Hi guys

Ive reading browsing on these forums for the last couple of weeks and ive been really keen to get started on my cutting program.

Unfortunately i have the same issue as what John had a few years back. A really nasty impingement involving Bursitis/Tendonitis.

Tennis serves have seem to be the cause of this, its been about 6-7 months of continous visits to the physio with no tennis and some light weights and cardio.
The shoulder was feeling great until last night when i decided to go back into some tennis training.
Unfortunately my serving has brought back some pain and now im really considering surgery.

Im seeking advice here with people who have had similar problems as to what i should continue doing because currently in theres a 2 month waiting period to see any Orthopedist in my area.

Should i continue with my cutting program minus all activity involving the shoulder? (light bicep+tricep work isnt painful thou)
Or wait 2 months and just eat healthy + cardio and see what the doctor has to say.

My goal was to shred bodyfat below 10% in 16 weeks and im currently around 20-22%.


Thanks in advance
Chris

Well swinging a tennis racket is going to present a totally different type of stress as compared to weight training, so I don't think much can be determinded on how your shoulder will respond from this alone.

I'm sure you can work around this in the gym, and drop your BF% with the right diet.

Stay away from attempting bench press PRs for now, and you should be fine.

Its good you mentioned bench press, cos that was the only one giving me issues before this incident.
I was only able to lift half my body weight before i started feeling some pain.
Oh and also lateral pulldowns give an annoying pinching pain around the clavicle.

Atm the doctor has given some anti inflamatories, and ill get a cortisine shot to help relieve/recover faster.

Be careful with the cortisone shots -- while they will most likely make you feel better very quickly, they will *permanently* degrade the joint and tendons in the area of injection, making a very large increase in likelyhood for future injury.

Have you tried doing rotator cuff exercises?
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/physical/injuries/265.html

I fell on some ice about 5 weeks ago and injured my shoulder as well. Like you, i've found that it's very difficult to see a good orthopedist in my area (NYC!), but I've finally got an appointment for monday. I found that naproxen (aleve) worked very well for bringing the inflammation (and pain) down, which seemed to speed up the healing quite a bit, and the rotator cuff exercises also seemed to speed up healing even more.

5 weeks ago, lifting a 10 pound weight was somewhat difficult. Today, I'm probably at about 80% recovered, and at the rate I'm going, I figure I'll be at 100% in 2 weeks, hopefully.

Your injury does sound a bit more serious than mine, but most likely you can recover from it.

I would also suggest that you remove from your routine, until this is closer to resolved, or until a doctor suggests these might be a good idea:
bench press
shoulder press
pull ups
push ups
in general - any overhead lifting
and most importantly - any exercise that causes pain in the shoulder (though the RC specific training may cause some discomfort - it did for me, but still seemed to speed healing)

Before the incident i felt like i was 90% healed after 6-7 months of physio, but it never seemed to get past that.

Now theres only 2 types of action giving some pain.
1. standing straight with arms to the side with thumbs pointing back, then lift arm forward to the ceiling.
2. "pretending to elbow someone in the head" type action :)

Now to make matters worse the back of my heels are sore from cardio, which is also hindering my progress.

Anyway i got an xray(shoulder) the other day, so im keen to hear the results tmw.
Ill keep you guys updated.

Chris

An X-Ray can look for bone problems and calcium deposits on your tendons (a possible complication of a tendon injury), but otherwise can't see problems with soft tissue (tendons, ligaments and muscles). I'd suggest getting an MRI done as well.

Well from the xray results there seems to be no issues.
The doctor wants me to have an Ultrasound diagnosis this week, and says this will help locate where my muscle tear is.

I keep suggesting an MRI, but doesnt belive i should get one unless i am definately considering surgery.
He seems very old fashioned, should i get a second opinion from elsewhere?

What kind of doctor is it? Anything less than an orthro is next to useless.

You should have an MRI. But, even an MRI can miss something like a labrum tear. My MRI showed me rotator tear, but the doctor still told me that my labrum was torn.

I'd say that's a really unfair way of putting it, only getting the MRI if you are considering surgery.

I'd put it another way, get the MRI if you are willing to to get the surgery if the MRI says you will need it.

The only reason I can think of to avoid the MRI is the cost. If you have health insurance, the MRI should be fully covered if the doctor writes a prescription for it.

Even if you don't have insurance, the cost should be fairly reasonable, $500 or so ( ask, if this is a concern ).

I'm not sure about ultrasound and what it will/won't find, and perhaps it is effective as well. I do know that ultrasound is used as therapy for certain kinds of shoulder injuries, though - eg breaking up calcium deposits on soft tissue, and causing heat deep within muscles to increase vasodilation and speed healing.