Shoulder Tendonitis?

For the past two or three years, I have had an almost daily pain in my left
shoulder area. My left arm is weaker to lift things up, and when I do
military press or similar exercises if I go past 70-80 lbs then I will get a
sharp pain around the ball of the shoulder and cannot lift the weight.

I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he played with my arms and got
x-rays and he says it is muscular. He said it was tendonitis.

I am right handed, so why would my left shoulder get tendonitis?? I really
do not want to give up all weight-lifting for a few months. I am not sure
what to do. I had thought it was something that surgery would resolve, but
the doctor insists it is tendonitis.

Ted Sherman wrote:
> For the past two or three years, I have had an almost daily pain in my left
> shoulder area. My left arm is weaker to lift things up, and when I do
> military press or similar exercises if I go past 70-80 lbs then I will get a
> sharp pain around the ball of the shoulder and cannot lift the weight.
>
> I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he played with my arms and got
> x-rays and he says it is muscular. He said it was tendonitis.
>
> I am right handed, so why would my left shoulder get tendonitis?? I really
> do not want to give up all weight-lifting for a few months.

That's why. After all this time, there'll probably be significant
inflamatory damage to the tendon(s) involved. An ultrasound should have
been ordered first. Seeing as it wasn't, go get one done. The results
will show if it's tendonitis or a torn muscle/tendon and tell you which
one so you can get physiotherapy.

> I am not sure
> what to do.

See above.

> I had thought it was something that surgery would resolve,

Best to avoid surgery except as a last resort.

> but
> the doctor insists it is tendonitis.

Maybe get the ultrasound done and find out. The doctor should have
ordered one and then referred you on to a physio.

Ari



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"spodosaurus" <> Maybe get the ultrasound done and find out. The doctor
should have ordered one and then referred you on to a physio.
>

I am going to call his office tomorrow and find out if they can prescribe an
ultrasound. This Ortho worked on the orthopedic staff for the Buffalo Bills
and some other NFL Football team (Jets or Giants), so I imagine he should
know what he is doing.

Ted Sherman wrote:
> For the past two or three years, I have had an almost daily pain in my left
> shoulder area. My left arm is weaker to lift things up, and when I do
> military press or similar exercises if I go past 70-80 lbs then I will get a
> sharp pain around the ball of the shoulder and cannot lift the weight.
>
> I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he played with my arms and got
> x-rays and he says it is muscular. He said it was tendonitis.
>
> I am right handed, so why would my left shoulder get tendonitis?? I really
> do not want to give up all weight-lifting for a few months. I am not sure
> what to do. I had thought it was something that surgery would resolve, but
> the doctor insists it is tendonitis.
>
>
>

I used to have a similar issue and as I understood it at the time, while
my shoulder muscles had developed, the tendons etc were not keeping up
with the increasing weights. Somebody put me onto an exercise to
strengthen the tendons. See internal rotation from the web site below.
I did he exercise twice a day, very low resistance for a few weeks and
my shoulder issues cleared completely. They recommend using a towel
between your elbow and abdomen at the web site but I found as long as I
keep me elbow still by pretending I was using the elbow to hold the
paper against by abdomen that was fine.

http://www.bassett.org/sportsmedicine/rehabshoulder.cfm
Internal Rotation (neutral)

Of course while this worked for me, it may be useless for your condition.

--
Bob Volkmer

On Dec 17, 10:23 pm, "Ted Sherman" <tedsherman103...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> For the past two or three years, I have had an almost daily pain in my left
> shoulder area. My left arm is weaker to lift things up, and when I do
> military press or similar exercises if I go past 70-80 lbs then I will get a
> sharp pain around the ball of the shoulder and cannot lift the weight.
>
> I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he played with my arms and got
> x-rays and he says it is muscular. He said it was tendonitis.
>
> I am right handed, so why would my left shoulder get tendonitis?? I really
> do not want to give up all weight-lifting for a few months. I am not sure
> what to do. I had thought it was something that surgery would resolve, but
> the doctor insists it is tendonitis.


Ted, I had a similar problem with my right shoulder. The pain was
pretty intense if I stretched my arm in any direction other than
relaxed, and there was no way that I could sleep on that side.

