my first rotator cuff injury

[Oso]

Rotator cuff impingement tends to make the position of "hands up" a bit painful and when you get under the bar to do a back squat it puts the shoulder in that angle.
Impingement syndrome (Rotator cuff tendinitis, Bursitis).

also known as JFO.

[Oso]

If I were you I would stop weight lifting and focus more on holistic exercises like the 8 piece brocade, etc and if possible see a (good) TCM doctor.

Western medicine may provide much conflicting advice.

Eastern philosophy provides simple, and direct advice, all ailments are caused by yin yang disharmony, restore the harmony and you are healed.

omfg...dude, seriously? I don't want to come off like i'm targeting you...but...****...you've already admitted you are young with minimal experience. just keep reading for a couple of years. and, not just here, i'm not trying to claim that this is the be-all, end-all for info.

[IronFist]

omfg...dude, seriously? I don't want to come off like i'm targeting you...but...****...you've already admitted you are young with minimal experience. just keep reading for a couple of years. and, not just here, i'm not trying to claim that this is the be-all, end-all for info.

In his defense, most kung fu people go through an "Eastern medicine has all the answers" phase when they first become interested in kung fu, and the idea of herbal formulas and special exercises that can heal injuries in less than 24 hours is pretty alluring. You know, stuff that western medicine won't accept or admit because it's too focused on "treating the symptoms" with expensive drugs to make the drug companies rich.

[Oso]

That's why I said what I said.

[taai gihk yahn]

If I were you I would stop weight lifting and focus more on holistic exercises like the 8 piece brocade, etc and if possible see a (good) TCM doctor.

Western medicine may provide much conflicting advice.

Eastern philosophy provides simple, and direct advice, all ailments are caused by yin yang disharmony, restore the harmony and you are healed.

haven't been around in a while;

I see that the rosy-colored glasses have been passed off to the latest patsy...

btw, impingement that doesn't go away strongly suggests that the primary issue is not at the shoulder itself: if there is restriction / dysfunction somewhere else (usually more proximally, e.g. - thoracic spine, rib cage, hips, sacroiliac, etc.), the shoulder will have to bear the brunt of the lack of mobility / strength of the more proximal structure; meaning you can do NSAIDs, rehab, acupuncture, tree-hugging to your heart's content, and it's not going to get better until you clear the other stuff; even if not, at the very least, you need to clear the sub-scapularis, latissimus and quadratus lumborum muscles, and get them to be bilaterally balanced with normal tone, as they all will adversely impact shoulder when they are screwed up;

in that sort of situation, typically unless you find someone who knows how to think globally and synergisticaly, your progress will be limited;

[Neeros]

haven't been around in a while;

I see that the rosy-colored glasses have been passed off to the latest patsy...

Indeed, a patsy that is greatly enjoying the benefits of his training.

[Oso]

FTR, not that he won't throw his creds out there, but TGY knows more than we do about what he's talking about.

[taai gihk yahn]

Indeed, a patsy that is greatly enjoying the benefits of his training.

apparently said training comes with the purview to speak authoritatively without qualification, but hey, whatever...

[Drake]

Hmmm... let's weigh the comparison...

Guy on the internet who thinks eastern medicine will solve all ailments...

versus...

Hundreds of years of study and research by REAL doctors, many of whom specialize in these particular types of injuries.

[Toby]

I've had both shoulders sort-of rebuilt. Acromioplasty on both, due to (at times) acute pain from bad lifting habits. The first one took about a year to come 100%. The second one is 4 months and counting. On the plus side, now that I'm the $6,000,000 man, I can finally try the Olympic lifts so I've finally moved away from powerlifting and am teaching myself C&J. I started lifting about 8 weeks after surgery.

Like you iron, I could barely do squats last year. It got bad until there was a point where I was doing a particular sport and couldn't lift my arms above shoulder height afterwards.

It's all coming good now.

[IronFist]

I can't remember what I posted in this thread already.

Anyway, I am currently like 96% better.

I added the following to my rehab program:

• Ice massage (fill Dixie cups with water, freeze them, peel back part of the cup and rub it directly on the affected area)
  
• Magnesium supplement (specifically magnesium taurate, since some types can have a laxative effect)
  
• Resistance on the eccentric part of the rehab exercises (I started using a 32oz Powerade bottle which weighs like 2 pounds)

There have been studies showing that eccentric exercise can help tendonitis heal much more quickly than in people who don't do it, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I know that this kind of injury doesn't have a linear recovery time, but instead you will be sore at a certain level for days/weeks and then one day wake up and feel noticeably better, and then remain at that level for days/weeks months, until one day when you feel noticeable better, etc., but within 48 hours of adding the above three things, I was feeling noticeably better. So it could've just been a coincidence or it could be that they're helping.

It's to the point where it only hurts if I go to the edge of my ROM, or if I change directions in my shoulder really quickly, like if I snap my arm, for example if I was doing a backfist.

I've been doing sets of like 5 and 10 pushups every few days but I'm not going to go back to the gym until I'm 100% pain free because I don't want to make it worse, and I don't want to get into one of those reduced ROM exercise habits.

Can't wait to get back in the gym. I've lost a lot of weight in the last 5-6 months.