Rotator cuff issues

[LittleLebowski]

Not to thread drift, but has anyone tried Turkish Get-Ups to ameliorate shoulder issues?

I really hate Turkish get ups.

[smells like feet]

I am going to preface this post with a disclaimer. I am posting from Canada where peptides are completely legal and I do not compete in a drug tested sport where they are banned as a PED . This may not be the case for everyone and I am not endorsing cheating in athletics or illegal drug use.

Peptides and SARMS are getting a lot of attention in the bodybuilding, biohacking and anti ageing communities. To the extent that you trust anything coming out of those communities is up to you.

There is a peptide called BPC 157 that I and several of my friends have used to deal with tennis elbow, golfers elbow and various shoulder and back pain related problems.

Its not particularly expensive, has no known risk of adverse effects and its pretty effective at healing some of those nagging injuries that plague middle age guys who still do combat sports.

Its injected twice a day from an insulin syringe, subcutaneously or intramuscular usually close to the injury.

You guys might find it useful to look into BPC 157 as a part of your recovery process. Ben Greenfield has a couple of good podcasts on peptides in general and BPC 157 on its own.

[Cory]

In September I fell on my right shoulder and knew I was hurt.

It's taken months of goofing with the VA to find out what's wrong. Grade 2 AC seperation, bone contusions, inflamed rotator cuffs, and inflamed bursa. Essentially my collar bone smacked into my shoulder blade, ripped the ligiment, made stuff hurt, and the bones are rubbing some. That's my understanding.

At this point the inflammation has settled alot I think. I have my first PT appointment early January. My VA ortho told me to accept my body will change, I'll become arthritic soon, never overhead press again, BJJ is never going to happen, yadda yadda. I'm 29. lol.

I got bands, going to see the PT (a non VA doc) and let them know the outcome I want (my normal lifestyle) and do whatever they say to get there. Plus some accessory stuff from Kelly Starret that was recommended by someone I trust.

[EPF]

Most folks do 10x internal rotation in the course of a day as external rotation

Front of shoulder gets stronger and more imbalanced making impingement and instability worse.

As soon as I started doing external rotation with resistance bands, all weird popping and such went away

This is a really great point. Almost everyone needs to add this to their routines. Even if you don’t yet have shoulder issues. The higher the mileage on your body the more you need this. I still deal with some arthritis, but stabilizing my shoulders and building good posture fixed years of issues.

[vsdtrek]

Ages ago, I had a bloody nose during the night, and went to get out of bed. As I put my right arm out while rolling out of bed, I didn't realize my feet were wound up in the covers, and I fell to the floor with my right arm extended, knocking the wind out of me and hyper extending my right shoulder. Initially there was not much obvious damage, and PT helped a lot... I have now been through multiple rounds of physical therapy, and dealt with shoulder issues for fifteen years or more now. The PT helped for quite a while, and injections helped for a short time after each one. I have a torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff, with possible bicep tendonosis. The pain has slowly increased with age, and now I occasionally get very sharp pain, occasional popping,
and the dull ache is constant enough it disrupts my sleep. I still have decent strength and range of motion, but it is for sure weaker than my other side. I'm going for surgery in January.

Shoulder specific PT exercises can be a huge help, and buy you time before you have to get cut on. Waiting too long can be problematic too, from what I understand. I'm hoping I didn't wait too long.

Best wishes for a successful surgery. I've had one on each shoulder. Read some stat that basically majority of us over 40 eventually have some form of RC tear and it's just a matter of if we notice it enough. First one happened falling off a bike when I hit uneven concrete. Honestly, they really were awful. My shoulders never got back to 100% and I had to give up my favorite sport of tennis. Still, I manage decently enough. Hard to complain when there are so many people with far worse conditions in the world who would trade places in a minute.

