anyone have any experience with a bad muscle (shoulder) strain?

[kisada]

several months ago i messed up my shoulder snowboarding/working out too soon without rest. i went to the doctor and he diagnosed it as a shoulder strain. the doctor told me to do EMS/ultrasound and physical therapy for a while, and that it's a slow healing process.

so for a while now i've been doing EMS/ultrasound at home with some portable units and also exercising to strengthen the muscles around the shoulder. and i'm pretty patient but i have no idea how to determine if i'm making any progress or not. and it feels like every time i start to see the light, something bad happens and i re-strain it somehow. for example, last month i had a violent cough that continually jarred me for like 2 straight weeks and definitely set me back.

i'm pretty much sticking with the program, but it's still discouraging at this point. so... just wondering if anyone's got any advice or familiarity with this subject. has anyone who's been in this spot realized they were unintentionally aggravating it somehow? i was advised not to do any pushing and i'm pretty careful about the range of motion that i do use. still, who knows. any kinds of seating postures or resting positions that are safer or help speed recovery?

thanks

[Nephlite]

Make sure you drink plenty of water. Muscle strain can be attributed to lack of water consumption, especially during the hot months of the year. Muscles are something like 85% water and when you're doing high intensity exercises, the lactic acid in your muscles can cause severe cramps, strains, and even pulls that result in your condition. Get plenty of rest (your muscles do the most rebuilding while you sleep), drink lot's of water and make sure you're supplementing some kind of protein regiment such as an extra serving of beans or a protein shake to help build muscle during your exercises. Oh and make sure you visit your doctor routinely to chart your progress and possibly get you some meds. I take Tylenol for my shoulder pain and it helps believe me.

[Darus Grey]

I've been in a similar situation, and it was about 20 months before my shoulder felt "normal" again, anytime before then I could randomly re-strain it if I wasn't paying attention.

[idklol]

My cousin has the same problem. He strained his right should at work and it's never been right since. He did this something like 2 years ago now too so i'd say it's of great importance not to do anything which would make it worse/make it flare up because it takes time to heal.

He's seen several doctors/physios etc and no one has had a permament fix for it, although i think that's mainly down to him doing too much too soon. Think it's the rotarary cuff which gets strained or something along them lines. About all i can say, hope you get a fix for it.

[archibaldcrane]

I popped something in my right shoulder doing pullups in march. My shoulder tendons have been loose and uncomfortable since high school, but this was something worse. I had to take about 3 months off from lifting and football before it felt 'normal-bad' again.

[alt]

Did you actually go see a Physical Therapist when you say physical therapy, and not just some exercises the doctor gave you? General practice doctor's are just generalists. PT's specialize in joints/mobility/rehabilitation. Was the doctor sure it was a muscle strain? Because it could be your rotator cuff/tendons/etc.

Shoulders notoriously take a long time to heal, and in some cases never completely do. I injured my right shoulder weight lifting about a year and a half ago. Took about a month for me to be able to do any pushing motion without pain, and even now I still have to be careful because it's really easy for me to aggravate again.

[kisada]

thanks for the responses, so far.


yeah, i did see a PT for a while. unfortunately my health insurance didn't cover the sessions so i couldn't get onto the recommended 3 times a week schedule for EMS/ultrasound. he did give me a few exercises which worsened the shoulder. we had to narrow it down to stuff i can actually do.

i went to a general practitioner, then he recommended a specialist who echoed what he said. i then went to another specialist like 2 months later and he said the same thing. just a regular muscle strain, didn't mention anything about tendons or the rotator cuff (which they tested for).


i should add that everything works without crazy pain. but when i'm sitting down, a mix of random stuff (aching, biting pain on upper traps, tingling in back, a weird pulling-knifing pain on the side delt) phases in and out when it wants to. because of all the variables, it seems incredibly difficult to isolate everything that aggravates it. the triggers are hard to figure out cause everything is delayed and random.

i've established that i can't do anything that pushes my shoulder forward. but even when i'm not doing that stuff, it feels like i'm completely lost on anything else that aggravates it, if it's doing it at all. anything you guys recommend i watch out for?

[Nephlite]

Posture. Especially when you're in front of a computer for more than an hour. I used to hunch a lot and it made my shoulder worse when I was infront of my computer playing ffxi. You'll start feeling pain in your side just above the kidneys (this is where the unilateral muscle group of the arm connects to the back) whenever you move the affected muscle group. That's where mine was concentrated the most.

[Melena]

Back when I was a kid, I suffered a bad shoulder injury, felt like I jammed it out of the socket and it slid back in. Saw a ton of doctors, but since I had full mobility they just said strain. Finally about 4 years ago it got to where I couldn't lift my left arm above my head due to the pain. Went in for an MRI which came back negative. Ended up having them go in through surgery and I had a pretty server labrum tear. So if it's not getting any better, i'd fight and push for an MRI to see if anything comes up on that.

[kisada]

Posture. Especially when you're in front of a computer for more than an hour. I used to hunch a lot and it made my shoulder worse when I was infront of my computer playing ffxi. You'll start feeling pain in your side just above the kidneys (this is where the unilateral muscle group of the arm connects to the back) whenever you move the affected muscle group. That's where mine was concentrated the most.

yeah, given what i do i pretty much have to be on the PC most of the day. i actually get a little bit of biting/stabbing (though not bad) on my lats every now and then, but again, the triggers aren't consistent. i've been advised to sit on one of those big workout balls in order to keep my back straight and also strengthen the muscles in general. did you just consciously make sure to maintain a straight posture or did you try anything else?

