Green888
Allmost Good Looking
For several years i have had problems with my left shoulder, restricting my workouts.
It was never obvious what the problem was, but i recently had surgery, and decided to
write about it, in case someone is in the same situation.
I know i was very worried about when i could workout again, about loosing size, how
long recovery would take and stuff like that.
Maybe this is boring reading to most people, but if even 1 person somehow
is helped by this article, then it was worth writing.
About me.
---------
Male 34 years old
Lifting weights for 18+ years
186cm
120-125 kg
The Timeline Pre-op.
--------------------
For about 7 years ago i had to give up doing flat benchpresses, upright rows,
behind the neck presses, well all shoulder presses really, i could do front press
but after a few weeks i would get a shoulder injury/problem. Therefore my shoulder
workouts for the last 7 years have consisted only of sidelats and rear delt exercises.
Anyway, during the last 7 years i have tried many things and been to the
doctor too many times.
He would usually give me some 600mg Ibuprofen and tell me not to workout, sometimes i
ate the pills, but most times i got kidney pain after a week or so.
My kidneys just dont like Ibuprofen i guess.
Anyway, most times i did not eat the pills, but iced the shoulder after workouts instead.
Between my many doctor visits i have tried acupunture, massage, rotatorcuff exercises,
stretching, EFA's, Glucosamine, rosehip powder, different warmup routines, human
growth hormone, Deca Durabolin, Vitamin B12 injections, physical therapy and so on.
Some of it helped a little, but the problem would allways be back.
I usually do a steroid cycle every summer, and my shoulders allways felt decent
when i was on, but afterwards the pain would come back, sometimes feeling worse.
Testosterone and winstrol is usually my preference.
After some years with recurring shoulder problems (1-3 times a year), i asked
for a MR-scan and got an appointment at the local hospital.
When i got there i did not fit in the MR scanner so they sent me home
with a new appointment, this time for an Ultrasound scan, they are less acurate.
I got the scan, but the doctor could not find anything wrong, but offered me
arthroscopic surgery to make sure all was good. I declined since i would not be
able to work for 4-6 weeks during a time where poeple at my job got layed off and
since they could not see a problem with the ultrasound scan.
It just seemed like too much trouble over "nothing" at the time.
Then in the summer 2008 my shoulder got severly injured, i could not even dumbellpress
5 lbs!! ...and could hardly workout my upperbody anymore, only light biceps/triceps
and narrow grib rows for back.
So i went to the doctor again and got an appointment on a private hospital with a
bigger MR-scanner and finally got scanned.
The images seemed to show a partial rotatorcuff tear, something that would need
surgery.
Its turns out the doctors where wrong, during the surgery they discovered that the
problem was "Impingement Syndrome", too tight space between the acromion and humerus
bones, causing inflammation in the bursa betweem them.
The solution was to remove some of the Acromion and Bursa.
SUrgery and Recovery.
---------------------
Day 1 - Surgery.
The Surgery vent fine, it took about 1-2 hours.
When i woke up i did not feel anything, i could not move my arm due to the
medication they injected in my shoulder, but i felt pretty good, no pain.
I did not even get a shoulder-strap for my arm before i went home.
My total time in the hospital was only about 4 hours.
Day 2&3.
Felt some pain, but not too bad, over the counter pain medication could handle it.
I could even play some GTA4 on my Playstation 3
Day 4.
No need for pain medicin any more, i felt pretty good, as long as i did
not move my arm anyway.
Week 2.
Allmost able to raise my arm in front and to the side 45 degrees without
any serious pain.
Able to type/ use my PC when sitting at my desk.
I took out the stitches on day 12. with the help of my girlfriend.
Week 3.
Day 16. was the first day in the gym since the surgery.
Doing some leg work, a little very light biceps and back with no problems.
Week 4.
Doing 50-70% of my former max weight in most exercises.
Im doing rotator cuff exercices for the shoulder, very light dumbell
sidelats and rear delts.
