Shoulder impingement that comes and goes

[Itkis]

So I’ve been battling a shoulder impingement (I hope) that comes and goes. The past few days have been terrible. Had a cortisone shot a month ago along with some anti-inflammatories. Was mostly gone until maybe three days ago. Any advice of exercises, treatment, etc? Tried ice, heat, TENS, a few exercises here and there but nothing really seems to do the trick

 

[Kad1]

Where exactly is the pain? Is it sharp or dull? What ex tend to set it off

 

[Itkis]

I can feel pain in the front delt area and side where the delt and tri I guess would meet so you speak. Generally as I lift my arm certain ways, it gets very tight and hurts and then literally I can’t lift it anymore. It just stops. Other times it snaps like a rubber band and I get very sharp pain. I was doing pretty good until Monday when I did chest and am thinking the cable crossovers may have aggravated it due to the stretch back.

 

[Bigmurph6]

I believe that the cortisone shots eventually wear off and i believe that you have been using the shoulder working out after the shot which I believed masked the issue. Have you had scans done? When you say snap like a rubber band that sounds like tore or ruptured tendon. I hope that your doc had you get a scan before the shot.

 

[Kad1]

Cortisone does “wear off” but if it were an inflammatory issue would last longer. This may be something more serious. Place your finger on the spot that you feel pain. I’m guessing from the description it’s more towards the rear of the shoulder. If so do pulling movements hurt or just pressing?

 

[Unpopularmoonstar]

There’s a YouTube channel called “squat university”. He’s a DPT and give great advice and exercises to fix mobility and damage. He has a new book called rebuilding milo that covers a lot of injury and recovery work. It helped my with my hip impingement.

 

[Itkis]

I skipped Back this week so I’m not sure about pulling. Definitely pressing hurts. More so the raising. Here is about where it hurts. Don’t be jealous of my body hair. Ha ha

 

[Itkis]

Sorry @Bigmurph I didn’t get to reply. No scans done. X rays yes but nothing more. Honestly I would be a little reluctant due to being on a high deductible plan this year to save money. I have my follow up soon though. In a week or two I’d say

 

[Bigmurph6]

I understand but honestly you could have a serious tendon or soft tissue injury there as bad if not worse than others.
I really hope that this isn’t true I hope that its just inflammation caused by a barbell or possibly just overuse who knows I would really hate though for it to continue to get worse until you have no options.
Why have insurance if it doesn’t pay for shit they tried to sell me the same type of plan I hate them I believe its such a scam.

 

[Itkis]

@Bigmurph It is a scam but it’s costing us a ton a month for myself, wife and daughter. Last year we never went to the doctor so this year we switched and of course this happens

 

[Poppy]

Bout right

 

[Bigmurph6]

I went through it for a year thankfully just for myself
Definitely a scam

 

[Kad1]

Ok first off invest in a man scaper. Lol
Ok best guess not being able to eval you. Supraspinatus tendon. Very common to injure that tendon. Without an MRI no way to know for sure but let’s approach it as if there is a small tear. Full thickness is doubtful. I posted more advanced exercises in an earlier post here are a few that we would use post surgery. Remember with tendon injuries, all movements need to be done pain free. Whenever we move an cause pain it slows down recovery. That being said a small amount of irritation
Causes adaptation.



I prefer to do all these 1 arm at a time 12-15 reps per arm





If you can do these pain free I’ll give you more advanced work

 

[Itkis]

@Kad1 thank you so much. I also want to add that if I “flex” my arm or squeeze my fist, moving my arm around has much less pain, which is probably why it’s not so bad working out as it is with regular day to day movements

 

[Itkis]

@Kad1

Did both exercises this am. 3 sets of 10 for each. The Scapula push-ups were fine. Honestly had more pain just getting into position. Once there, no pain or discomfort doing the movement. For the Empty Cans, I did both arms at same time just to see if there was a range of motion difference. There was not. So either that’s good or both shoulders blow. Either way, little discomfort doing these. No pain, just discomfort. I could feel the tightness and stretching. So hopefully these help. Question now is how many times a day/week do you suggest