More shoulder talk?

[Possegal]

Back in December my shoulder started to ache after a day in the gym doing upper body. It was not a case of - OUCH - after a move or anything. Just, boy this hurts, as the day wore on. There were some ROM issues that had me thinking rotator cuff. This all happened near the holidays which were then followed by my being out of town with my sister for a month while she recovered from a failed attempt to cure her of cancer and then I got the nasty respiratory virus that went around and with me then led to what is now a 2 month asthma problem.

Long way around to say that the sort of forced inactivity led to my shoulder feeling fine before I could go see someone about it, so I thought that was one slightly good outcome of the crap that is 2008 for me. :)

Then two weeks ago, while on Day 4 of 40 mg of prednisone, I'm pulling on my pants and BAM the arm goes weak and the same pain is back. OY!!!

Off to an ortho whose PA sends me for an MRI, concerned a bit that this all happened while on the prednisone.

Doc just calls and tells me that (1) I have a small tear in the cartilage that he thinks will heal on its own and he doesn't think will require any surgery and (2) I have significant inflammation of the rotator cuff but no tear. So he feels that I can be back to normal with PT and that I should start it ASAP as I'm still on prednisone for my lungs and that will work in our favor. Glad to know that (1) I'm not imagining it and (2) he thinks we can fix me without surgery.

I'm afraid to ride as I fear the arm going weak again and I can see me going head over butt over my handlebars, and that can't be good. :)

Mostly just venting, but also, any input as to what the PT folks will do with me would be nice to hear. I've done many rounds with them with a bum knee, but this is my first upper body issue. Nice to see my body is starting to fail me on an overall basis. ;)

[maillotpois]

Bummer! Sorry about the shoulder pain and injury.

I started PT for my busted shoulder a few weeks ago. For me, it is relatively easy - a broken bone is always easier to mend than torn ligaments, etc. (even if it isn't going to actually "mend"). I'm not sure if my course of treatment will translate at all to what they'll do for you.

They started me off with lots of stabilization type stuff. Those pull-backs where you are trying to pinch your shoulderblades together both with and without a resistance band. Moved on to "walking" on my hands on a big ball. Now we're doing planks.

My issue is that my left arm/shoulder were incredibly weak from being in a sling for 6 weeks or so. So even the simplest things (planks!) were SUPER hard at first. I'm lucky in that none of this "hurts". I mean, I get very sore and feel like I have done something, but it's not injury pain, you know? And wow have my rides been more comfortable since I started the PT - amazing!

Good luck!

[Possegal]

thanks for the input! the dr seemed to feel the fact that this wasn't an accident/injury per se, as i don't remember doing one thing that did it, was a good sign. i don't know about that but i'll believe the expert. a good buddy of mine who i thought had a cuff tear just told me that his was the same thing, significant inflammation. he said PT helped him a lot and no it isn't 100% but that he's doing really well and functionally relatively normal. so there is hope. he didn't tell me what all they did though, maybe back to my email.

glad you are on the mend! my knee PT the first time was due to 6 weeks immobilized, so i know how rough that can be! take care of the wing. :)