fausto1973
New member
Nearly a year ago, I decided to get back into weightlifting (and regular exercise more generally) after a long time off. I've made excellent progress, and the benefits have been wonderful: weight loss, muscle development, aesthetic improvements to my physique, and significant improvements to my mental health (e.g. reduced stress, improved mood, etc.). It's just been awesome.
But approximately one month ago, I started feeling some serious pain in my right shoulder. Not exactly sure what caused it --- might have been due to overextending on a pushing exercise (e.g. dumbbell press), but it could have also resulted from weightlifting and cumulative effects of ineffective movements in everyday living (e.g. holding my daughters a certain way, reaching for things, sleeping the wrong way, etc.). I dunno.
Anyway, like any other dumbass-tough-guy, I shrugged off the symptoms and just kept training, doing nothing about it except complaining that prevented me from lifting at my best. Then, predictably, things just got worse and worse, to the point where I could barely complete any exercise connected to the chest or shoulders (except for dips and tricep extensions), and even holding the bar for a back squat became unbearable, due to the extension required.
Eventually, I made an appointment with family doctor, who recommended that I see a physiotherapist. He confirmed my doctor's suspicion: looks like it's a rotator cuff impingement in the supraspinatus. It's been about 3 weeks, and while I'm seeing *some* improvements, it's been up and down. He's been doing things like deep tissue release, cupping, etc. and having me complete daily exercises to strengthen my rhomboids, rear delts, and lats, as well as stretches to open up the chest and shoulders. I've also had a few massage therapy sessions, which have helped a little bit, but not much. I've also spent the past 1.5 weeks doing no heavy weight lifting whatsoever, not even for parts of he body unaffected by the shoulder injury. (I don't want to train only some parts of my body since that might cause imbalances etc.) In the meantime, I've doing moderate yoga and cardio every day (in addition to my prescribed physio exercises), but not much else other than that. I've also been maintaining a good diet overall, but I've noticed myself slipping, mainly due to the effects on my mental health.
Anyway, this has been affecting me a lot more than I thought it would. It's bad enough that I feel demoralized, sad, and pretty much hopeless... I'm really worried that I won't be able to re-establish a regular weightlifting program again. (To say nothing of the losses in the gains I've made over the past year...) And it's not just the physical side of things. It's the impact that it's had on my mental health. I'm already finding myself getting more easily frustrated and destabilized by things that I've been handling well when I was weightlifting regularly. I also like this is a 'first world problem' --- so I feel guilty about how I feel too. I mean, I know all personal issues are valid from their own vantage point, but mine seem insignificant in comparison to the some of things I read about on this subreddit.
Any thoughts/feedback would be appreciated. Thanks y'all.
But approximately one month ago, I started feeling some serious pain in my right shoulder. Not exactly sure what caused it --- might have been due to overextending on a pushing exercise (e.g. dumbbell press), but it could have also resulted from weightlifting and cumulative effects of ineffective movements in everyday living (e.g. holding my daughters a certain way, reaching for things, sleeping the wrong way, etc.). I dunno.
Anyway, like any other dumbass-tough-guy, I shrugged off the symptoms and just kept training, doing nothing about it except complaining that prevented me from lifting at my best. Then, predictably, things just got worse and worse, to the point where I could barely complete any exercise connected to the chest or shoulders (except for dips and tricep extensions), and even holding the bar for a back squat became unbearable, due to the extension required.
Eventually, I made an appointment with family doctor, who recommended that I see a physiotherapist. He confirmed my doctor's suspicion: looks like it's a rotator cuff impingement in the supraspinatus. It's been about 3 weeks, and while I'm seeing *some* improvements, it's been up and down. He's been doing things like deep tissue release, cupping, etc. and having me complete daily exercises to strengthen my rhomboids, rear delts, and lats, as well as stretches to open up the chest and shoulders. I've also had a few massage therapy sessions, which have helped a little bit, but not much. I've also spent the past 1.5 weeks doing no heavy weight lifting whatsoever, not even for parts of he body unaffected by the shoulder injury. (I don't want to train only some parts of my body since that might cause imbalances etc.) In the meantime, I've doing moderate yoga and cardio every day (in addition to my prescribed physio exercises), but not much else other than that. I've also been maintaining a good diet overall, but I've noticed myself slipping, mainly due to the effects on my mental health.
Anyway, this has been affecting me a lot more than I thought it would. It's bad enough that I feel demoralized, sad, and pretty much hopeless... I'm really worried that I won't be able to re-establish a regular weightlifting program again. (To say nothing of the losses in the gains I've made over the past year...) And it's not just the physical side of things. It's the impact that it's had on my mental health. I'm already finding myself getting more easily frustrated and destabilized by things that I've been handling well when I was weightlifting regularly. I also like this is a 'first world problem' --- so I feel guilty about how I feel too. I mean, I know all personal issues are valid from their own vantage point, but mine seem insignificant in comparison to the some of things I read about on this subreddit.
Any thoughts/feedback would be appreciated. Thanks y'all.
