and definitely not exercising with the shoulders.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    If your shoulder is unstable then sprinting and plyometric movements can adversely affect it. You haven't really detailed what's wrong with your shoulder, so it's anybody's guess what you can actually do.

    Wait for the physio to examine you. Do something pain-free like walking in the meantime.
  • SarahLascelles1
    SarahLascelles1 Posts: 95 Member
    My sympathies, I've had shoulder issues for nearly a year. I've had surgery and recuperation is slow. In the early days, my physio advised me to avoid high impact activities, e.g. running, or jumping based activities, as the impact shockwave could cause problems.

    Good luck, hope you improve soon.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    I think that the points made by @jimmmer and @SarahLascelles1 are spot on and would err on the side of caution w.r.t. my suggestions of sprints and jumps and the like.
  • singletrackmtbr
    singletrackmtbr Posts: 644 Member
    Some great advice here so I don't have much to add to the original question.

    Shoulders are finicky, so if you're new to strength training be sure to get some input into your form. Otherwise you'll be going through it all over again.

    Impingement and rotator cuff injuries are some of the most common in the gym. There is a lot of great information out there to help you protect yourself. Good luck!
  • ArmyofAdrian
    ArmyofAdrian Posts: 177 Member
    DavPul wrote: »
    Ask your physio

    We have a winner. :) Your physio knows more about it than anyone on this site. Don't do anything that causes pain. Google ywtl and also external rotation exercises.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    ArmyofAdrian wrote: »
    DavPul wrote: »
    Ask your physio

    We have a winner. :)Your physio knows more about it than anyone on this site.

    Starts off promisingly.

    And then:
    Google ywtl and also external rotation exercises.

    You blindly prescribe a corrective exercise for a problem you have no knowledge of. Wow.
  • singletrackmtbr
    singletrackmtbr Posts: 644 Member
    edited May 2016
    jimmmer wrote: »

    You blindly prescribe a corrective exercise for a problem you have no knowledge of. Wow.

    While I agree with your general premise, I think you're being a bit harsh. I think ArmyofAdrian means well, although I would add the OP shouldn't do any exercises until cleared to do so. Telling someone to Google something isn't the same as telling them to do what the search results tell them to, it's simply a way of obtaining information about the problem.

    There is plenty of information out there that shows external rotation exercises should be done by virtually everyone to prevent rotator cuff injury, one of the most common shoulder injuries for athletes and gym rats. Once the OP is cleared, he should explore exercises to decrease risk of injury or reinjury.

    Good luck in your recovery!


  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    singletrackmtbr wrote: »
    jimmmer wrote: »

    You blindly prescribe a corrective exercise for a problem you have no knowledge of. Wow.

    While I agree with your general premise, I think you're being a bit harsh. I think ArmyofAdrian means well, although I would add the OP shouldn't do any exercises until cleared to do so. Telling someone to Google something isn't the same as telling them to do what the search results tell them to, it's simply a way of obtaining information about the problem.

    There is plenty of information out there that shows external rotation exercises should be done by virtually everyone to prevent rotator cuff injury, one of the most common shoulder injuries for athletes and gym rats. Once the OP is cleared, he should explore exercises to decrease risk of injury or reinjury.

    Good luck in your recovery!


    Sure, it was probably meant well. However the road to hell is paved with good intentions....



    Forcing a shoulder into external rotation with a rotator cuff tear could exacerbate the damage. Ouch

    If you have one of a number of ligament issues, then YTWL's could be extremely problematic. If it's a bad enough ligament issue, you'd actually want to dial right back and hit some isometric stuff 1st to help stabilise the joint. So zero ROM for exercises, maybe combined with some passive ROM stuff. Once you've got some healing going on, then you'd move to active ROM stuff.

    Shoulders are complicated. Lots of stuff can go wrong with them. Once you know what's gone wrong, then you can make intelligent decisions about what to implement to fix it.

    There's literally no information here from the OP - no corrective exercise strategy can be dreamt up without a single shred of information. Good intentions or not.

  • singletrackmtbr
    singletrackmtbr Posts: 644 Member
    Agreed with all you wrote. OP should definitely be getting his recovery program from a professional and not from MFP.

    I will restate that after recovery the Web can be very useful to craft an injury prevention program, and for shoulders that should include external rotation exercises.
  • CarbingTemptation
    CarbingTemptation Posts: 50 Member
    Woah. Thanks everyone for your input. I was merely enquiring to gather some ideas to play with because I don't have much of an imagination. No professional advice, diagnosis or recovery plan wanted from here, that is being sought from professionals.

    I also don't have much detail on the injury which began with a knot in my shoulder muscle - which was not a result of lifting , thought to be from sleeping in a position that trapped the muscle for a long time and caused it to spasm.

    I did ask my GP just to check that my current activities weren't harmful and I'm not seeking professional advice here, or recovery, just ideas from people with diverse knowledge about alternative activities I can do in the meantime. The advice was just to steer clear of exercising that part of my body, he actually recommended jogging and said if it or anything else caused pain then obviously stop. It's just getting rather dull with my limited ideas of jogging, elliptical and swimming (which so far haven't caused any pain).
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