Injuries Haunting Me Over and Over Again

Off Topic
1

Hey everyone. I’m 25 years old and have been lifting hard on and off for the past 4 years. I’ve had a few injuries that keep coming back to haunt me not to mention the new one. About four years ago I broke my hand in a fight, had surgery (couple pins and screw) and its pretty much healed minus a little lack of movement in it.

About 2 years ago I was incline benching around 220 which was pretty heavy for me and I injured my shoulder. had xray/mri and all it had shown was inflammation. My doctor recommended I have a cortisone injection and set an apt up for me. When I saw the specialist he didnt want to give me it bc he said it would just mask the pain. He said I would either need scope surgery or to just deal with it etc.

Well, seeing i’m only 25 I’ve just dealt with it. I had physical therapy that had no noticeable improvement. I’ve been able to work through it by changing some of my lifts such as straight bar bench to strictly db’s. Basically, dumbells do not irritate me nearly as much as a straight bar with majority of lifts. I ice it as needed and also take ibuprofen quite often to help with swelling/stiffness. Seeing i’m so young I cant see dealing with this pain/stiffness etc. forever.

I stretch it out and warm up very well before I lift every time. I’ve recently broken my fibula and had a nice plate and screws put it due to wrestling injury. i’m so frustrated bc as soon as I hit the gym hard and start getting big and strong again this shoulder injury comes back to haunt me. It affects my trap, my back, my shoulder, and my chest! Pretty much everything in the region.

Any ideas on what I can do before I go back to the doc. I hate the three word statement everyone says to me “take it easy”. Please help.

2

I have had the same problem with my shoulder for quite a while. I ignored it for a long time until it really started to bother me. I also pull my trap about 2 to 3 times a year and it put me out for about a week. (dealing with the trap as we speak, pulled it on sunday)

First I wanna say that I still really dont know the problem is with my shoulder exactly (shoulders are really complex.) But, I found that I was pressing way more than I was pulling. I had a bench day and a OHP day and only one back day. So, for years I have been pressing twice as much as I have been pulling. I found that this was a major factor because I was developing the front of my shoulder much more than the back. I stopped pressing all together for about a month and a half and did lots of pulling. This helped a lot. I still have a little discomfort when I go for 1rm on bench but its very minimal.

Second, I never did any rotator cuff stuff. I started doing these when I stopped pressing (seeing how I had a lot more time in the week to do them). This helped a lot as well. Not only did my stability increase but so did my range of motion. I think this also helped the overall health of my shoulder.

Not sure if all this helps you but there are countless articles on shoulder health on here. I is the most injured part of a BB’s body. Look for the ones by Eric Cressy (he is a shoulder health god!)
Good Luck dude.

3

stop doing stuff to break your bones, thats the easiest part here.

if your shoulder is hurting you, like you said you most likely arent balancing workouts. also, your hand placement and form could very well be horrible. i cant regular incline bench for example, it really hurts my shoulders, so i have to close grip for the time being. ive added more shoulder work and delt raises and hope to regular incline press sometime soon though.

4

decapsk8, I have a seperate bench and OHP day also. I do have only one true pull day… I work my front and rear delts harder than ever though. I believe thats what has helped me get a set of 10 reps of 75lb db’s up last week for military press which is a personal best for me. I work my back hard on back day but It does seem to slack in comparison to my pushing lifts which are a little more impressive.

I have read countless articles on shoulder health. Some have helped and others not so much. My shoulder has a fucking mind of its own. One week it feels great (just a little sore and stiff) and the next week it has its own damn heart beat all week. This week it was pretty bad and I believe I strain my bicep pretty good trying to accommodate for the pain while doing flys. I feel like I work my back pretty hard but maybe I should up it to twice a week? I’m not sure if its lacking that far behind but not completely sure now…

5

[quote]curtyb wrote:
Hey everyone. I’m 25 years old and have been jerking off hard on and off for the past 4 years. I’ve had a few injuries due to the habit that keep coming back to haunt me not to mention the new one. About four years ago I “broke” my dick banging some fat chick. I had surgery (resection of the blood vessels - she was a big mama) and its pretty much healed minus a little lack of hardness in it.

About 2 years ago I was banging a smaller chick, around 220, which was still pretty heavy for me and I injured my nut sack (she sat on it while bouncing up and down). had xray/mri and all it had shown was inflammation. My doctor recommended I have a cortisone injection and set an apt up for me. When I saw the specialist he didnt want to give me it bc he said it would just mask the pain and besides, my balls were too tiny for an injection. He said I would either need scope surgery or bigger balls so basically just deal with it etc.