Still some pain with widegrib back exercises, shoulder & chest exercises and also
pain if i go to heavy on other exercises.
Im able to lift much more than i should, so i try to hold myself back.
Week 5.
I did not really notice any improvement shoulderwise this week, chest and
delts were still lacking and the exercises for them still makes my shoulder hurt.
I was able to benchpress without pain though (150 lbs).
Havent done that for 7 years
Week 6.
Improved range of motion, only chest and delts are still hurting a little.
I stopped putting more weight on in chest exercises, because i felt i was
going to fast and my shoulder hurt some after training.
My body is beginning to look like it did before, thats nice
Week 7.
The best back workout in a long time, 90% of my all time best strenght.
Widegrib pulldowns with no pain at all and narrow grib chins allso with no pain.
Triceps biceps workout is 100% in most exercises, with no pain.
I went to see the surgeon for a post-op examination.
He said i needed to do additional rotator cuff exercises and thought i
would fully recover in time.
Im hoping he is right, my chest/shoulder workouts are not yet painfree!
4 Months after surgery.
All is pretty great now, for the first time in 7 years i am doing:
Dips, Shoulder Presses, Upright rows and semi-heavy flat benchpresses
(getting stronger all the time).
I would say the surgery have been a succes and only wish i was diagnosed
correctly sooner...the is still some pain if i use bad form and when i raise the
dumbells into position to begin the exercise, but i feel it improving slowly all
the time and the pain is not so bad.
The workouts i get are really good and i have gained the 5kgs i lost before
surgery
I have not used steroids during my recovery and i dont
think i will until im 100% recovered with all my strenght back.
I use ginger and rosehip powder every day, and i really think is has an effect.
The occational joint problems i used to have is much better, but maybe
they was related to the shoulder problem!?
3 times a week i do rotator cuff exercises, 3 exercises and 2 sets in each.
I will proberbly to that for the rest of my days in the gym.
It it VERY important for healthy shoulders!!!
Final words.
This concludes my rehap diary for now, but feel free to comment or ask any
questions. If i can help i will
Regards
Green888
It was never obvious what the problem was, but i recently had surgery, and decided to
write about it, in case someone is in the same situation.
I know i was very worried about when i could workout again, about loosing size, how
long recovery would take and stuff like that.
Maybe this is boring reading to most people, but if even 1 person somehow
is helped by this article, then it was worth writing.
About me.
---------
Male 34 years old
Lifting weights for 18+ years
186cm
120-125 kg
The Timeline Pre-op.
--------------------
For about 7 years ago i had to give up doing flat benchpresses, upright rows,
behind the neck presses, well all shoulder presses really, i could do front press
but after a few weeks i would get a shoulder injury/problem. Therefore my shoulder
workouts for the last 7 years have consisted only of sidelats and rear delt exercises.
Anyway, during the last 7 years i have tried many things and been to the
doctor too many times.
He would usually give me some 600mg Ibuprofen and tell me not to workout, sometimes i
ate the pills, but most times i got kidney pain after a week or so.
My kidneys just dont like Ibuprofen i guess.
Anyway, most times i did not eat the pills, but iced the shoulder after workouts instead.
Between my many doctor visits i have tried acupunture, massage, rotatorcuff exercises,
stretching, EFA's, Glucosamine, rosehip powder, different warmup routines, human
growth hormone, Deca Durabolin, Vitamin B12 injections, physical therapy and so on.
Some of it helped a little, but the problem would allways be back.
I usually do a steroid cycle every summer, and my shoulders allways felt decent
when i was on, but afterwards the pain would come back, sometimes feeling worse.
Testosterone and winstrol is usually my preference.
After some years with recurring shoulder problems (1-3 times a year), i asked
for a MR-scan and got an appointment at the local hospital.
When i got there i did not fit in the MR scanner so they sent me home
with a new appointment, this time for an Ultrasound scan, they are less acurate.
