Guess you can call this health. Help!

[dontxhide]

Hi. I havent posted in a while. I have been injured, and going on a website like this makes me miss working out, a lot. So I have been trying to stay away. Here is my dilemma.

 

I want to be able to exercise (mostly martial arts and HIIT) without re injuring my shoulders. You heard correctly, both shoulders. My right shoulder is suffering from a tear from years ago, and it is now Chronic. My left shoulder recently was just torn. Both are rotator cuff injuries. My left the doctor said is the Supraspinatus and so is my right.

 

I know a lot of rest is required, but let me tell you a story. I injured my left shoulder early this year. I took a very long rest, and slowly came back into working out. My the end of July I was almost back to 100 percent!. Then while doing a push up, I re injured my left shoulder. So I have been resting for the past 3 weeks, doing stretches and stabilizing work. But due to resting my left, my right arm has been being used much more than usual, and I felt a pull in my right shoulder today picking up a backpack for school.

 

This story has been going on with me, especially with my right shoulder, for 3 years.

 

I have done Physical Therapy, and each doctor I have been too has said that I really dont need surgery.

 

Why then am I always injuring myself? I can get back into the full swing of things in 3 or 4 months, my shoulders never hurting doing everything I want to do, and then doing a typical exercise I have done hundreds of times, I get hurt.

 

I am wondering if I personally am doing something wrong? Like am I not getting enough of something in my diet that causes more injuries? Do I work out too much? Normally when I feel fit I workout M, Tu, Th, Sat. Splitting all those up with body parts of course.

 

Is there anything I should do that I haven't tried yet?

 

Thanks

[damdaman]

I'm not an expert on rehabbing injuries, but my advice would be to stop seeing the doctors (they've already basically said they can't help you), and find a physical therapist to work with. Preferably, find one that is an advanced martial arts practitioner themselves, or at least has a history of treating martial artists. They can suggest exercises and stretches that should rebuild the injured parts, and ideally strengthening the surrounding/synergistic muscles/tendons/etc to give your shoulder more support. Acupuncture and chiropractors can help with these kind of things, too.

 

My gut says that a recurring injury like this may mean you have a muscular imbalance or something needs to be focused on and build up to keep the injury from repeating. Also try pilates and yoga for awhile before going back into weight training and martial arts - I keep hearing stories of professional athletes who have a recurring back/shoulder/groin injury and then start doing pilates/yoga to strengthen smaller, synergistic muscles that support those areas (often in places you would never guess, i.e. back problems can be solved by focusing on legs and knee problems by focusing on hips, etc).

[Marcina]

I have a problem with my left supraspinatus.

 

I have mild lordosis.. Which was caused by winged scapula.. Which was caused by a weak serratus anterior.

 

Poor posture led to me slouching and then getting weak rotators as a result. It's funny how everything is connected. My problem is probably different than yours.. I would also recommend the physical therapy thing. That's how I found out about my winged scapula.

[xjohanx]

I have a hard time thinking this is diet related. Rotator cuff injuries are extremely common among weight lifters for instance. My friend who tore off his rotator cuff was able to get back into it pretty quickly with the help of a physical therapist. I think he did a lot of rotator cuff work with butterlfy weights (1-2 kg dumbbells). I guess that's what you are doing now or something that the therapist will tell you to do later.

Good luck with it.

[dontxhide]

So I got an appointment for a PT today. Its a free evaluation of my injury only, but I guess right now its better than nothing.

 

Sadly, I do not have health insurance, and if I do continue with PT I have to pay out of pocket, which will be very expensive, especially if they want to see me at least one a week (something I would NOT be able to do, maybe twice a month).

 

I feel trapped by all tis. The way I cant take care of my health without insurance and that my future life as an athlete depends on this. Annoyed

[dontxhide]

Might as well give an update.

 

Ive been going to the PT for about a month now.

 

There were a lot of reasons him and my orthopedic surgeon gave me as to why my shoulders always get hurt. The main one was my posture. Because I am so tall I got used to pulling my shoulder forward, so I have a hunchback of Notre Dame type of look. He said that when your forward like that, it puts a lot of stress on your rotator cuffs and pinches a lot of nerves in your shoulders. He also said that because of that I have been using my shoulder muscles for everything, instead of using my back muscles to help out.

 

So, he is helping me correct my posture (which is already one hundred times better), and helping me strengthen my shoulder muscles and my back muscles.

 

Besides the sheer PAIN of physical therapy, I have felt myself get stronger. I have another three weeks with him before he will let me out on my own. He told me those three weeks we will spend strengthening the shoulder area since through the last month I have already stabalized my muscles as much as I could.

 

I dont post much here right now, but I want to let everyone know that I miss you guys! I get depressed getting on a weight lifting forums when I cant really weight lift.

 

Jeremy

[New World Vegan]

If that doesn't fix the problem, I have 2 suggestions that wouldn't hurt.

 

Don't underestimate how stress can undermine the body's functions. Stess can build up in the muscles and maybe the tendons, and block healing. You might be able to rule this out if in the last 3 years you haven't had a more stressful environment(other than the injuries), and if you don't have problems with other muscles. I have a stressful personality that creates tension in the muscles, and moves around - usually accumulating around injuries.

 

Concerning rest, remember that if you over-eat, the body is rarely at rest and not recouperating. I thought of this one before I noticed your location.