[quote]Wawaweewa25 wrote:
[quote]BReddy wrote:
[quote]Wawaweewa25 wrote:
[quote]BReddy wrote:Glad to hear things seem to be heading in the right direction!
Regarding the drooped shoulder: Do you have any history of throwing or anything where you predominantly used the right arm?[/quote]
Me too bro me too! The mental anguish I have been through, far exceeds the pain post op, the confusing look my old ortho would give me when I told him how much medial elbow pain I still had etc etc.
Its actually the left shoulder; which is my dominant arm. My history is years and years of basketball (left handed) and solid 10 years of serious lifting. I did play baseball as a kid for 2 years, but was a 2nd baseman and outfielder, no pitching.
Just got back from therapy, I’ve got my follow up visit with my doctor tmmrw.
Now that my motion has improved, I’m getting the humerus to drop upon abduction, we are both thinking I will get clearance to begin strengthening. Which I couldn’t be happier about! Miss the feeling of lifting something!
I do have some AC joint clicking up abduction, which I’m going to have my doctor look at, its a slight concern for me right now.
We looked out strengthen on adduction (scapular retraction), which showed very weak mid and lower traps, which isn’t surprising in the least bit. Serratus is firing as mentioned on the left side, but due to the weak mid/low traps and rhomboids its somewhat tight. Right side has terrible winging, however the scapula sits at the proper position at rest. The winging on that side it only prominent as I’m lowering my arm around 110-100 degrees. However, I’m completely asymptomatic on that side.
Will update tmmrw after the doctor’s visit and I’m extremely optimistic that after another month or two of strengthening I might be in the clear.
Thx for the thoughts and advice so far.[/quote]
A low shoulder is a very common phenomenon in an arm with some throwing or overhead motion history.
Keep in mind that it’s very, very UNcommon to have weak rhomboids. ESPECIALLY if the serratus has been weak. They are linked. One is weak, the other is strong and vice versa.
However, it is very, very common to have weak mid/lower traps but tight rhomboids.
Check out this video of a client of mine. You can see the rhomboid dominance in her left shoulder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1zul4Uylfg&feature=g-upl
And then check these two videos out. You can see the rhomboid dominance in the first video and then you can see the correction in the second video where the upward rotators (which the serratus and lower trap are part of) are doing their job much more effectively:
Better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrOlWaeeRtU&feature=g-upl
Might be an exercise worth adding to your arsenal. It had done wonders for many of my clients with shoulder issues.[/quote]
Great video and perfect examples! Very familiar with the wall slides, at my previous PT, they had me working on all serratus strengthening and mid/lower trap stuff (crab walks, protraction/retraction, wall slides, reverse wall slides, quad rocks etc). Only problem is they never caught the severe GIRD, so the loss of motion was the primary factor I needed addressed, since we all know mobility before strength.
I start the strengthen phase of rehab tmmrw and will be focusing primarily on the serratus and lower trap area. These should pull the shoulder back and into place.
Breddy, wanted to ask you, upon abduction of the left shoulder I get a click in my shoulder area. My therapist said he thought it might be some AC Joint crepitus? Was suppose to ask my doc this morning but totally forgot.
My doctor’s appt went very well. He said I have completely eliminated the prominent GIRD I displayed the first time he saw me and was impressed at how quickly I improved from doing the sleeper stretch and its variations religiously everyday.
The plan now is to strengthen for the next 4-8 weeks and if all goes well I will be good to go.
I asked him if I still needed to do the sleeper stretch and he told me only as needed. My plan is to continue with it a few times a week, but most likely not everyday as I had been. Don’t want to over stretch the capsule since I know that could cause issues.
[/quote]
Great to hear. Things seem to be coming together.
Regarding the click during abduction, is it painful at all?
You may have, or had, too much superior glide of the humerus. This is pretty common in those with lack of inferior / posterior capsule mobility. Pain with abduction is pretty consistent with superior glide as well. If you have pain. Where as pure flexion pain is more consistent with anterior glide. At least in my experience.