I got the scan, but the doctor could not find anything wrong, but offered me
arthroscopic surgery to make sure all was good. I declined since i would not be
able to work for 4-6 weeks during a time where poeple at my job got layed off and
since they could not see a problem with the ultrasound scan.
It just seemed like too much trouble over "nothing" at the time.
Then in the summer 2008 my shoulder got severly injured, i could not even dumbellpress
5 lbs!! ...and could hardly workout my upperbody anymore, only light biceps/triceps
and narrow grib rows for back.
So i went to the doctor again and got an appointment on a private hospital with a
bigger MR-scanner and finally got scanned.
The images seemed to show a partial rotatorcuff tear, something that would need
surgery.
Its turns out the doctors where wrong, during the surgery they discovered that the
problem was "Impingement Syndrome", too tight space between the acromion and humerus
bones, causing inflammation in the bursa betweem them.
The solution was to remove some of the Acromion and Bursa.
SUrgery and Recovery.
---------------------
Day 1 - Surgery.
The Surgery vent fine, it took about 1-2 hours.
When i woke up i did not feel anything, i could not move my arm due to the
medication they injected in my shoulder, but i felt pretty good, no pain.
I did not even get a shoulder-strap for my arm before i went home.
My total time in the hospital was only about 4 hours.
Day 2&3.
Felt some pain, but not too bad, over the counter pain medication could handle it.
I could even play some GTA4 on my Playstation 3
Day 4.
No need for pain medicin any more, i felt pretty good, as long as i did
not move my arm anyway.
Week 2.
Allmost able to raise my arm in front and to the side 45 degrees without
any serious pain.
Able to type/ use my PC when sitting at my desk.
I took out the stitches on day 12. with the help of my girlfriend.
Week 3.
Day 16. was the first day in the gym since the surgery.
Doing some leg work, a little very light biceps and back with no problems.
Week 4.
Doing 50-70% of my former max weight in most exercises.
Im doing rotator cuff exercices for the shoulder, very light dumbell
sidelats and rear delts.
Still some pain with widegrib back exercises, shoulder & chest exercises and also
pain if i go to heavy on other exercises.
Im able to lift much more than i should, so i try to hold myself back.
Week 5.
I did not really notice any improvement shoulderwise this week, chest and
delts were still lacking and the exercises for them still makes my shoulder hurt.
I was able to benchpress without pain though (150 lbs).
Havent done that for 7 years
Week 6.
Improved range of motion, only chest and delts are still hurting a little.
I stopped putting more weight on in chest exercises, because i felt i was
going to fast and my shoulder hurt some after training.
My body is beginning to look like it did before, thats nice
Week 7.
The best back workout in a long time, 90% of my all time best strenght.
Widegrib pulldowns with no pain at all and narrow grib chins allso with no pain.
Triceps biceps workout is 100% in most exercises, with no pain.
I went to see the surgeon for a post-op examination.
He said i needed to do additional rotator cuff exercises and thought i
would fully recover in time.
Im hoping he is right, my chest/shoulder workouts are not yet painfree!
4 Months after surgery.
All is pretty great now, for the first time in 7 years i am doing:
Dips, Shoulder Presses, Upright rows and semi-heavy flat benchpresses
(getting stronger all the time).
I would say the surgery have been a succes and only wish i was diagnosed
correctly sooner...the is still some pain if i use bad form and when i raise the
dumbells into position to begin the exercise, but i feel it improving slowly all
the time and the pain is not so bad.
The workouts i get are really good and i have gained the 5kgs i lost before
surgery
I have not used steroids during my recovery and i dont
think i will until im 100% recovered with all my strenght back.
I use ginger and rosehip powder every day, and i really think is has an effect.
The occational joint problems i used to have is much better, but maybe
they was related to the shoulder problem!?
3 times a week i do rotator cuff exercises, 3 exercises and 2 sets in each.
I will proberbly to that for the rest of my days in the gym.
It it VERY important for healthy shoulders!!!
Final words.
This concludes my rehap diary for now, but feel free to comment or ask any
questions. If i can help i will
Regards
Green888
