Rehband

More importantly than a neoprene brace, why does you shoulder hurt and what have you been doing (ART/SMR/Prehab/Rehab/etc...) to alleviate that pain?

I had a "flare up" about a month ago.  It lasted about 3 days and then it went away like nothing happened.  Then about a week ago I had another flare up.  It is feeling much better today.  I have no swelling now, nor have I during either episode.  I have been mixing up icing it and putting heat on it.

Both times I stayed away from lifting upper body.  Lots of stretching.  I always do a good warm up before any upper body workout, and I havent been lifting too heavy.

jsully wrote: doctor > forum answers

 

I hear ya!  I have one of those high deductable plans

If you can't afford the deductible to get the MRI, then at least go with the lesser which is still going to cost some $.

Go see an ART guy and have him work on it. They're typically $60/hr or so, you probably only need a half hour if you only have him work on that particular area. Dynamic stretching > Static stretching for injuries. Lots of band dislocates, internal/external rotations, front/side/rear delt raises. Ibuprofin and ice, not heat. Contrast showers and LX ball deep tissue massages.

I'm an anti doctor guy. Not that I hate doctors, I just hate all the time it takes and it screws up my schedule, etc. Unless I have a serious injury, I'll rehab it myself. I've had shoulder injuries before, some that have lasted longer than others. Take 2-4 weeks off of any kind of pressing/overhead/pulling movement that causes even the slightest bit of pain. I typically took 2 weeks off and then started rehabbing with light weight. If it hurts with just the bar, don't do it. If it hurts when you get to 135, then do sets with 95 but never push it until it hurts.

On a side note, pains that are severe enough to wake you in the middle of the night don't just "flare up" for no reason. You need to figure out what you did to cause the pain and that can help you better diagnose and self treat/rehab what is going on. The doctor is going to ask you where the pain came from and if the best answer you give the doctor is "it flares up occasionally" then even he won't be able to help you as well as he could if he had more information.

C. Smith wrote: More importantly than a neoprene brace, why does you shoulder hurt and what have you been doing (ART/SMR/Prehab/Rehab/etc...) to alleviate that pain?

I wasn't sure what those meant.  Seeing the doc today. 

Amen to that, Teresa. I sensed this on my own years ago,
but later had it confirmed by my wife's ortho. What was
odd was that I had to bring it up to him: he doesn't
normally advise patients about this, but feels strongly
that patients should do as you mention. In particular, he
feels that nobody (athlete or not, injured or not) should
sleep with their arms over their heads. It's just asking
for trouble.