Separated shoulder/torn rotator

[Mousesmom]

Hi all, I had a little mishap in the gym a few weeks back (January) and separated my shoulder and tore the rotator cuff on my non-dominant right side (whew! ;) ). Odd that it didn't really bother me terribly much for about 5 weeks - mild pain after exercise but nothing significant....I have a high pain tolerance!

I go for an ultrasound on April 8 to see exactly what's going on in there. The x-ray showed nothing of course....

Two docs and a physio say to keep it moving, no sling and mild exercise. Paramedics at work say sling when tired otherwise very mild exercise.

Anyone out there done this? Did you have surgery? How long did it take to get better?

Looking for a little advice!:help:

Julie

[awriter]

Hi all, I had a little mishap in the gym a few weeks back (January) and separated my shoulder and tore the rotator cuff on my non-dominant right side... Anyone out there done this? How long did it take to get better?
Julie - ouch! :( I did the same thing some time ago. Didn't use a sling but I definitely swore off using free weights. I didn't exercise for several weeks so it could start to heal, and when I returned I took it easy on the shoulder as far as weight, while trying to slooowly extend my range of motion. It took a good six months + to fully heal, but I'm happy to say all is well and it seems stronger than ever.

Take your time with it, and as long as every few weeks brings a small change for the better, you'll be on the right track.

Lisa

[Hairballz]

Been there done that. I didn't have to have surgery, but rehabbing the injury did take quite a bit of time. I had to stay away from some machines at the gym, do some range-of-motion rehab exercises to get it back, but it came back just fine. Good luck!

[Mousesmom]

Thanks.....physio said I could do free weights as long as I kept my elbow tucked into my hip (bicep, tricep work only, no delts/pecs) and lower the weight used (but more reps). I can still do all the lower body stuff and cardio as well.

6 months is better than what I've been hearing from surgery people - 14-18 months rehab for that! I think I will try the less invasive route!!!!

Julie

[Hairballz]

The rehab exercise that helped me the most is this one:

Take a relatively small weight dumbell (no more than 10 pounds) and holding it in the injured-side hand, lean over at the waist until your upper body is parallel with the floor. Starting with a small circle, draw a circle in the air with the dumbell, clockwise. After completing the small circle, enlarge it a bit and repeat. Repeat again, making gradually larger circles until you're in danger of striking your own knees with the circle!

Then do it again, but COUNTERclockwise, starting with a small circle and proceeding to a large circle.

Hope that helps you as much as it did me - it felt like THAT was the exercise that really got my range of motion back.

[soapluvr]

The rehab exercise that helped me the most is this one:

Take a relatively small weight dumbell (no more than 10 pounds) and holding it in the injured-side hand, lean over at the waist until your upper body is parallel with the floor. Starting with a small circle, draw a circle in the air with the dumbell, clockwise. After completing the small circle, enlarge it a bit and repeat. Repeat again, making gradually larger circles until you're in danger of striking your own knees with the circle!

Then do it again, but COUNTERclockwise, starting with a small circle and proceeding to a large circle.

Hope that helps you as much as it did me - it felt like THAT was the exercise that really got my range of motion back.

Thanks for that exercise. It will work fine for me. I have on and off tendonitis of rotator cuff from a yoga injury. Never tore it and never had any surgery but did have prolotherapy which helped a lot. I've constantly been on the look out for different exercises to strengthen and tone my lats and triceps and this one will work great.

[JudyJudy]

On February 12, 2008 (over 13 months ago), I fell down my front steps. I went head first down about 10 steps. I had some pretty bad gashes in my shins (I still have scars), but fortunately, I didn't land on my head. However, I did land on my left arm/elbow.

Of course, it was broken. I had a bad radial head fracture with a pretty large chip out of it. After it healed, my doctor said that it wasn't healed perfectly, and he said that I was on the edge where I could have surgery on it if I wanted; I chose not to have the surgery. I couldn't straighten my elbow, and the muscles in my arm (not just at the elbow) ached tremendously.

I went to physical therapy, and while I became more able to straighten my elbow, the muscles in my arm were still hurting. I also realized at that point that my arm wasn't rotating correctly and that as I was forcing my elbow to straighten, I was making the rotation worse. Neither the doctor nor the physical therapist realized this.

