Rotator Cuff Injuries

[David Trippett]

Anyone ever had one? I have two very sore ones......I've seen the physio and I'm on anti-inflammitories and ice/hot....but I'd like to hear any stories/tips people have.

 

thanks

[ken4ord]

For myself I never let it get to bad where I had to do anything more than gett the therabands out and the little mini 2 lb. dumbells.

[bobinc]

I'm working on T-band series now. It helps. I have a fair amt of scar tissue on the right side from repeated injuries 20 or so yrs ago (mostly from Ultimate Frisbee). The degree of impingement is very movement-specific. I just rowed an 18 ft boat through the Grand Canyon and did fine but certain types of climbing motion (especially arm extended over head) create trouble. I have high hopes for the bands.

[sampdx]

Try Dr. Jeff Robinson at the Portland Sports & Injury Center. (Phone # 503-517-8700) He's done wonders with various injuries for me, including badly torn ligments, shoulder impact injuries, and lower back pain. He works a lot with pro athletes and knows his business. I can't recommend him highly enough.

[layton]

you're in canada, right?

 

I'm actually designing a flyer regarding impingement syndrome as we speak:

 

here's the rough draft:

(clinic logo)

(short bio)

Shoulder Impingement Syndrome

(insert image of shoulder complex)

 

What is it?

Shoulder impingement syndrome is one of the most common injuries climbers suffer, second only to a rotator cuff tear. However, impingement syndrome is often time the underlying cause for a rotator cuff tear. Impingement syndrome is an overuse injury resulting from a postural dysfunction in the shoulder complex. An extremely important rotator cuff muscle and shoulder stabilizer, the supraspinatus muscle, passes under what is called the sub-acromial space. In abnormal shoulder movement the supraspinatus becomes repeatedly pinched and inflamed, leading to pain, inflammation, and possible rupture. You can even experience symptoms such as pain, tingling, and numbness in your hands and fingers due to impingement syndrome.

 

What causes it?

The complex movement that occurs when you raise your arms overhead involves synchronous movement between your humerous, scapula, clavicle, and neck is called scapulo-humeral rhythm. The timing must be just right to rotate your humerous under your scapula so as not to impinge the supraspinatus muscle. If one of many muscles that is involved in this movement patter is unbalanced, weak, tight, inflamed, overused, if there is dysfunction in the joints of your shoulder and neck, or if the movement pattern of shoulder has been replaced by a learned biomechanically incorrect pattern, impingement can occur.

 

How to fix it?

The key is to “re-wire” your shoulder muscles to “fire” in the correct order. Weak muscles need to be strengthened, tight muscles need to be stretched, inflammation needs to be reduced, posture needs to be corrected, and proper movement patterns need to be re-learned. Your shoulder must be re-educated! Even correcting poor climbing technique can drastically help your shoulder pain. In general, your scapular stabilizers need strengthening, and your large torque producing muscles need to be stretched and relaxed. Inflamed muscles in your rotator cuff may have trigger points that need to be reduced. And the joints of your shoulder and neck need to be mobilized. Usually there is not a single cause, and rehabilitation takes some time. It took a long time for this condition to occur, so it stands to follow that it can’t be fixed overnight. Home stretching and strengthening exercises, biofeedback, soft-tissue therapy, prorioceptive training, taping, cold-laser, nutritional supplements, and manipulation of the neck and shoulder are all excellent conservative treatments. Unless you’ve totally ruptured your tendon, surgery is a last resort.

 

Shoulder impingement syndrome as well as many other injuries of the shoulder are excellent candidates for chiropractic care.

(image of overhead activities)

(image of exercises)

 

[Billygoat]

Long story short: massage therapy, rest and relaxation

 

I'm dealing right now with it. Somehow I tweaked it during Ski In. awkward injury to be sure

[selkirk]

Went through several tweaked rotator cuff's when I was playing quite a bit of volleyball. Went to the sports med folks at UW, and was told be very very nice to it for 3 weeks, and take 300mg of Naproxen (3 Aleve) twice a day. After that I just had to be very conscientious about warming up my shoulder real well before hitting. The motion of hitting with my arm extended above my head was always the culprit, and it always happened when I wasn't warmed up enough.

(Though as a side note, I keep hearing that NSAIDS like Naproxen can slow soft tissue healing times, so RICE might be a better bet, with heavy on the rest).

Good Luck

[layton]

I want to attach a file. how do I do that?

[chelle]

I battled with rotator cuff problems when I was climbing a lot and massage therapy worked the best to relieve the spasm points in the small stabilizer muscles to allow the shoulder to move and actually do the PT exercises. PT alone (including ultrasound, fascial release work, and tens) only caused my shoulder to hurt more and to essentially freeze up.

 

If you think massage would work for you, find someone who understands it is necessary to get to the smaller muscles and get them to release. They need to work the whole shoulder. My primary culprits are my subscapularis muscles that lay under the scapula bones and the levators which let you shrug your shoulders. I've gotten a lot of massage work over the past 15 years and only 2 therapists have ever worked my shoulders properly to get them to feel normal and pain free. Most focus on the larger superficial muscles.

[layton]

so how do I attach a file!