I’ve tried the search button but found nothing quite like this…
Shoulders had been a bit sore of late, but nothing unusual. Played a game of basketball and played/shot extremely well. Drove 1 hour to get home and by the time I was there my shoulder hurt like hell and I couldn’t sleep on it.
This morning it was even worse and did not improve during the day. It hurts badly when…
1.) I hold my hands as if I’m lifting a ball during a jump shot. This sucks because I’ve got a tournament this weekend that I’ve prepped months for and as of now there is no way I can play through this.
Also, performing a front raise hurts regardless of hand position beginning at about 70 degrees from the floor.
2.)Scap pushups feel bad.
3.) I tried some tests and found that when performing Hawkin’s test it hurts when I reach the end of the ROM during external rotation.
4.) If performing an unweighted shoulder fly, pain appears at about 90 degrees.
5.) it is difficult to say where the pain is-sometimes it seems to be in the bicep, sometimes in the anterior shoulder, sometimes in the posterior shoulder.
Really bummed because of the work of put in for this tournament (especially given that this was probably going to be the last one with my present team) and I’ve taken shoulder health seriously (even shelled out cash for Cressey’s Shown go, max strength, ultimate offseason) materials. Have done lots of prehab type stuff hoping to avoid this.
I’ll add that external rotation with elbow tucked to side feels normal. However, external rotation using my shoulder horn feels much worse, particularly when externally rotated to end of ROM.
Can you mark specifically where specifically your shoulder hurts? Did anything specific happen during the game (fouled hard, fell and landing on arm, threw a hard pass and felt something, etc)? When was the last time you played basketball before this last time you played? Any other history of shoulder injuries?
Nothing strange happened in the game. Didn’t take any hard hits/falls. I actually felt great.
No other shoulder injuries; did break a clavicle about 12 years ago.
Seems the pain is primarily in the posterior shoulder at rest if I prod. Moving it causes pain in the bicep, insertion point of my left pec.
Also wrenched my neck in my sleep about a week ago which caused considerable tightness in my jaw-wonder if that might play a role. A nasty trigger point along my scapula as well.
It is very possible that the neck spasm/irritation can be related to the shoulder discomfort. I would say that the trigger point is most certainly related, either through disruption of the scapular rhythm and/or through referral pain.
Yesterday I’d have sworn this was serious but I did some stretching, and used a trigger wheel on the area around the scapula and I felt some relief. Still hurts like a SOB, but definitely an improvement from before.
Gonna try to get the massage I’ve been putting off tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed that this thing might resolve itself.
I normally don’t post here in this section. But your story rings a lot of bells with what happened to me.
I was sitting in a chair and my dog was playing tug’o’war with me and I wasn’t paying very much attention. She got behind the chair and pulled, pulling my arm way back in something like a reverse pitch. I felt it right away and my arm went numb.
I was drinking so I didn’t remember what happened but I felt severe neck pain the next morning and for a few more days. I assumed that I slept on it wrong but didn’t remember what happened with the dog. The neck pain went away after a few days. After a couple of weeks I noticed that my arm was having ROM issues and some pain in the bicep.
I saw the general doc after about a month, who referred me for physical therapy. I went through a full cycle of PT and had cortisone shots with little improvement. By the time I saw the ortho, I couldn’t extend my arm straight forward without pain and a couldn’t go beyond parallel with the floor with the arm straight out trying to go to straight overhead.
Needless to say, but the ortho took one look at me and scheduled surgery. He had to make what is called a SLAP repair and clean up a minor tear in the rotator cuff. The SLAP is one of the more common shoulder injuries that needs surgical intervention. It is common with throwing athletes.
The symptoms just sound incredibly similar that is why I thought I would mention it. I wasn’t able to sleep on the side of the injury for over a year after and 5-6 months after the repair. But one thing I didn’t see in your post was if this one arm or both arms as I would think it would be highly unlikely to injure both sides to this extent at once.
By the way, the left shoulder is hurt, right shoulder is fine (at least I think)
Shoulder feels a little better and I have less painful ROM than before. Had a deep tissue massage lastnight; therapist worked it in a number of directions and had little to no pain. I will say this-my biceps and triceps hurt terribly-I’ve had a number of deep tissue massages and the pain in my bicep and tricep is the worst I’ve ever felt in any body part. She commented that she’d never seen a tricep swollen like mine.
When to the gym to see what I could do and my strength was fine, but the shoulder felt strange. Felt a little weak during db bench presses.
Scap pushups still bother it the most while moving it in an arc like when bowling is a close second. Some minor pain during the end of the ROM during external rotations today.
I plan on playing in my tournament now as I can shoot a jump shot without pain. Definitely going to a sports med clinic to see someone next week. Have some docs that work with pro athletes in my area. That these guys are into training makes me feel better about getting checked out.
For what its worth, the preliminary diagnosis is a partially torn rotator cuff and probably a frayed labrum. I’ve got physical therapy ahead of me and if that does not help I’ll be getting an MRI.
I’m pretty much stuck doing low impact cardio and isometric/bodyweight crap for my lower half for the time being. Not fun at all.
After meeting with the physical therapists (who are very good), it looks like I can do a little bit more. Safety bar squats are in, and I can do farmer’s walks, single leg work, extensions, etc. I was told by the doctor not to do anything that placed load on the shoulder, but the PT seems to know much more about these injuries (he’s an Athlete’s Performance guy, buddies with Mark Verstegen’s guys).
No pressing exercises of any kind though. 45 lb feels like its going to snap my arm and there is definite impingement and scapular dysfunction going on. Still haven’t had an MRI, but since therapy isn’t doing much at this point, I think its coming.
Anyway, I was shocked at how weak my shoulder stabilizers are. I’ll definitely come through this stronger in the long run if I make the necessary corrections.