My solution involved a few steps:

1. I had to bring my hands slightly closer together on all upper body
exercises (especially shoulder press and bench press). Not a lot,
maybe 2" closer. This moved the pressure to a new area.

2. I had to lower my reps. My tendency was to do an 8/6/4 pyramid
first, followed by 3 sets of 15, and I found that it was after the 3
sets of 15 that the pain kicked in. I increased the weight and lowered
the reps to 3 sets of 10.

3. This is a tricky one, but I discovered that my bench was slightly
crooked (by about 1"), so when I thought I was picking the weight
straight up off of the rack, I was actually putting more pressure on
my right shoulder than my left. Being the anal-retentive that I am, I
measured everything out to be perfectly straight, and this had an
almost immediate impact on the pain.

With that being said, let me point out that I'm not a doctor, and did
not see one for my pain. So I wouldn't recommend taking my advice over
that of the ortho of the Buffalo Bills :-)

rev wrote:
> Ted Sherman wrote:
>> For the past two or three years, I have had an almost daily pain in my
>> left
>> shoulder area. My left arm is weaker to lift things up, and when I do
>> military press or similar exercises if I go past 70-80 lbs then I will
>> get a
>> sharp pain around the ball of the shoulder and cannot lift the weight.
>>
>> I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he played with my arms and got
>> x-rays and he says it is muscular. He said it was tendonitis.
>>
>> I am right handed, so why would my left shoulder get tendonitis?? I
>> really
>> do not want to give up all weight-lifting for a few months. I am not sure
>> what to do. I had thought it was something that surgery would resolve,
>> but
>> the doctor insists it is tendonitis.
>>
>>
>>
>
> I used to have a similar issue and as I understood it at the time, while
> my shoulder muscles had developed, the tendons etc were not keeping up
> with the increasing weights. Somebody put me onto an exercise to
> strengthen the tendons. See internal rotation from the web site below. I
> did he exercise twice a day, very low resistance for a few weeks and my
> shoulder issues cleared completely.

That's rotator cuff strengthening, not some miscelaneous tendon
strengthening. External rotation should be given as much or more
emphasis than internal rotation.

> They recommend using a towel between
> your elbow and abdomen at the web site but I found as long as I keep me
> elbow still by pretending I was using the elbow to hold the paper
> against by abdomen that was fine.
>
> http://www.bassett.org/sportsmedicine/rehabshoulder.cfm
> Internal Rotation (neutral)
>
> Of course while this worked for me, it may be useless for your condition.
>


--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply
Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor and literally save someone's life:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

On Dec 18, 4:50 am, Jason Carlton <jwcarl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 17, 10:23 pm, "Ted Sherman" <tedsherman103...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > For the past two or three years, I have had an almost daily pain in my left
> > shoulder area. My left arm is weaker to lift things up, and when I do
> > military press or similar exercises if I go past 70-80 lbs then I will get a
> > sharp pain around the ball of the shoulder and cannot lift the weight.
>
> > I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he played with my arms and got
> > x-rays and he says it is muscular. He said it was tendonitis.
>
> > I am right handed, so why would my left shoulder get tendonitis?? I really
> > do not want to give up all weight-lifting for a few months. I am not sure
> > what to do. I had thought it was something that surgery would resolve, but
> > the doctor insists it is tendonitis.
>
> Ted, I had a similar problem with my right shoulder. The pain was
> pretty intense if I stretched my arm in any direction other than
> relaxed, and there was no way that I could sleep on that side.
>
> My solution involved a few steps:
>
> 1. I had to bring my hands slightly closer together on all upper body
> exercises (especially shoulder press and bench press). Not a lot,
> maybe 2" closer. This moved the pressure to a new area.
>
> 2. I had to lower my reps. My tendency was to do an 8/6/4 pyramid
> first, followed by 3 sets of 15, and I found that it was after the 3
> sets of 15 that the pain kicked in. I increased the weight and lowered
> the reps to 3 sets of 10.
>
> 3. This is a tricky one, but I discovered that my bench was slightly
> crooked (by about 1"), so when I thought I was picking the weight
> straight up off of the rack, I was actually putting more pressure on
> my right shoulder than my left. Being the anal-retentive that I am, I
> measured everything out to be perfectly straight, and this had an
> almost immediate impact on the pain.
>
> With that being said, let me point out that I'm not a doctor, and did
> not see one for my pain. So I wouldn't recommend taking my advice over
> that of the ortho of the Buffalo Bills :-)

