I mentioned in Ollie's journal a couple of week back that I'd buggered my shoulder up crashing my bike last summer, and h4ni mentioned that it sounded like a supraspinatus injury; having had time to do a bit more reading around I think this is right on the money. It tallies with the type of crash- I caught the front wheel in a rut at the base of a rock face and had the bars torn from my hands, it was definitely this that did the damage rather than the actual impact of hitting the deck.

Although I couldn't lift my arm above waist-high for about a week after the crash it slowly improved over the next couple of months, but has never been quite the same. Thankfully riding my bike is not an issue, and it's an injury on my left side so squash etc. is cool (I'm right-handed), but certain things still niggle it:

-Any sort of clean; as my gym has no power rack I have to clean any weight I want to military press up onto my shoulders, and this is guaranteed to hurt. The military pressing itself seems OK, although I never go really heavy (less than 5 reps in a set).

-Decelerating rows or pulldowns; the end-ROM of the eccentric phase of a heavy supinated pulldown in particular is bad news.

-My shoulder in general is affecting the force output on that side, my left tricep is nowhere near as strong/active as my right and this has obvious implications for any sort of pressing- while I've put 40kg on my deadlift in the last six months my DB/BB pressing strength has barely changed.


So, what's the plan? Will a standard physio be any use, or do I need to see someone more specialist? There is the potential to see an ART practitioner just outside Bristol, it might be a pain to organise but if it's likely to help then I'll get on the case. Whatever, this has gone on for long enough and I want to get it sorted before it leads on to more problems further down the line.

Finding a good qualified physio with lots of experience, especially with shoulder injuries, is worth it's weight in gold.

From my experience having had 3 sessions with 2 different ART practitioners, this particular qualification is very good indeed; although not always needed. Having said that, gaining an ART qualification for a UK/Irish citizen is hard work as most courses in the US, so they've gone to some effort to get qualified. Plus they know that ART is very good.

In terms of exercises, then doing Rotator Cuff exercises on the same day as Chest work and then again on another day ion the week would be definitely worth it. See here for a couple of ones I added. The ones Simon posted look decent for warm-ups. For making the RC muscles stronger than paying attention to sets, reps & tempo (like when working all other muscle) groups is important.

Good man, I knew I could depend on you! You're like a veinier version of the Dulux dog.

I went to a new physio last friday, only for a massage this time but they beat the living crap out of me which is always a good sign. I'll give them a shot and see how they go for shoulder issues; in the meantime if anyone knows of a specialist that they can recommend in/around Bristol then please lettuce know.

Just for everyone's info,

ART is shizzle, but its just a rip off of a simple physio technique that a chiro simply trademarked and branded.

Any good physio (like me! ) can do frikkin' Art,

fART

lol

Yeah I knew it wasn't "new" per say. A new teaching method blah blah blah. But yes, get someone who is well trained in various physio type disciplines and is good at it is the best.

Spit wrote:I mentioned in Ollie's journal a couple of week back that I'd buggered my shoulder up crashing my bike last summer, and h4ni mentioned that it sounded like a supraspinatus injury; having had time to do a bit more reading around I think this is right on the money. It tallies with the type of crash- I caught the front wheel in a rut at the base of a rock face and had the bars torn from my hands, it was definitely this that did the damage rather than the actual impact of hitting the deck.

Although I couldn't lift my arm above waist-high for about a week after the crash it slowly improved over the next couple of months, but has never been quite the same. Thankfully riding my bike is not an issue, and it's an injury on my left side so squash etc. is cool (I'm right-handed), but certain things still niggle it:

-Any sort of clean; as my gym has no power rack I have to clean any weight I want to military press up onto my shoulders, and this is guaranteed to hurt. The military pressing itself seems OK, although I never go really heavy (less than 5 reps in a set).

-Decelerating rows or pulldowns; the end-ROM of the eccentric phase of a heavy supinated pulldown in particular is bad news.

-My shoulder in general is affecting the force output on that side, my left tricep is nowhere near as strong/active as my right and this has obvious implications for any sort of pressing- while I've put 40kg on my deadlift in the last six months my DB/BB pressing strength has barely changed.


So, what's the plan? Will a standard physio be any use, or do I need to see someone more specialist? There is the potential to see an ART practitioner just outside Bristol, it might be a pain to organise but if it's likely to help then I'll get on the case. Whatever, this has gone on for long enough and I want to get it sorted before it leads on to more problems further down the line.

DId you get your physio to diagnose it? I mean, until a professional tells you for definate its your supraspinatous you dont really know for sure, do you? Your infraspinatous, teres major and minor are in the same area.

You're bang on, Nrage- no, it hasn't been professionally diagnosed yet, and I wouldn't set about trying to treat it until it has been. I'd rather spend the money getting it seen to at least once then potentially waste months trying to fix a problem I think I might have. Physio is looking good for Monday though, so we'll see what they come up with...

Looking at the OP it suggests issues with inferior (downward) rotation of the scapula. The pain during pull downs is an indicator of this.

The most likely injured muscles in such an instance, IMO, would be the rhomboids or the levator scapulae.

any good physio will just do a battery of tests after hearing you describe pain

simple way to see if it is supraspinatus- empty can test- put arms straight out in front of you and turn thumbs towards floor, others include neer's, abrasion (clicking)

good luck!! shoulder injuries are shite......i tell thee!

julesm wrote:simple way to see if it is supraspinatus- empty can test- put arms straight out in front of you and turn thumbs towards floor, others include neer's, abrasion (clicking)

Interesting- this 'works', definite tightness/hotness in my shoulder when I internally rotate my hands. I've got a physio appt. booked for Weds though so we'll see what they say...

The shoulder is such a complex joint... you are definitely on the right track by getting a proper examination and diagnosis before jumping into rebab exercises.

The rotator cuff and related complex has so many small muscles that unbalanced training for a period can easily lead to an imbalance in strength between the muscles and then an injury... because of this i think it's generally a good idea for ANYONE who's serious about lifting to do some specific rotator cuff work at least on a semi-regular basis... even if you're normally a 'basic's only' person. When i first did specific rotator work i was surprised how quickly my rowing and horizontal pressing improved too... definite benefits in developing those little stabilizer muscles!

Went and got it checked last week and what do you know, it was the supraspinatus... had some soft tissue work (surprisingly painful once he really got in there, I hadn't realised quite how tender it was) and ultrasound done and the physio has given me some fairly standard RC exercises which I'm working on daily- I think I'll plug away at those for at leat a month and then go back for some more prodding, it seems silly to throw good money after bad in the next week or two when it's still going to get aggravated by lifting. Limited pressing for me in the meantime but that's cool, all the more time for deadlifts...


The physio gave a wry smile when I walked into his office, performed the empty can test and announced 'it hurts when I do this'

that will be 4 cans of stella please for me early diagnosis

julesm wrote:that will be 4 cans of stella please for me early diagnosis

4 empty cans are in the post to you as we speak