Well, seeing i’m only 25 I’ve just dealt with it. I’ve had no noticeable improvement and my nuts are still swollen and tender. I’ve been able to “work” through it by changing my jerk off technique and not letting the big chicks ride me anymore. Basically, being on top does not irritate me nearly as much as the fatties flopping around on top which I never enjoyed as much anyway. I ice it as needed and also take ibuprofen quite often to help with swelling. Seeing i’m so young I cant see dealing with this pain and lack of stiffness etc. forever.

I stretch it out pretty good every time. I’ve recently broken another blood vessel and had a nice bruise to show for it. i’m so frustrated bc as soon as I hit it hard and start getting big this injury comes back to haunt me. It affects my balls, my taint, my shaft, pretty much everything in the region.

Any ideas on what I can do before I go back to the doc. I hate the ten word statement everyone says to me “stop jerking off so much and stop fucking fat chicks”. Please help.

[/quote]

I think I fixed your post. Good luck with your real problem :slight_smile: LOL

6

Curtyb, i can emphasize with what you’re going through. I went through the same stuff. I have found that with a proper diet of a ton of water, and some fish oil. Proper training, i found grip placements and movement patterns that really help me avoid injury. I also find that if i focus on how the exercise feels rather than just moving as much weight as i can most of the time. That eliminates most of the problems. Experiment a bit to find what works for you.

Like someone above said, make sure you balance out your training. I don’t think it’s necessary to have two back training sessions, but it is important that you hit all the planes equally as hard. Weak areas may need more attention. Maybe making the day you are the most rested and ready to go be the day you work the weak area.

Injury prevention stuff that might help. I find that my rhomboids, middle traps and parts of my teres major and minor as well as my infraspinatus and supraspinatus sometimes gets really tight. I find that massaging those ares really well with the foam roller and my fingers really helps alleviate most issues. Stretching some before but mostly post workout helps alot as well. Another thing is when pressing try not to tense the upper neck, try to tense the core and back and etc instead. It’s something that i noticed where i pull my traps when my neck isn’t moving freely so to speak. Yeah you’re going to have some tension on certain lifts, but the tension shouldn’t originate there it should come from the core, back and scapula stabilization not neck.

Just a few things that help me avoid shoulder injuries most of the time.

7

straw breathing 5 minutes every day as you are going to sleep, fish oil, glucosamine, chondriotin, curcumin, face pulls, heavy chest supported t-bar rows with a wide grip, deload properly, stop using barbells, stop working into pain, regain proper motion at your broken hand, work on opposite side hip mobility, eat lots of fruit, don’t drink alcohol/smoke/do drugs, go to bed by 10 every night and sleep at least 8 hours.

and finally, quit feeling so sorry for yourself!

8

find a good physical therapist

9

hey man I feel for you i hae had some shoulder pain for a while. Then I went to a physical therapy place and he had me take off my shirt and said holy fuck(not becuz im rediculously jacked) he said get on the bnehc and put up 185 as many times as you can. so i did and i think i got like 15 which is decent. then he said ok do pull ups and i only got 12 and he said thats your problem right there. when i started lifting like all NEWBS do. all i did was bench for the first year and no back work. i would do bench once a week but i would constantly do pushups my back got weak and boom. Now i am doing
back biceps on monday
chest and triceps on tuesday
wenesday rest
legs and shoulders on thursday
friday i do a workout focused on arms but at the start i do super light rows and pull downs really foucsing on just squeezing my back and i do some prone y’s prone t’s and prone I’s

all in all it is working but i still have alot of rows to go.

hope my experience helps

10

shoulder dislocates with a band and turkish getups

11

[quote]jp_dubya wrote:
shoulder dislocates with a band and turkish getups[/quote]

I’m sorry, but I strongly disagree with blindly recommending an exercise such as shoulder dislocates to somebody with a shoulder problem without fully knowing the history and issue with the shoulder. If he has a laxity issue or some kind of labral degeneration or a multitude of other issues, shoulder dislocations will probably only worsen the issue or create new ones. Can they be beneficial to an otherwise healthy shoulder?..possibly. Even then, there are arguments for if they stress the anterior capsule too much.

Turkish getups, with proper form, are a great suggestion though.

-LH

12

[quote]challer1 wrote:
straw breathing 5 minutes every day as you are going to sleep, fish oil, glucosamine, chondriotin, curcumin, face pulls, heavy chest supported t-bar rows with a wide grip, deload properly, stop using barbells, stop working into pain, regain proper motion at your broken hand, work on opposite side hip mobility, eat lots of fruit, don’t drink alcohol/smoke/do drugs, go to bed by 10 every night and sleep at least 8 hours.

and finally, quit feeling so sorry for yourself![/quote]

Straw breathing… Would you elaborate on this please? (I’ve got two screws in my shoulder and thought I had read everything about this)

13

lay down on your back, put one hand on your stomach and chest. take a really deep inhalation in through your nose, only allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe in (i.e. make sure the hand on your stomach moves but the hand on your chest does not).

