Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Rotator Cuff tweak

Tagged: 

Viewing 11 reply threads
  • Author
    Posts
    • 07/05/2013 at 2:05 pm #70324
      John CarriereJohn Carriere
      Participant

      I’m 100% sure I tweaked my rotator cuff during baseball last week. I had to be super awesome and attempt a throw from right field all the way to third base. Good news is we got the tag out, bad news is I definitely felt a tweak after the throw. I kept playing right field because I was being stupid and thought I was fine. As soon as I got home I pick up my dog in the same way you would wind up for a throw. (Super weird position from the bed, not sure why I decided to pick him up like that). As soon as I put weight on my rotated shoulder I felt a pop in my muscle and bam my shoulder was extremely painful.

      Knowing what I had done I did mobility work and tried to get some motion back into my shoulder. It actually helped a ton, but now a week later it’s still nagging me. I can workout just fine but I still can’t do anything overhead without pain and severe weakness. Is there anything else other than rest at this point I can do? It’s getting pretty frustrating because I thought I had initially done great with the mobility work but now I think it may be hindering my healing?
    • 07/06/2013 at 10:09 pm #72370
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Did you do anything else to address the injury within the first 48hrs?
      Did you continue to do mobility work or did you only do it once?
      Post 400: Movement Hierarcy- Movement Complexity, Injury Rehab, and Making the Invisible Visible
      An MWod Model for Post Surgery/Post Injury Rehab
      There are several overhead episodes you can be hitting.
      Pain is your body’s way of letting you know something isn’t right.

    • 07/07/2013 at 10:17 am #72372
      John CarriereJohn Carriere
      Participant

      Within the first 48hrs I just let it rest after my initial mobility work. From there I continued to do mobility work daily. From watching those videos it sounds like I’m at the point where I should re-introduce load but with a very light weight. That was probably my mistake. Once I started to feel better mid week I went straight for 70% of my 1RM max. That most likely set me back a few days.

    • 07/08/2013 at 9:48 am #72373
      John CarriereJohn Carriere
      Participant

      …and back to square one. Played catcher last night in ball to limit my throwing. Apparently just throwing the ball back to the pitcher was enough to make my rotator hate me again. Can barely move it this morning so I decided to ice it for a bit.

    • 07/08/2013 at 1:59 pm #72374
      Avatarsimon brooks
      Participant

      I would suggest to attack the thoracic spine with the double lacross ball, barbell smash, along with an external rotator smash.


      Also you might want so pull your shoulder back with a band to reset position.
    • 07/08/2013 at 3:04 pm #72380
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Did you heat  the area following the injury?
      Were you seeing change with the mobility that you were doing?
      Yes, if you were using too much weight this could set things back some.
      Sounds like your muscle is still healing so yeah throwing was a stressor for the rotator.
      Know what you are looking to achieve with icing.
      People, We’ve Got to Stop Icing. We Were Wrong, Sooo Wrong.

    • 07/08/2013 at 4:48 pm #72383
      John CarriereJohn Carriere
      Participant

      Brenley, When you say use a band to reset the shoulder position do you mean the same mob that can be used with a dumbbell or KB laying down?

      Kaitlin, I did not apply heat to the shoulder, I thought this was worse than icing?
      I did see immediate change with the mobility that I was using when I first noticed the injury. However, now I can barely put my shoulder in a good position for any mob work other then the barbell smash; albeit under pain since the muscle is very sensitive right now.
    • 07/08/2013 at 9:36 pm #72388
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Mike–
      What you do following an injury can depend on the situation/what the immediate goal is reduce swelling etc.
      There are situations where icing blocks what your body naturally does to address a situation.
      If you were seeing positive change from the mobility work you should’ve continued doing it.
      Now the area is tight and may have been re injured when you were player catcher.

    • 07/11/2013 at 2:20 pm #72410
      AvatarAydan Mcmahon
      Member

      Hey Mike, 

      Been there, done that, buddy 🙁

      The best start exercise ever for a sprained rotator cuff exercise:  stand in anatomical neutral with your hand/arm/shoulder up against a wall.  Slowly walk your fingers up the wall, keeping your arm straight and shifting your body away from the wall and then back in again as needed so that just the tips of your fingers can continue walking.  Ideally end with your arm fully extended overhead, but if you feel a twinge of pain at any point, STOP at that height for the day.  Only go as far as it is comfortable and work your way up until you can get the full range without pain.  
      Once you can do that start adding in basic physio band rotation exercises (youtube is loaded with them; this is a good summary http://www.physioroom.com/experts/asktheexperts/answers/qa_mb_20050225.php).  Keep the smashing light, if any for the first while.  I would slowly add in the least aggressive mobs and work my way up again.
      I like heat because it helps me relax those muscles.  Hot baths are good because it gets them all!  Not essential (your body generates far more heat and blood flow with simple movement), but it’s good psychological therapy as well.  I tend to avoid ice these days, especially close to the armpit which is lymph node central.  

      The hardest part is that when you start lifting overhead again, you are going to have to start light.  Embarrassing light.  Last time I sprained mine badly (an excessive surfing while on holiday incident), I ended up starting with 5 lb dumbbells, and for some exercises it was too much and I had to stick to bands or no weights.  It was 3 months before I was back to normal…slow and steady. You may have to take a break from ball for a week or two or more depending on the severity of your tweak.  Throwing is fairly explosive, so you want to get your stable movement strength up before you graduate to explosive (as per post 400, noted by Kaitlin above).

      Once you do get back to full function, I suggest a thorough warm-up before the next game.  I used to pull various muscles every season playing ball because no one warms up for beer league, right?  Fail.  If you know you are competitive enough to throw everything down when it comes down to a sweet play, make sure your body is prepped for it.  I maybe the only one doing a warm up on the field, but I have also been injury free for 2 seasons running!  Winning!

      Hope my ranting is somewhat helpful.  Good luck!

    • 07/11/2013 at 2:26 pm #72411
      AvatarAydan Mcmahon
      Member

      Small edit:  avoid smashing on the injured tissue, itself, for the first bit.  Upstream and downstream are fair game: T-spine, scapula, delts, triceps, etc.

    • 07/15/2013 at 8:39 pm #72435
      John CarriereJohn Carriere
      Participant

      Thanks for all that info Jeanette. My shoulder is doing alot better. I still feels really junky nearing end range but I can press a bar right now with no pain.

       I’m kind of experiencing a different pain now in the front of my shoulder. I’m going to find it hard to explain, but its a very dull consistent pain in the hollow spot between my pec and shoulder just under my collar bone. I’ve thrown a lacross ball around the frontal area of the chest that Kstar always mentions that will help better shoulder function, but nothing. 
    • 07/16/2013 at 11:53 am #72438
      AvatarAydan Mcmahon
      Member

      Glad you are seeing some improvement!

      That is right where the pec minor attaches, so my first inclination would be the smashing as well.  Have you included your delts in your smashing? If it just turns out that smashing isn’t accomplishing much, shift to more band work and see if it’s more helpful.

      This episode has some good shoulder mobs that you might find helpful in that area:
      http://www.mobilitywod.com/2010/09/episode-17-shoulders-and-the-back-squat-rack-and-darth/

      If the ache continues, I would recommend a trip to see a physiotherapist.  At some point it becomes more sensible to save yourself the time and effort and simply ask someone who maybe able to set you back on track in a few minutes.
      Keep working at it!
  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 11 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.