F***ed Up My Shoulder

[royalpriestess]

Anyone have any advice or experience on shoulder injuries?

I'm a dude in my early 30's and chest day is by far my favorite, obviously.

But I recently messed up my shoulder pretty bad and all progress is pretty much gone that I've made over the last two years.

Makes me never want to workout again. Doctors said I basically hyper extended all the ligaments in my left shoulder, and although no surgery is needed yet, it will be if I don't give it close to a year to fully heal.

Well I've tried that. I let months go by without the gym and I got fat and depressed. I tried going back and going light weight, doing more lower body, and doing more cardio. It helps a little bit I can tell my upper body is weak, since I can barely do any excercises for that.

Idk, I guess this was sort of a rant, but has anybody had any sort of experience or advice they can give in this situation? I'd gladly listen.

 

[tdear25]

@royalpriestess I’m not in that dire of a situation but my knees and hips aren’t the greatest when hiking so I’m doing PT. I’ve completely cut out all leg days at the gym except for the exercises they’ve given me to do. It sucks because I know I can be progressing but I also know I’ll come back stronger and with a better foundation to build on. Just keep your head up and know you’ll come back stronger, smarter and more methodical. Good luck. The mental game is the hardest to wrestle with.

If you go to PT, at least you can get some guidance and get in a better mindset knowing you’re working towards it.

 

[royalpriestess]

@tdear25 Yea it blows knowing all the work you put in is gone :/

 

[tdear25]

@royalpriestess Yes it def does. I totally agree. But you’ll get back there.

 

[dawn16]

@royalpriestess Let it heal bro do not ignore the healing stage I did that with torn ligament in my forearm what should of been 4-6 week recovery had become 5 months six if in December and only just able to do curls again iv lost all the gains I had and did another injury on my left shoulder due to over compensating heal and stretch rehabilitation is so important as is time it takes time to heal

 

[royalpriestess]

@dawn16 I've let it try to heal for months. Still feels like shit tbh

 

[dawn16]

@royalpriestess U need to rehab it rebuild it I’m no expert maybe go see a physio

 

[harko]

@royalpriestess I messed up my shoulder and couldn't bench for about a year. Id back off of benching, go light, and it would always come back. I found that I had no problems doing weighted dips and OHP. I didn't get any irritation with these exercises so I focused on them and didn't bench for about a year. When I went back to bench I blew through my previous PRs. Sounds like your shoulder is worse of than mine was though.

 

[royalpriestess]

@harko Yea doc said no shoulder presses, more than likely permanently. I tried dips before and that felt worse than ohp lol

 

[harko]

@royalpriestess I've recently been thinking about getting one of these old school chest expanders for my home gym. I always thought they were a gimmick but I have a lot of respect for Alex and he's pretty optimistic about them. Of course his catch 22 is they don't really work the chest, they are a shoulder/upper back implement iirc. I think he's got a video somewhere going over how to use them. Id be cautious of any exercise that causes you pain though and I wouldn't push it. I tried the rest a week, and come back, rest two weeks, rest a month, and my shoulder pain always came back until I gave it a year. You might just have completely stop everything and get into running for a year.

 

[royalpriestess]

@harko I'll look into those thanks. And yea i've been running a lot! Better than nothing

 

[deezy]

@royalpriestess I had shoulder surgery in my 20s and couldn't use it for about a year. Just start working it out when you can and do it right. Being in shape is a life long commitment and this will just seem like a bump in the road in 5 years. Think of it as an opportunity to overcome and get mentally stronger

 

[royalpriestess]

@deezy The mental part is the toughest part, I got to admit.

 

[tikihead94]

@royalpriestess This same won’t probably apply to you, but ai had right shoulder injury 1yr ago, had surgery, got two screws and now I’m rehabilitating my shoulder with my physiotherapist, while also going to the gym, which is tough, since I gotta be careful with shoulder and chest lifts, but it is progressively getting better! My shoulder is def stronger now.

From my experience you have to consistently rehabilitate it with a physiotherapist. All I can say is get checked with a professional physiotherapist, they will be the best possible solution for your case. I’m afraid I don’t believe reddit would have much to offer what the professionals haven’t already.

Good luck mate.

 

[royalpriestess]

@tikihead94 May I ask what the biggest difference between a PT is and just taking it slow in the gym?

Not ragging on it I just ding know if I can afford that right now.

 

[tikihead94]

@royalpriestess PT will instruct you with guided exercise and the rehabilitation process meant for your injury. In my case I had a surgery, in your case I don’t know what can be done, but def get an appointment with a physiotherapist at the least.

 

[dawn16]

@royalpriestess If it helps, the two periods of time people can see massive gains are when they are new and when they are having a comeback after having not worked out for a long time. It’s often easier to get back old muscle/abilities you used to have than gaining them in the first place! You will have to modify and be careful of course, but you have no just lost all progress. I’ve come back from pregnancy a few times and I am positive it has never been as hard to get back old strength as it was to get it the first time. Good luck. Some feeling down is normal in recovery. Don’t feel bad about feeling bad either. Accept it, do for yourself What you can, and know you’ll have good days. You WILL have a come back if you just make sure you heal up right first.

 

[royalpriestess]

@dawn16 Thank you. I appreciate it.

Keep on keeping on

 

[christie12]

@royalpriestess I'm really sorry to hear about your situation but the only advice I can give is to let it heal. If you force your way through it, it might become worse. Keep a good diet, go jogging, you can still reduce that fat and stay in shape just like my father in his 50s. He has a strict diet along with daily jogging routine and he always looks fit and smart. Also I know you might feel uncomfortable answering this but as someone who's been in a gym for 5 months I really want to ask how it happened in order for me to avoid it in future, just trying to learn to lift safely. Is it because of 90° angle during bench press?? Like when you flare your elbows out too much?

 

[royalpriestess]

@christie12 Interestingly enough, my doctor said it was from the explosion you do when benching.

For example a lot of people bounce the weight off their chest when going for flat bench pr's. I was doing that and that is what started my problems.

I never let it fully heal, and then i hit a tree on a dirtbike lol