Next, purse your lips (as if blowing into a straw) and breathe out forcefully, again making sure your chest does move at all, and that you’re forcing the air out through your stomach.

Breathing out should take 1.5-2x as long as breathing in. Each breath should take around 10 seconds or more. Don’t hyperventilate.

The purpose of this exercise is to train the diaphragm and remind the brain of how to efficiently breathe. Breathing occurs when the chest cavity expands, lowering air pressure and creating a vacuum, which forces air into the lungs.

Normally, only the diaphragm and intercostals should have to contract in order to breathe in a resting state. The diaphragm flattens out, forcing abdominal contents downward and allowing air to flow into the lungs.

However, a lot of people end up using “forced inspiration” (i.e. getting the scalenes, pecs, traps, etc. to help expand the rib cage up in addition to the movement of the diaphragm ) for breathing at all times. You can visibly see someone doing this as their chest moves out and their shoulders shrug with each breath.

This is a disaster because these muscles aren’t built to contract 12 times a minute (the amount of breaths the avg person takes in) 24 hours a day. This leads to true “wear and tear” and prevents healing from taking place, especially when some heavy resistance training is thrown in.

The point is that you can do all the strength and mobility work you want, but if your scalenes are getting an extra 17,000 contractions in a day, you’re always gonna get some shoulder pain.

14

[quote]challer1 wrote:
lay down on your back, put one hand on your stomach and chest. take a really deep inhalation in through your nose, only allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe in (i.e. make sure the hand on your stomach moves but the hand on your chest does not).

Next, purse your lips (as if blowing into a straw) and breathe out forcefully, again making sure your chest does move at all, and that you’re forcing the air out through your stomach.

Breathing out should take 1.5-2x as long as breathing in. Each breath should take around 10 seconds or more. Don’t hyperventilate.

The purpose of this exercise is to train the diaphragm and remind the brain of how to efficiently breathe. Breathing occurs when the chest cavity expands, lowering air pressure and creating a vacuum, which forces air into the lungs.

Normally, only the diaphragm and intercostals should have to contract in order to breathe in a resting state. The diaphragm flattens out, forcing abdominal contents downward and allowing air to flow into the lungs.

However, a lot of people end up using “forced inspiration” (i.e. getting the scalenes, pecs, traps, etc. to help expand the rib cage up in addition to the movement of the diaphragm ) for breathing at all times. You can visibly see someone doing this as their chest moves out and their shoulders shrug with each breath.

This is a disaster because these muscles aren’t built to contract 12 times a minute (the amount of breaths the avg person takes in) 24 hours a day. This leads to true “wear and tear” and prevents healing from taking place, especially when some heavy resistance training is thrown in.

The point is that you can do all the strength and mobility work you want, but if your scalenes are getting an extra 17,000 contractions in a day, you’re always gonna get some shoulder pain. [/quote]

Whoah you sound like you know your shit but can anyone else second this or can you link to additional resources?

15

[quote]curtyb wrote:
Hey everyone. I’m 25 years old and have been lifting hard on and off for the past 4 years. I’ve had a few injuries that keep coming back to haunt me not to mention the new one. About four years ago I broke my hand in a fight, had surgery (couple pins and screw) and its pretty much healed minus a little lack of movement in it.

About 2 years ago I was incline benching around 220 which was pretty heavy for me and I injured my shoulder. had xray/mri and all it had shown was inflammation.

My doctor recommended I have a cortisone injection and set an apt up for me. When I saw the specialist he didnt want to give me it bc he said it would just mask the pain. He said I would either need scope surgery or to just deal with it etc.

Well, seeing i’m only 25 I’ve just dealt with it. I had physical therapy that had no noticeable improvement. I’ve been able to work through it by changing some of my lifts such as straight bar bench to strictly db’s.

Basically, dumbells do not irritate me nearly as much as a straight bar with majority of lifts. I ice it as needed and also take ibuprofen quite often to help with swelling/stiffness. Seeing i’m so young I cant see dealing with this pain/stiffness etc. forever.

I stretch it out and warm up very well before I lift every time. I’ve recently broken my fibula and had a nice plate and screws put it due to wrestling injury. i’m so frustrated bc as soon as I hit the gym hard and start getting big and strong again this shoulder injury comes back to haunt me. It affects my trap, my back, my shoulder, and my chest! Pretty much everything in the region.

