subacromial shoulder bursitis?

hotCheetos

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Mar 28, 2020
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any one deal with this? Pain is if arm is out extended like holding bow and I flex or scrunch my left shoulder, or when arm is behind my back or when I'm holding my 1 year old, all get pain in the same spot at the front of the shoulder by where the clavicle runs into the ac joint. Also turning and stretching my head to the right causes pain in that same area of the left shoulder. No immediate pain when surfing but it aches a lot after when i had a surf on saturday. no pain lifting arms. they already took an x-ray and said there was nothing that looked outta place on my ac joint. I didn't have any trauma there that caused it I think just overhead dumbbell raises and overuse making me still think its it's subacromial bursitis? I have been doing ice, nsaids, rest and no activity that uses my shoulder for now. really motivated to move past this.
 

VonMeister

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Bicep tendonitis at the shoulder is a bugger to get rid of. I ruptured my distal bicep tendon and after recovering from the surgery I was dealing with some bicep tendonitis at the shoulder as a result of the same injury. The trick was to find something tolerable as an entry point and as symptoms improve add stress via more of the same or different more complex movements.
 

Autoprax

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Pressing or pulling on soft tissue doesn't do anything physically useful.
It's been a game changer for pain control for me.

I don't think some people have soft tissue issues so they have trouble understanding how it can help. They don't even think it's a thing.

I will have pain and tendons not tracking correctly and then I do soft tissue work and the pain and tracking issues go away.

I'll do bench and my shoulder hurts and then I do soft tissue work and then I can bench without pain.

If that is a placebo effect, I'm fine with that.

I'm trying to get stronger

It's low cost in relationship to the perceived benefits.
 

hotCheetos

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I thought it was bicep tendonitis initially but if it is is where the short head goes into the ac joint. No real pain where the long is at. Myofascial release works really well on my glutes and lower back but just seems to inflamed things more with this shoulder. I was resting for a week but kinda did 3 different things that inflamed it and I'm back to square one (surfed, shot my bow (hold with left arm) intially pain when drawing but went away after shooting, myofascial release on the long head biceps tendon). I did a release on the ac joint day after it started bothering me but that made it really enflamed.
 

sussle

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It's been a game changer for pain control for me.

I don't think some people have soft tissue issues so they have trouble understanding how it can help. They don't even think it's a thing.

I will have pain and tendons not tracking correctly and then I do soft tissue work and the pain and tracking issues go away.

I'll do bench and my shoulder hurts and then I do soft tissue work and then I can bench without pain.

If that is a placebo effect, I'm fine with that.

I'm trying to get stronger

It's low cost in relationship to the perceived benefits.
i've got a section of my back right under my right shoulder blade that has been giving me fits for years, especially after weight training. an aching knot that i've been treating with ibuprofen for years.....last year bought a Wahl percussion massager, and have hardly taken an ibuprofen since. when i feel that knot, apply the massager for a coupe of minutes to the afflicted area and i'm good to go.
 

hotCheetos

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i've got a section of my back right under my right shoulder blade that has been giving me fits for years, especially after weight training. an aching knot that i've been treating with ibuprofen for years.....last year bought a Wahl percussion massager, and have hardly taken an ibuprofen since. when i feel that knot, apply the massager for a coupe of minutes to the afflicted area and i'm good to go.
get a lacrosse ball between you and a wall and that willl really loosen it up too. I have a theragun also and its great for pecs and triceps for me. i have a harder time getting to my back with it.

shoulder still bugging starting physical therapy tomorrow. still cant figure out if it ac joint bursitis or tendonitis
 

VonMeister

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My default is to do normal movements. You find the entry point..even if it is a reduced range of motion at start there. I've found no difference with specific moves over others...the healing comes from blood flow and managed stress/stress response. With that in mind unless someones day to day activities included the movements in the video...it would be better to just limit your rehab to the way you use your shoulder...which is what it's designed to do.
 

youcantbeserious

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I know nothing but have been doing these because of sore left shoulder and neck.

I've had shoulder issues for about a year now, especially my left. Ended up on a flight next to Joey Votto, first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, got to talking, and he put me in touch with his PT person, who recommended this. He told me "I work in major league baseball, all I do is shoulders." Game changer. Ended the pain I was feeling, which resembled what @hotCheetos described.

He called it swimmer's shoulder, says it is an overuse injury exacerbated by sitting, hunched over for long periods of time in front of a computer (I'm a writer). I do these every day, plus some band work. Fixed me.
 

hotCheetos

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I've had shoulder issues for about a year now, especially my left. Ended up on a flight next to Joey Votto, first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, got to talking, and he put me in touch with his PT person, who recommended this. He told me "I work in major league baseball, all I do is shoulders." Game changer. Ended the pain I was feeling, which resembled what @hotCheetos described.