I messed up my shoulder years ago when I benchpressed 290 without
warming up. (Reallllllly not smart!!)
Then years later I did an overhead press of 185 with again, no warm
up. I was feeling really good, and not thinking. The press went fine.
Then three days later I felt something on my left shoulder as if
someone had literally hammered the shoulder with a huge hammer! My
strength was gone, and even stretching out to grab a Coke from the
drive-thru person hurt like heck! It took three months of no activity
to heal the thing. It was so painful that I could hardly do anything
involving my shoulders for that time.

I took Ibuprofen, and tried some rehab exercises, but the pain was too
much to even rehab. I had no insurance so I couldn't do anything
except take the Ibu and wait, wait, wait.

On Dec 17 2007, 10:23 pm, "Ted Sherman" <tedsherman103...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> For the past two or three years, I have had an almost dailypainin my leftshoulderarea. My left arm is weaker to lift things up, and when I do
> military press or similar exercises if I go past 70-80 lbs then I will get a
> sharppainaround the ball of theshoulderand cannot lift the weight.
>
> I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he played with my arms and got
> x-rays and he says it is muscular. He said it was tendonitis.
>
> I am right handed, so why would my leftshoulderget tendonitis?? I really
> do not want to give up all weight-lifting for a few months. I am not sure
> what to do. I had thought it was something that surgery would resolve, but
> the doctor insists it is tendonitis.

I've suffered from "chronic" pain in both shoulders, one time I did no
upper body work for a year until I got the correct treatment. This was
resolved about 10 years ago by massage triggering and stretching at
the hands of a naprapath/therapeutic masseuse. I recovered completely
from my pain and was able to train as before. However, a couple of
times I've been getting the same pain, though a lot less, and have
been able to increase the stretching to get rid of it.
It is very common that the problems are the result of poor flexibility
and muscle imbalance, as in my case (unless you actually tore a
ligament or muscle which would cause immediate and severe pain). These
problems usually sneak up on you and finally forces you to stop doing
most upper body exercises. In addition, they are slow to heal unless
the right treatment is given.
I recently injure my other shoulder; this was a different problem then
previously. In the beginning I thought it was just sore in my rear
deltoid since I'd been working out really hard. However it just got
worse and worse for about 2 weeks and the traps, rhombs, delts and
rotator cuff was in a spasm and extremely sore. I street stretching
like crazy for 2 weeks and got a little bit better but not really
pain free. Finally I decided to read about the subject and figured
I'll test some new stretches. The new stretch was the broom handle
stretch for subscapularis. After a few minutes of that 95% of the pain
was gone and I started working my problem areas with strengthening and
A LOT of stretching and only feel pain if I really provoke my
shoulder. This is slowly getting resolved also since I keep getting
better and better. This last bout of shoulder problem has caused me to
understand how the shoulder works so now I'm also working on the root
cause of my shoulder problems which I believe are weak rhomboids.
There is a way to reduce or completely get rid of your problems caused
by muscle imbalance and lack of flexibility and rapid improvement with
the right treatment.
Check out the site: http://www.exrx.net/
This site has lot of useful information about stretching and muscle
balance.
Sometimes stretching is not enough then massage and triggering is the
next step. However it may be difficult to find a therapist with the
qualification and who prepared to work hard enough to get you on the
right track.


Hans

<hassec.us@> Check out the site: http://www.exrx.net/ This site has lot of
useful information about stretching and muscle balance. Sometimes stretching
is not enough then massage and triggering is the next step. However it may
be difficult to find a therapist with the qualification and who prepared to
work hard enough to get you on the right track.
>

thanks, I appreciate the info. My doctor gave me a shot of cortisone in the
shoulder and it really did nothing much for me.