Any ideas on what I can do before I go back to the doc. I hate the three word statement everyone says to me “take it easy”. Please help. [/quote]
http://www.viddler.com/explore/SynergyFitness/videos/1/

16

[quote]Eli B wrote:

Whoah you sound like you know your shit but can anyone else second this or can you link to additional resources?[/quote]

Lol… it’s not like I’m trying to sell you something. Just try it out each night as you are going to sleep and see how it works for you (assuming you have shoulder pain).

Give it two weeks time; the proof is in the pudding!

17

[quote]Eli B wrote:

[quote]challer1 wrote:
lay down on your back, put one hand on your stomach and chest. take a really deep inhalation in through your nose, only allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe in (i.e. make sure the hand on your stomach moves but the hand on your chest does not).

Next, purse your lips (as if blowing into a straw) and breathe out forcefully, again making sure your chest does move at all, and that you’re forcing the air out through your stomach.

Breathing out should take 1.5-2x as long as breathing in. Each breath should take around 10 seconds or more. Don’t hyperventilate.

The purpose of this exercise is to train the diaphragm and remind the brain of how to efficiently breathe. Breathing occurs when the chest cavity expands, lowering air pressure and creating a vacuum, which forces air into the lungs.

Normally, only the diaphragm and intercostals should have to contract in order to breathe in a resting state. The diaphragm flattens out, forcing abdominal contents downward and allowing air to flow into the lungs.

However, a lot of people end up using “forced inspiration” (i.e. getting the scalenes, pecs, traps, etc. to help expand the rib cage up in addition to the movement of the diaphragm ) for breathing at all times. You can visibly see someone doing this as their chest moves out and their shoulders shrug with each breath.

This is a disaster because these muscles aren’t built to contract 12 times a minute (the amount of breaths the avg person takes in) 24 hours a day. This leads to true “wear and tear” and prevents healing from taking place, especially when some heavy resistance training is thrown in.

The point is that you can do all the strength and mobility work you want, but if your scalenes are getting an extra 17,000 contractions in a day, you’re always gonna get some shoulder pain. [/quote]

Whoah you sound like you know your shit but can anyone else second this or can you link to additional resources?[/quote]

I second this. I had not heard it referred to as “straw breathing”, but the name does make sense. I had heard it referred to as “deep breathing exercises” or “diaphragmic breathing pattern restoration techniques”. I guess “straw breathing” sounds more appealing and less intimidating to general population though.

But yes, it is common for people to use a “forced breathing” technique, by utilizing the upper traps, scalenes, pec minor, etc and “raising” the chest cavity to make room for air, instead of using the diaphragm to “open” the chest cavity. Not only do you get the “wear and tear” on the muscles, but they also become tight and over dominant due to the repetitive usage it has received, causing an anterior upper cross syndrome which can lead to a lot of impingement symptoms, etc.

Here is a link: Healing the Healer: Breathing - AMSA

18

People have already mentioned taking fish oil. I find that for inflamation pain that the plant based omega oils work even better than the fish oils.

They generally have a higher dose of omegas 3 in the oils, as well as omega 6 and 9. I really like Udo’s Oil DHA blend. Its done wonders for my shoulder pain and various inflamation problems.

19

[quote]LevelHeaded wrote:

[quote]Eli B wrote:

[quote]challer1 wrote:
lay down on your back, put one hand on your stomach and chest. take a really deep inhalation in through your nose, only allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe in (i.e. make sure the hand on your stomach moves but the hand on your chest does not).

Next, purse your lips (as if blowing into a straw) and breathe out forcefully, again making sure your chest does move at all, and that you’re forcing the air out through your stomach.

Breathing out should take 1.5-2x as long as breathing in. Each breath should take around 10 seconds or more. Don’t hyperventilate.

The purpose of this exercise is to train the diaphragm and remind the brain of how to efficiently breathe. Breathing occurs when the chest cavity expands, lowering air pressure and creating a vacuum, which forces air into the lungs.

Normally, only the diaphragm and intercostals should have to contract in order to breathe in a resting state. The diaphragm flattens out, forcing abdominal contents downward and allowing air to flow into the lungs.

However, a lot of people end up using “forced inspiration” (i.e. getting the scalenes, pecs, traps, etc. to help expand the rib cage up in addition to the movement of the diaphragm ) for breathing at all times. You can visibly see someone doing this as their chest moves out and their shoulders shrug with each breath.

This is a disaster because these muscles aren’t built to contract 12 times a minute (the amount of breaths the avg person takes in) 24 hours a day. This leads to true “wear and tear” and prevents healing from taking place, especially when some heavy resistance training is thrown in.

