Does the Maxim "just keep moving" apply to shoulders / what are the limits

[swbca]

Over the last year I've learned that BOS subscribers have more back and shoulder problems than most . . . some are doctors.

 

and, over the same time period I found an exercise that has essentially cured my life-long lower back problems but also triggers warnings about an an old shoulder injury. About 10 years ago I fell on my left shoulder standing still on ice while snow skiing. It took a about 2 months to "heal" but never completely.

 

Since I have a desk job from home, I can do this exercise several times a day and usually perform 100 to 200 repetitions daily per arm. A life saver for my back, but concerned a shoulder might 'pop' because I can feel it. The shoulder never gets better and never worse, but I know they can dissemble in various ways.

 

This is my back cure and it builds strength in several areas, but I don't know if If this is a sustainable activity or could be wearing things out and heading for trouble. 100-200 repetitions per day (30 per session) per arm with a 50# Kettlebell.

 

[BraceMaker]

Shoulders are basically held in by muscles those muscles mask a lot of problems. Take a professional cross fitt athlete, sedate them, and it can feel like their shoulder is separated. Look at folks with strokes and they will have shoulder subluxation the muscles aren't engaged and the arm falls down out of its socket.

 

I like resistance band work, find a post or tree and get a resistance band around it then do shoulder work off that tons of moves you can use maybe join the whole Marcus brown/lebaw program

 

 

[swbca]

@BraceMaker

If lifting your arm to horizontal or higher causes pain, the tendency is to avoid that movement. Is it safe to work through painful shoulder positions ?

[Rednucleus]

Pain is a self defense thing that is there to protect you from further damage. For your shoulder pain, if you have not had an orthopedic evaluation and mri to define why it hurts, then I would recommend that vs continuing to do to things to make it hurt. Disclaimer: advise from a veterinarian, not a physician!

[BraceMaker]

@swbca there is lain swinging a 50 lb kettlebell vs pain with active ROM and pain in passive ROM. Which do you have?

[swbca]

@BraceMaker I can avoid pain in the left shoulder while swinging the Kettlebell if I hold a certain shoulder position and don't rotate the arm/hand the wrong way.

 

Passive ROM causes no pain. Active ROM causes pain when lifting arm to horizontal and higher.

 

And watch my Diet . . relatives like to bake and the keep bringing us stuff with a lot of sugar and wheat.. That's a problem for the joints.

 

 

[Hucklefin]

@BraceMaker That is a super interesting comment and it makes a lot of sense. I used to do crossfit because it was just a fun way to work out, but after doing it for a year and becoming aware that the constant little injuries (that crossfitters basically take pride in pushing through) are not healthy and absolutely not worth it. I think if more people understood your sedation comment, they would seriously think twice about doing crossfit or any of the ridiculous BS they program into the workouts. Shoulder injuries absolutely suck.

[BraceMaker]

@Hucklefin there is nothing wrong with crossfit other than people who don't know their limitations and don't understand how their body works doing things poorly.

 

The Kettle bell swing in this illustration is a perfect example, notice the illustration does not show the shoulder going beyond a 90 degree angle to the torso in the drawing. This pretty clearly implies that the correct biomechanical motion for that work out is to swing the weight up to horizontal but not beyond. @swbca is asking why he has pain going beyond that angle and as @Rednucleus points out and I would concur when something hurts don't do it and seek out medical advice and if that medical advise can come from say an Orthopedic Surgeon who is a shoulder specialist or maybe a sports med specialist that would hold more sway than if its the guy who does your acupuncture and cupping and reads your crystals.

 

But to that end if you are going to do a kettle bell swing you should 100% make sure you do the swing as instructed or if you are going to go beyond discuss with a trainer or PT. If that work out was intended to be a kettle bell swing up and overhead they would tell you to do so, but I expect the pop is going beyond where the muscle responsible for acceleration of the kettle ball goes and then onto a different muscle. So maybe do it with a low ceiling or something to restrict the motion to the range you don't pop?

 

 

 

[swbca]

@BraceMaker My comments about going above horizontal were not related to the Kettlebell swing. I was referring to activities like putting dishes away on the top shelf. And popping isn't a sound, its how I referred to a shoulder failure that could happen in a moment.

 

Thanks for your informed feedback.

[DaveD]

@swbca I think the solution for you is to stop doing the dishes.

[swbca]

PT and/or cortisone useful with shoulders ?

In the last week I saw the sports med ortho doc before and after an MRI. A damaged ligament from a snow ski incident combined with age degeneration leaves a condition where the success of surgery is uncertain. Its a large ligament that is some small part of the rotator cuff. He is starting me on PT and says I could use periodic cortisone injections. But he agreed that masking pain with cortisone could result in over stressing weak parts.

 

With all the shoulder experience in this forum, has anyone had ongoing success with PT prescribed exercises or found cortisone an effective treatment ?

 

The direction of the loads on shoulders from slalom skiing with the handle close to the hips doesn't seem to strain the problem parts, but many conventional things you would do in a gym engage the weak shoulder parts.