I sustained a shoulder injury while playing soccer 3 weeks ago. The injury worsened while performing presses on the decline bench. I felt a sharp pain on my right shoulder area during the last set.
I took it lightly at first and figured it would heal by itself. When it didn’t I consulted a sports doctor who says I’ve torn a shoulder capsule and that I’d require some shots of hyaluronic acid. Either that or surgery.
He suggests I use the injections since the tear doesn’t seem acute. Surgery can be the last resort.
I want your opinions on a few things -
What treatment should I opt for? How much success have you guys found with what I’ve mentioned? Is it fairly normal?
Since my shoulder will be out of action for a while, I can’t work on my chest or shoulders… and even a lot of other upper body exercises. So how do I plan my workouts now? I don’t want to lose too much muscle through all this obviously. I realize I’ll lose some but what can I do to keep the loss at a minimum? How many times should I work on my legs? How much cardio should I do? etc
What changes should I make in my diet? I currently follow a diet very high in protein and pretty high in carbs until late evening. I’ve been in good shape so far but with the injury and all, should I cut down on the carbs? What else can I do?
Reduce the carbs, ensure they’re coming from tons of fruits and veggies, and increase the healthy fats. That will help with the inflammation.
As for your workouts, this looks like a good time to go on a calves, abs, and forearms specialization mesocycle. Heh…
Seriously, though, this would be one of the few times that training on machines is a good idea. Keep the upper body work low volume, medium intensity, and go to town on the lower body so long as the exercises don’t aggravate the injury.
You could still do squats if your gym has one of those “shoulder saver” bars with the frontward protruding handles.
To maintain your upper body you could do a session of one drop-set per muscle group, once per week, and work your lower body and abs twice per week.
Also, whenever I’ve had shoulder issues I noticed the jarring motion of running aggravated the injury. Switching to incline walking on a treadmill is a good bet. It’s a great time to catch up on a good hour of reading, 10-15% grade at 1.0-2.5mph.
Oh yeah, try not to do whatever it was that tore your shoulder in the first place.
[quote]ElbowStrike wrote:
Reduce the carbs, ensure they’re coming from tons of fruits and veggies, and increase the healthy fats. That will help with the inflammation.
As for your workouts, this looks like a good time to go on a calves, abs, and forearms specialization mesocycle. Heh…
Seriously, though, this would be one of the few times that training on machines is a good idea. Keep the upper body work low volume, medium intensity, and go to town on the lower body so long as the exercises don’t aggravate the injury.
You could still do squats if your gym has one of those “shoulder saver” bars with the frontward protruding handles.
To maintain your upper body you could do a session of one drop-set per muscle group, once per week, and work your lower body and abs twice per week.
Also, whenever I’ve had shoulder issues I noticed the jarring motion of running aggravated the injury. Switching to incline walking on a treadmill is a good bet. It’s a great time to catch up on a good hour of reading, 10-15% grade at 1.0-2.5mph.
Oh yeah, try not to do whatever it was that tore your shoulder in the first place.
– ElbowStrike[/quote]
Excellent. Just the kind of advice I was looking for. thanks so much!
