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Anyone from the TWTD injury clinic ever had a rotator cuff injury before? I knackered the tendon in my shoulder about 5 months ago, and despite physio it utterly refuses to get better, every time it feels like it is improving I do something to aggravate it and back to square one.
Without doubt the most frustrating injury I've ever had.
Can anyone with experience of it reassure me that it will sort itself out eventually?
I was born underwater, I dried out in the sun.
I started humping volcanoes baby, when I was too young.
Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 11:40 - Jan 9 by Dubtractor
Thanks for all the comments on here.
Sort or reassuring that my slow recovery is the norm, though adds to the frustration!
I don't recall a specific incident that made it flare up, though suspect it relates to a football injury a few years ago where I landed hard on my shoulder and really fooked it. Either that or rsi from too much masturbation.
I'm 43 and reasonably decent shape, though have an on going back problem, probably due to 25 years of being an office monkey.
ex-semi pro goalkeeper here - had it pretty bad in my late 20's, quit the game at 31 simply because of it and it took a full 2 years of rest and a proper rehab/prehab training regime to sort it.
There really isn't any quick fix.
Still feel it twinge every now and then if I need to make any quick overarm movements.
Returned to playing football socially and every now and then, the instinct to overarm launch a quick throw gets the better of me and I soon know about it!!!
Don't expect any quick wins and avoid surgery if you can!
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Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 12:46 - Jan 9 with 2016 views
Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 11:40 - Jan 9 by Dubtractor
Thanks for all the comments on here.
Sort or reassuring that my slow recovery is the norm, though adds to the frustration!
I don't recall a specific incident that made it flare up, though suspect it relates to a football injury a few years ago where I landed hard on my shoulder and really fooked it. Either that or rsi from too much masturbation.
I'm 43 and reasonably decent shape, though have an on going back problem, probably due to 25 years of being an office monkey.
Our physiological circumstances seem somewhat similar - I'm 43 too and spent many years as an office monkey. I can probably relate to the RSI aspect too for recreational reasons certainly, plus I lift some dumbbells in the afternoon (only about 3 kilos each) for about 25 minutes!
Although I've been on a "career break" for the past year and a bit (since moving from Dublin to London), I still spend a lot of time at a desk working on a computer. If you're at a desk and typing or using a mouse, try to keep your elbows supported to take the strain away from your shoulders. In the office I had a right-angled desk which was a great help, but a swivel chair with arms can make you more comfortable.
Over the past 6 months or so I've been getting shoulder pain on the right side. It got worse slowly over time so I barely noticed it happening until it was pretty bad. I generally sleep on my right. What I've noticed is the mattress on the bed here is really quite soft. When I go back to Cork to my parents' place the mattress on the bed is very firm and that definitely helps ease the aching.
Another aspect I've noticed lately is this old Victorian house in London is sinking, so the whole room sort of leans towards the window. The bed is alongside the window, so it's basically tilted. I'm going to put a couple of pieces of wood under two of the legs to straighten it up. Seemingly tiny differences can have a surprisingly large effect, especially in the bedroom (cough cough) where we spend a quarter to a third of our lives if we're doing it right (getting enough sleep I mean!).
My mother had shoulder issues a few years ago which went on for months, made her totally miserable (especially with loss of sleep due to discomfort) and it got steadily worse until a steroid injection or two suddenly sorted the whole thing out. The injections seemed to get rid of the restrictions on movement and the ability to fully reuse the shoulder seemed to have a very positive effect in the long-term.
I'm almost at the point myself where I could do with the injections. The dumbbell movements actually seem to help because if I skip them for a day, my shoulder hurts a lot more in the morning. There's definitely a significant restriction in movement and if I move my arm the wrong way, the pain sharpens and it can feel a bit dead for a few minutes.
I cycle a lot too and having my arms out in front on the handlebars doesn't bother me at all (although I wonder if the vibrations from the road contribute to "fizzy arms"), so the problem only seems particular to certain movements/positions.
Anyway, try to look at various aspects of your daily routine and try to improve each one. For me it'll be: 1) un-tilt the bed 2) burn that bloody mattress and get a firm one 3) add a few pillows to the equation, tuck them in at my sides to prevent rolling, and to keep the spine straight use a pillow under the knee when I'm lying on my side 4) do a few gentle exercises to keep things moving, a bit like in this video here:
cheers and good luck to my fellow TWTD cripples! Phil
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Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 13:07 - Jan 9 with 2005 views
Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 10:34 - Jan 9 by Radlett_blue
How old are you? Often, rotator cuff damage is a result of long term wear & tear & then surgery is often the only real solution but you want to make sure you get the best advice. I dislocated my shoulder when I was 30 & then it became prone to dislocation as it had become loosened so it came out 4 times in the next 12 months. Surgery pinning it was so complicated then that I decided to give up football & other sports where I was likely to fall over & I've had little trouble with it since, but I think surgical techniques have improved massively since then.