The point is that you can do all the strength and mobility work you want, but if your scalenes are getting an extra 17,000 contractions in a day, you’re always gonna get some shoulder pain. [/quote]

Whoah you sound like you know your shit but can anyone else second this or can you link to additional resources?[/quote]

I second this. I had not heard it referred to as “straw breathing”, but the name does make sense. I had heard it referred to as “deep breathing exercises” or “diaphragmic breathing pattern restoration techniques”. I guess “straw breathing” sounds more appealing and less intimidating to general population though.

But yes, it is common for people to use a “forced breathing” technique, by utilizing the upper traps, scalenes, pec minor, etc and “raising” the chest cavity to make room for air, instead of using the diaphragm to “open” the chest cavity. Not only do you get the “wear and tear” on the muscles, but they also become tight and over dominant due to the repetitive usage it has received, causing an anterior upper cross syndrome which can lead to a lot of impingement symptoms, etc.

Here is a link: Healing the Healer: Breathing - AMSA
[/quote]

I think it got its name since some people have taught it actually using a straw to exhale through, rather than purse your lips. In the link they recommend exhaling pretty naturally, but I think for a resistance trained population, since the diaphragm is competing against trained muscle groups, some forced exhalation is a good thing.

20

[quote]challer1 wrote:

[quote]LevelHeaded wrote:

[quote]Eli B wrote:

[quote]challer1 wrote:
lay down on your back, put one hand on your stomach and chest. take a really deep inhalation in through your nose, only allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe in (i.e. make sure the hand on your stomach moves but the hand on your chest does not).

Next, purse your lips (as if blowing into a straw) and breathe out forcefully, again making sure your chest does move at all, and that you’re forcing the air out through your stomach.

Breathing out should take 1.5-2x as long as breathing in. Each breath should take around 10 seconds or more. Don’t hyperventilate.

The purpose of this exercise is to train the diaphragm and remind the brain of how to efficiently breathe. Breathing occurs when the chest cavity expands, lowering air pressure and creating a vacuum, which forces air into the lungs.

Normally, only the diaphragm and intercostals should have to contract in order to breathe in a resting state. The diaphragm flattens out, forcing abdominal contents downward and allowing air to flow into the lungs.

However, a lot of people end up using “forced inspiration” (i.e. getting the scalenes, pecs, traps, etc. to help expand the rib cage up in addition to the movement of the diaphragm ) for breathing at all times. You can visibly see someone doing this as their chest moves out and their shoulders shrug with each breath.

This is a disaster because these muscles aren’t built to contract 12 times a minute (the amount of breaths the avg person takes in) 24 hours a day. This leads to true “wear and tear” and prevents healing from taking place, especially when some heavy resistance training is thrown in.

The point is that you can do all the strength and mobility work you want, but if your scalenes are getting an extra 17,000 contractions in a day, you’re always gonna get some shoulder pain. [/quote]

Whoah you sound like you know your shit but can anyone else second this or can you link to additional resources?[/quote]

I second this. I had not heard it referred to as “straw breathing”, but the name does make sense. I had heard it referred to as “deep breathing exercises” or “diaphragmic breathing pattern restoration techniques”. I guess “straw breathing” sounds more appealing and less intimidating to general population though.

But yes, it is common for people to use a “forced breathing” technique, by utilizing the upper traps, scalenes, pec minor, etc and “raising” the chest cavity to make room for air, instead of using the diaphragm to “open” the chest cavity. Not only do you get the “wear and tear” on the muscles, but they also become tight and over dominant due to the repetitive usage it has received, causing an anterior upper cross syndrome which can lead to a lot of impingement symptoms, etc.

Here is a link: Healing the Healer: Breathing - AMSA
[/quote]

I think it got its name since some people have taught it actually using a straw to exhale through, rather than purse your lips. In the link they recommend exhaling pretty naturally, but I think for a resistance trained population, since the diaphragm is competing against trained muscle groups, some forced exhalation is a good thing.[/quote]

I completely agree with you on that. I would say not only just a resistance trained population, but just an athletic based population as well. First thing that happens when people get overly fatigued during their athletic participation or conditioning drills are to resort back to the forced breathing technique and not using their diaphragm enough. So by teaching the “straw technique” as you call it, you reinforce the behavior and actually teach a way for people to restore proper breathing techniques when highly fatigued or when pushing through some heavy resistance training.

For the record, I did not learn the technique through the article I posted earlier. It was just an article I had found to support the legitimacy of the technique for those who were uncertain about it.

Happy easter everybody!
-LH