I went to a chiro who deals with kinesiology about another problem, and he was the one who realized that I had two shoulder injuries, one of which was the rotator cuff. He helped it some, and I think if I could afford to go back to him a few more times (I only went twice), he could help me a lot.

In the meantime, what I found that is helping me is to stand in front of the mirror naked (or at the very least without any kind of sleeves covering my arms but preferably not my shoulders, either) and doing various exercises with my arms. I hold them straight out, palms down, and then rotate them to a palms up position, making sure that my arm rotates correctly in the process and that I don't force my shoulder up or down. When I first started doing this, I was having to manually move my arm with my other hand because it wasn't rotating on its own. Now I still have to consciously make it turn since it doesn't do it naturally, but it's getting better. I also do arm circles with my arms out straight, turned in various directions (palms up, palms down, palms out, using fists, etc.), making sure that my injured arm and shoulder are in proper form while I do it. I also do exercises with my arms going backward and forward, too. (I don't yet do any exercises in which I raise my arms over my shoulders.)

I'm also going to try to do what Hairballz recommended, but I'll start with a 2-lb weight. Right now even if I pick up a half-gallon container, my arm gives way, so it'll probably take some time before I can do this exercise very well.

[deirdra]

The rehab exercise that helped me the most is this one:
Take a relatively small weight dumbell (no more than 10 pounds) and holding it in the injured-side hand, lean over at the waist until your upper body is parallel with the floor. Starting with a small circle, draw a circle in the air with the dumbell, clockwise. After completing the small circle, enlarge it a bit and repeat. Repeat again, making gradually larger circles until you're in danger of striking your own knees with the circle!.Hairballz, are these circles drawn in a horizontal plane (parallel to the ground, swinging from the shoulder) or in a vertical plane (like bicycle peddles)? In the horizontal plane with my back parallel to the floor, the dumbells would hit my ankles, not my knees.

[Kisal]

Thanks.....physio said I could do free weights as long as I kept my elbow tucked into my hip ...This was the very first thing my PT taught me. I injured my shoulder when I tried to do free weights on my own, without any instruction. It wasn't as severe as a torn rotator cuff ... at least I don't think so. I didn't go to the doctor about it. Although it took several months, the pain eventually went away.

[Hairballz]

Hairballz, are these circles drawn in a horizontal plane (parallel to the ground, swinging from the shoulder) or in a vertical plane (like bicycle peddles)? In the horizontal plane with my back parallel to the floor, the dumbells would hit my ankles, not my knees.

Horizontal, parrallel to the floor - yeah, I'm sure which part of your anatomy the dumbell hits on the outer rings depends largely on your arm length (I apparently have short arms!) :D No worries, as long as you're not dragging the dumbell on the floor!

BTW, even the person above who said they could barely pick up a milk container should have no problem with this exercise - you're barely supporting the weight in any real way, it just kind of hangs there at the end of your arm.

[Mousesmom]

I'm doing the arm rotating exercise with no weights (meaning it's dead weight going in circles) right now a few times a day because having anything at all in the hand is too much....

Physio wanted the u/s before giving me more to do. I went to the gym yesterday and did my usual cardio and lower weights but only light bicep/tricep work. It was enough!

Thanks for all the good ideas!

Seems like this is more common than I thought.

GL to all of us getting healed up.

Julie

[mike_d]

I had a cuff issue following a fall, and it lasted 3 years. It healed up in 3 months after beginning IF. Now that shoulder is stronger than the other one-- something about fasting, stem cells and HGH going on here I believe.

[Mousesmom]

Interesting Mike.... I'll have to look into that.

IF doesn't work for me - I get too dizzy - but HGH could play a role.

tx, Julie

[soapluvr]

I had a cuff issue following a fall, and it lasted 3 years. It healed up in 3 months after beginning IF. Now that shoulder is stronger than the other one-- something about fasting, stem cells and HGH going on here I believe.

Really??? That is quite interesting. I want to give it a try but the hunger.....ugh. I went until 11:00 this morning to eat breakfast and thought I was going to die.

[cindy_cfid]

Try castor oil pack with heating pad on it (place layer plastic between) for as long as you can daily. I'd also suggest algae supplements.

[Mousesmom]

Castor oil pack? What is it supposed to do?

tx, Julie