Back when I was a kid, I suffered a bad shoulder injury, felt like I jammed it out of the socket and it slid back in. Saw a ton of doctors, but since I had full mobility they just said strain. Finally about 4 years ago it got to where I couldn't lift my left arm above my head due to the pain. Went in for an MRI which came back negative. Ended up having them go in through surgery and I had a pretty server labrum tear. So if it's not getting any better, i'd fight and push for an MRI to see if anything comes up on that.

yikes, that sounds pretty terrible. so was the pain just always persistent and worsening till you had to have surgery? or a good days/bad days kinda thing? seems really rough to have to deal with constant pain for several years.

[BerenTebogo]

This june I strained my left laterus dorsi (muscle that wraps around from shoulder blade to chest-ish) and for about 2 months I had completely limited usage of the left side of my upper body due to the constant pain / extensive healing time. It's still injured but it seems to be getting better. This past week actually I did the first back/shoulder/chest day at the gym since the injury.

Honestly, it just seems like this shit takes a long time to heal. I'm sure the shoulder is just as bad. Only reason that I'm at the point I am today vs. a month ago is because I literally iced it for 6+ hours a day every single day for a month and took it very, very, very easy - even making sure that I got out of bed on the opposite side that I normally do so I wouldn't put strain on it.

Drink a ton of water and get lots of rest and follow what others are saying. Icing the area heavily REALLY helped for me but I'm not sure if it will or won't for you (especially since I'm not completely better yet so I can't say if it's going to heal right or if I fucked myself). I'd say it's worth a shot though but start out doing not more than 20 minutes on 20 minutes off and repeating like that.

Edit: One other HUGE thing that took me months to figure out. I usually sleep with 2-3 pillows which puts my upper body / neck at a slight angle and it turns out this was seriously aggravating the strain (the worst pain associated with my injury strangely enough was any time I looked straight down it was like someone was sticking a knife in my chest) and really making me miserable. Once I cut down to just one thin pillow to keep my body as straight as possible while sleeping my progress sped up greatly.

Maybe consider some variables like that if you haven't already.

[Nephlite]

yeah, given what i do i pretty much have to be on the PC most of the day. i actually get a little bit of biting/stabbing (though not bad) on my lats every now and then, but again, the triggers aren't consistent. i've been advised to sit on one of those big workout balls in order to keep my back straight and also strengthen the muscles in general. did you just consciously make sure to maintain a straight posture or did you try anything else?

I heard about the yoga ball thing but never tried it. Supposedly it's the best thing you'll ever do for yourself (do it for like a month) and it'll improve your posture so well that you'll hate taking a dump on an un-cushioned toilet. Take it from me that nothing beats a good desk chair or a nice lumbar support pad you can stick on the chair. When I tore out my shoulder joint rotater cuff (actually, I got shot but that's a whole different story), I got assigned to desk work for 4 months. The crappy ass precinct chairs made the pain unbearable till I went to one of those "As Seen On TV" stores and bought a lumbar support pad for chairs and it helped VASTLY.

This june I strained my left laterus dorsi (muscle that wraps around from shoulder blade to chest-ish) and for about 2 months I had completely limited usage of the left side of my upper body due to the constant pain / extensive healing time. It's still injured but it seems to be getting better. This past week actually I did the first back/shoulder/chest day at the gym since the injury.

Honestly, it just seems like this shit takes a long time to heal. I'm sure the shoulder is just as bad. Only reason that I'm at the point I am today vs. a month ago is because I literally iced it for 6+ hours a day every single day for a month and took it very, very, very easy - even making sure that I got out of bed on the opposite side that I normally do so I wouldn't put strain on it.

Icing down affected areas can help but ice somewhat retards the regrowth process of muscles. It does however prevent scar tissue from rebuilding in joints and from what I can tell, that's probably what you're experiencing. Scar tissue builds up where broken muscle fibers are unworked and heal anyways. It's nearly impossible to work every muscle group in an injury so you're likely to get some amount of scar tissue build-up which can cause twinges of pain, limited mobility (especially in joints), deformity or even discoloration. Working out the affected areas doesn't necessarily rebuild muscle but helps with keeping the scarring to a minimum and if your symptoms persist, you might have to get laser-scoptic surgery to get the scar tissue removed. Relatively pain free and easy operation and can be expensive if you go to the wrong people.

Like Sath suggested, changing your posture during sleep can also help greatly as most of your rebuilding is done at night. If you sleep crooked or weird, your muscles will grow back crooked and weird.

[volcanicweather]

I have a similar problem so maybe people can shed some insight or tips... I went to multiple doctors about a year ago for an injury I probably developed in college playing FFXI and using the num pad / mouse so much honestly. It was diagnosed as a trapezius (muscle connecting neck and shoulder) strain and the doctor basically told me to try physical therapy (which didn't work) and that it would be something I would have to deal with as it's not worth having surgery for.

I still have a full range of motion and outside of popping / clicking noises in the neck / shoulder area it's fine most of the time but it will twinge up from time to time with a dull pain. A couple times now I have aggravated the strain but I will take it easy for a day or two and do specific stretches / exercises and it will be fine. I try to keep the area loose and stretch the muscle frequently as it helps to avoid the aggravation, and using the mouse at work with my left hand instead of my right has dramatically helped, but I'm getting extremely tired of the process honestly. If anyone has any suggestions to help alleviate the dull pains and general stiffness that would be awesome.

[Nephlite]

Sounds like scar tissue buildup has gotten to the point where you're popping. If there's some discomfort, you might have to think about medication. Someone at work yesterday told me Excedrin Migraine is great pain relief and has caffeine in it to keep you awake. Otherwise, stretching will help to tear out that old scar tissue (You'll notice less popping as it progresses).