shoulder injury

Mark me down as a member of the partial tear crowd. Both shoulders, but mostly the left. After I was done with the PT, it seemed to be OK for a while and then it got worse again. That was a few years ago. This past spring when I started lifting weights, it took several months until I could do more than 10 pounds on a shoulder press with my left arm. It has finally caught up with my right, but it took some time. For my tri last month, every time I tried to swim freestyle it would aggrivate me, of course my pitiful freestyle form aggrivated me just as much, so I practiced breaststroke. I'm starting to learn the freestyle from scratch using TI drills, and I couldn't be happier. The weight work has brought my shoulder back into good enough shape that it doesn't bug me to swim freestyle. Plus, I stopped waking up with my shoulders in pain and numb every day since I started strength training. Your PT-ist should be able to give you some exercises to help too. Side note: I went diving the day after I hurt it and it hurt like crazy after I got out of the water. I thought I was severely bent Turns out it was just a partial tear

-Frank

Oh man! I did this, too. I was in PT for about.... maybe, 3 or 4 months. I don't remember, exactly. And I didn't swim at all during that phase -and I only lifted the weenie-weights that they prescribed for me. It was tragic. I stopped PT in, about, June, and my shoulder is still not perfect. I really, REALLY have to keep after the exercises that the therapist suggested. If I don't, I feel the difference immediately and for several days This getting old thing stinks.

I really think that I have a permanent disability here. I can live with it, and my activities really aren't curtailed -but it's something I have to factor into my thinking. Can I swim today or should I wait until tomorrow? What else do I have to do today that will stress my shoulder?..... that kind of thing.

Andrea,

Did you have a partial tear as well?

Thanks for sharing your experience (you to scubapunk!) Trying to prepare myself for whats to come.

Did they do a MRI? I go in a week to see the specialist.

Kathy

No, I don't have a partial tear. I'll have to look up the exact name..... hang on.... it's right here in a file somewhere..... recurrent shoulder dislocation. Possibly due to a previous trauma, possibly due to hyperflexibility, possibly due to heaven knows what, my shoulder has always come out of joint. I can put it back. Weird, but true. Then, I overused it (for my strength level) in swim training and the next time it popped out of joint, I couldn't put it back. The muscles (in my primitive understanding of anatomy) grabbed onto the bones, etc.... in an effort to protect the joint. And they did not let go. So I had to get it put back where it belongs. Oh that was fun -NOT. Then I had physical therapy to strengthen the surrounding muscles so they could do what I was asking them to do with triathlon training, and also so they would work together to hold the joint in place -because at my age I really ought to knock it off with this quasi-voluntary dislocation. I never really do it on purpose, but I could, and I always (before) could put it back if it accidentally popped out of joint. It hasn't come out of joint in several weeks at this point, which is good. But it pretty much always hurts. Not like "oh my goodness I can't go on" hurt, but I'm always aware of it. So, something is still inflamed, I figure.

Andrea

I dislocated my left shoulder 13 times at swim meets in high school. I tore my shoulder up doing the bench press. Doctor said I brought the bar to close to my chest so that my shoulder went into a negative position instead of positive. I had to have my shoulder rebuilt. I have about 75% of the motion I once did. I can do freestyle and breast stroke. Butterfly and Backstroke hurt too much to do. I did my first tri a year after the surgery and I had no issues. I developed tendinitis earlier this year because I was doing shoulder exercises that required me to put my arm over my head. It took 4 months to heal. The only exercise I will do for the shoulder now is pushups. They work the entire shoulder so everything is balanced. If I don't do pushups and allow my shoulder to weaken I have a real hard time swimming in the pool.
Just get a second opinion if the surgeon's diagnosis sounds iffy to you. I was only 17 at the time of my surgery and my parents wouldn't get a second opinion. I am upset at the loss of 25% of range of motion.

Mike