He called it swimmer's shoulder, says it is an overuse injury exacerbated by sitting, hunched over for long periods of time in front of a computer (I'm a writer). I do these every day, plus some band work. Fixed me.
well i still don't know if its bursitis or impingement or tendonitis but got started with pt 2 weeks ago while i wait for ortho. the pt guy seemed pretty knowledgeable and set me up with some exercises. I have pretty rolled over shoulders and poor posture and he seemed to think that when I was doing overhead squat n presses, even with light weights, it impinged things and is what is causing the pain. So a lot of the exercises seemed to be focused on strengthening the back to get the shoulders back, less rolled over and "impinging" things. I've been pretty diligent with them but if pain was at 100% i'd say it's only down to 20% and still at 80%. So basically a month now and minimal improvement. shot my bow barely and surfed once that entire time it sucks. i did get a bike and throw my toddler on it with a toddler seat so i am still able to get some cardio in and keep weight off. i went and saw the pt guy again yesterday and we adjusted somethings but I will go see the orthopedists tomorrow. I might give these exercises a shot.

with this current pt program this might sound stupid but he;s made such a point to focus on doing these exercises with correct posture (not how i normally move because of my rolled over shoulders) im almost wondering if its minimizing the positive outcomes because its such a new position that my body is not normally used to.? It almost feels like my opposite shoulder is starting to flare up now too as this is all new to that side too. I will ask the orthopedist tomorrow but was thinking if my body normally is hunched over, wouldn't' it make sense to try and strengthen things in my normal (incorrect) posture and then once it's healed and pain goes away to then focus on better posture for shoulder health down the road? maybe with impingement no but maybe if its a different type of injury then yes?
 

VonMeister

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well i still don't know if its bursitis or impingement or tendonitis but got started with pt 2 weeks ago while i wait for ortho. the pt guy seemed pretty knowledgeable and set me up with some exercises. I have pretty rolled over shoulders and poor posture and he seemed to think that when I was doing overhead squat n presses, even with light weights, it impinged things and is what is causing the pain. So a lot of the exercises seemed to be focused on strengthening the back to get the shoulders back, less rolled over and "impinging" things. I've been pretty diligent with them but if pain was at 100% i'd say it's only down to 20% and still at 80%. So basically a month now and minimal improvement. shot my bow barely and surfed once that entire time it sucks. i did get a bike and throw my toddler on it with a toddler seat so i am still able to get some cardio in and keep weight off. i went and saw the pt guy again yesterday and we adjusted somethings but I will go see the orthopedists tomorrow. I might give these exercises a shot.

with this current pt program this might sound stupid but he;s made such a point to focus on doing these exercises with correct posture (not how i normally move because of my rolled over shoulders) im almost wondering if its minimizing the positive outcomes because its such a new position that my body is not normally used to.? It almost feels like my opposite shoulder is starting to flare up now too as this is all new to that side too. I will ask the orthopedist tomorrow but was thinking if my body normally is hunched over, wouldn't' it make sense to try and strengthen things in my normal (incorrect) posture and then once it's healed and pain goes away to then focus on better posture for shoulder health down the road? maybe with impingement no but maybe if its a different type of injury then yes?
Do you roll your shoulders forward to alleviate pain?

Anything new can be uncomfortable. To get better discomfort is not avoidable, you just need to be vocal about when it begins to exceed the tolerable range so you can asses progress there and come up with a plan to add stress without increasing pain. You can do this with volume inside the tolerable range of motion, or by reducing range of motion but adding resistance. It's really the PT's call but you need to be part of the feedback loop.

Chronic shoulder pain can take a long time to get through and sometimes you will get frustrated as progress seems to stall for a period of time.

If PT is failing and quality of life is being affected talk to your ortho about injecting the site. They used to use a mix of lidocaine and cortisone but nowadays toradol is more widely used due to it being less damaging to soft tissue. I was dealing with a labrum tear is my shoulder a few years ago and it was like magic. I remember that first night being the best night sleep I had in months.
 

One-Off

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Do you roll your shoulders forward to alleviate pain?

Anything new can be uncomfortable. To get better discomfort is not avoidable, you just need to be vocal about when it begins to exceed the tolerable range so you can asses progress there and come up with a plan to add stress without increasing pain. You can do this with volume inside the tolerable range of motion, or by reducing range of motion but adding resistance. It's really the PT's call but you need to be part of the feedback loop.

Chronic shoulder pain can take a long time to get through and sometimes you will get frustrated as progress seems to stall for a period of time.

If PT is failing and quality of life is being affected talk to your ortho about injecting the site. They used to use a mix of lidocaine and cortisone but nowadays toradol is more widely used due to it being less damaging to soft tissue. I was dealing with a labrum tear is my shoulder a few years ago and it was like magic. I remember that first night being the best night sleep I had in months.
How long do the effects of the injection last? Can you use the momentarily reduced inflammation to work on rehabbing the joint with a bit more vigor? Just wondering.

I still get a sore shoulder and neck after surfing (my back is getting alot better and is no longer my primary complaint). I just surfed four days in a row and today I had to take an post surf Advil. I'm trying to limit my use of vitamin I.

One thing I will say, is that when I was seeing a PT for my shoulder and neck, he spent a lot of time finding which positions and movements caused pain....and then prescribed stretches in exactly those positions. I was thinking it would make it worse but also figured he must know what he's doing. Another thing that he did- when I reported I was not getting relief, he asked how many times I was doing the exercises? I said once a day. He said try three times a day.
 
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