If a rotator cuff is injured traumatically often surgery is offered. It used to be for under 65yrs old . However NICE guidelines now include all . BUT if an elderly person has evidence of atrophy and degenerative wear and tear to such and extent that surgery would not be beneficial then conservative approach is recommended .
The evidence base however shows there is little difference in clinical outcomes when comparing surgery to conservative rehab . Ie physio ( if given the correct exercises) will be just as effective as surgery , and of course is far cheaper!
If someone’s shoulder pain is due more to secondary impingement than cuff tear, then rehab is the usual method BUT this can take up to 9 months if hard work by the patient to regain scapula control. There is often a a case of muscle “patterning” involved and can often be as a result of the persons job or sport .... normally incolving overhead activities .
Corticosteroid injections don’t always work but can only be administered with a gap of at least 3 months. You certainly wouldn’t be advised to have more than 3 anyway.
Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 08:45 - Jan 9 by Lord_Lucan
That sounds absolutely awful.
It's more frustrating than anything. Sure, it hurts like hell when it came out, but it was the knowledge of knowing that I can't do things I enjoy without risk of it going again. It got to a point where I could manipulate it back in myself without too much bother until I well and truly fudged it playing football and the A&E docs couldn't get it back in. They had to put me under for 10 minutes. It then started coming out in my sleep which is when I finally decided a third operation would be the best course. The open surgery actually hurt less in the long run than the keyholes.
Shoulders are a nightmare when they go so I wish the OP all the best!
[Post edited 9 Jan 2019 13:20]
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Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 13:21 - Jan 9 with 1992 views
How did you do it? If it's swimming then a change of technique can help. I used to get them all the time and then switched to a flat hand entry rather than thumb first and haven't had it since.
3 years ago I had a left rotator injury which took about 4-5 months to completely heal and then last year I had the same on the right which took 6+ months to heal. I never had an impact or physical event which kickstarted it. But I've been on statins for 10 years and I put it down to that being a cause, i.e. a statin side-effect is muscle deterioration.
I really had to discipline myself to not antagonise the shoulder. No pressure on that side whilst sleeping, lean the other side whilst on the sofa, etc. Had to put off physical/diy jobs round the house where I needed to reach overhead, etc. I had to really concentrate to always react with the other shoulder such as reaching out for support when on a train and it lurches. I also googled best things to eat & drink to accelerate muscle repair and stepped up my protein intake which I think helped. And some days took ibuprofen as well.
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Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 15:21 - Jan 9 with 1953 views
Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 13:07 - Jan 9 by ArnieM
If a rotator cuff is injured traumatically often surgery is offered. It used to be for under 65yrs old . However NICE guidelines now include all . BUT if an elderly person has evidence of atrophy and degenerative wear and tear to such and extent that surgery would not be beneficial then conservative approach is recommended .
The evidence base however shows there is little difference in clinical outcomes when comparing surgery to conservative rehab . Ie physio ( if given the correct exercises) will be just as effective as surgery , and of course is far cheaper!
If someone’s shoulder pain is due more to secondary impingement than cuff tear, then rehab is the usual method BUT this can take up to 9 months if hard work by the patient to regain scapula control. There is often a a case of muscle “patterning” involved and can often be as a result of the persons job or sport .... normally incolving overhead activities .
Corticosteroid injections don’t always work but can only be administered with a gap of at least 3 months. You certainly wouldn’t be advised to have more than 3 anyway.
Hope that helps
Not doing activities which aggravate the issue can really help. My wife had been suffering shoulder pain, she gave up tennis for a couple of years & played golf & now her shoulder is so good that she's thinking about starting playing tennis again (shudders).
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but just came across this blog post from a physio I know.... might be useful... but if not, just as a reminder, the most important part of seeing a physio is doing the rehab exercises that they give you. 15 minutes of manipulation every couple of weeks will solve nothing. He is there to free you up in order that you can rehab, no more. So if you're not doing your rehab exercises religiously, you need to sort that ASAP
Rotator cuff/shoulder injury on 14:37 - Jan 16 by SaleAway
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but just came across this blog post from a physio I know.... might be useful... but if not, just as a reminder, the most important part of seeing a physio is doing the rehab exercises that they give you. 15 minutes of manipulation every couple of weeks will solve nothing. He is there to free you up in order that you can rehab, no more. So if you're not doing your rehab exercises religiously, you need to sort that ASAP
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