Some tips:
- If you are right handed, start thinking about what you do with that arm and practice with the left. Activities of daily living and things like driving your car or opening a door can get tricky. Best not to learn on the fly!
- Have a recliner/tilting bed for sleeping during the first few weeks. BTW - most recliners seem to have the control on the right side. I have a wife who was very nice during all this.
- A cheap backscratcher is really handy! Even one of those pincers on a long stick was handy while I had on my huge sling or was sitting in the range of motion chair for rehab.
- I bought some cool looking elastic laces from a running store and put in my hiking shoes because it was winter. Honestly - they looked good and I used them for a few years afterwards.
- For icing, if you have a refrigerator with an icemaker, that is great. If not, I froze a bunch of water bottles and kept reusing because I was icing a lot. Helps that I live where there's snow and had the winter to use for additional storage of them.
- My balance was rather iffy when my arm was in the sling. You don't realize how much arms help when they are always functioning. I hated when it snowed or on stairs. I went backwards down them for awhile because if I fell forward, nothing was going to stop me.
- I hated having my arm against me all day. Shirt always felt wet and skin got really irritated. I really have no one to impress and went with muscle shirts.
- Do your rehab and don't get discouraged. The initial several weeks was rather awful. I still do exercises a few times a week and it's been 4 years since the last one.
- Take it easy and don't overdo it with the left arm while you recover. I ripped my other one three months after the first one and had to wait several months until the first one was semi-decent.

I have been hearing about the use of stem cells for shoulders. Will be interesting to see if this ever pans out. My ortho said he could get into this too and make a lot of money but then wouldn't be able to sleep at night because the scientific data just doesn't support it. I'm in benefits for my job and I still don't see it being covered. That's usually a sign too. A business contact's husband had it recently done and it did nothing.

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit, but the RC tears caused me to go all in on the HK LEM trigger. I had long rehabs and when I finally went to a range again, I started using my usual P30 V3. Even though I had done a bit of dry firing (ambidextrous mag release is awesome when your arm doesn't work), I wasn't used to the DA/SA pull and recoil. I really jerked the first shot and that was it for me with that trigger system. Never fired another shot out of it and used my USP LEM for the rest of the session. That felt fine and I figured since I wasn't getting younger, decided the LEM was best option. Sold the P30 V3 and got another P30 in V1. Hey - at least I didn't hit the ceiling right above me.

V

[olstyn]

You don't realize how much arms help when they are always functioning.

To add on to this point, even outside of balance, you don't realize just how much you use your "weak" arm until you lose the use of it for an extended period of time. It's incredibly frustrating to not think you're doing anything with it only to be notified by pain that you were using it even when you didn't think you were.

[JohnO]

Some beneficial info may be contained within.

[Robert Mitchum]

My left shoulder has been messed up since the early 80's.
I also ripped my left triceps tendon off the bone when I was 54 years old ..I was getting 405 pounds on the Incline Bench.
I just packed a lot of muscle around my shoulders and workout through the pain.

Now at 68 years old can still bench press 300 pounds... did 315 pounds last Month
I cannot lift my left arm over my head because of the shoulder ..but I have no pain.

I also take natural herbs .. any Doctor who tells you to stop working out leave and find another one.

[Lon]

I just had surgery back in Oct to repair a partial thickness tear of my rotator cuff. First day of real PT (as opposed to at home stretching) was today. Here’s my 2 cents if you end up having surgery:

- be comfy carrying and shooting a pistol weak hand only or strong hand only. In my case it was weak hand only.
- the recliner suggestion for sleeping is a good one. What little sleep I got in the first couple weeks was in a recliner.
- figure out how to wipe your ass if your surgery is on the hand you normally use. 🤣
- cold therapy machines are awesome. Buy the little half bottles of water and freeze them instead of using ice in the reservoir. I bought one off Amazon with HSA $$.
- do whatever your doc tells you to for at home PT and obey any restrictions he gives. That helped me a lot. Therapist told me today I am already beyond what is the norm for my stage of recovery.
- buy a comfy sling. The one they gave me was a POS.

Here’s the cold therapy machine I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07BD...b_b_asin_title

[FNFAN]

I wish I could go back and explain to 16y.o. me that Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu is not the best MA for tall kids. I have noticed that working with a heavy steel mace keeps my shoulders nice and limber and helps with posture. Here's a link with some exercises: https://vimeo.com/144006083