Ultrasound Guided Cortisone Injections

I went to my Doctors around three weeks ago and he suspected i had supraspinatus tendonitis…
i had an ultrasound to determine what it was exactly, which showed i had a slight bursa but the doctor couldn’t see how this would be causing me pain so he prescribed and anti inflammatory.

After 2 and a half weeks taking the medication it has not gotten any better…quite the opposite it is getting worse, so now on Thursday im going to have an ultrasound guided cortisone injection.
My question is roughly how long should i take off before i get into the gym, it has been around three weeks since i have trained properly and it is really getting to me…

My doctor said i should not exercise for around three weeks, i was hoping someone else here may have been in a similar situation and could let me know how long their recovery was

Any insight would be great thanks

Besides the medication and injection, has be prescribed anything else, like maybe rehab? Have you at least tried to do any rehab/preventative exercises?

no no rehab has been prescribed, all he said was take these… (prescribed Medication) and do not aggravate it… so no exercise, i get the pain (from what i can tell) more towards the Rear delt but deep. and the exercise that aggravate it… Bench Press (D/B, B/B, Incline, Flat, Decline) flyes, cable cross overs, Dips, any over head pressing, lateral raises, back squats (when i hold the bar) thats what i can think of now
The only thing that i changed before i injured myself was how i BB bench press… from flat back to arched back with shoulder blades squeezed…

i will attach a picture with the area i feel the pain

and BBB i will look into what you suggested once i have taken my son to school and done my morning jobs.

I have also put an X on the tricep as when i pull my arm out and back (as if i was bench pressing) the pain sort of travels down the tricep.

Thanks

Ok mate I’m rehabbing my inflamed bursa at the moment, I also have very mild impingement of the Supra, both evinced by MRI. I have to agree with the others, your Doctor ought to be fucking struck off the Medical Register.

The first thing mine did was to give me an INITIAL Cortisone shot - which is what you need if like me you have chronic inflammation in that area. But you do not continue it. Please halt all further injections.

My approach is two-fold; manipulations (stretching) and an anti-inflam diet;

Diet

  • 1 tbspn each of shredded Karela (bitter gourd) and Ginger in water, do not chew as this tastes FOUL;
  • 1 Teaspn of Cinammon on my oats;
  • 1 Tbspn of Turmeric in my water glass, to be finished by end of day (after all the refills)
  • 1 Tablet of Bromelain PWO

Stretching:

  1. Hold the elbow (of the arm the affected shoulder is on) slightly above your other shoulder, tight enough so your bicep cuts into your windpipe and you feel the stretch in the back. This increases the sub-acromial gap between the process (bone) and bursa. You can also do this while driving in your car by weaving your arm up in front of your throat and grabbing the back of the headrest.

  2. Pec stretch (you might as well do both sides simultaneously in a door frame.

You can add icepack/heat alternations, go hot/cold every 10mins for an hour, though I haven’t even tried that yet, but your case seems more severe so I’d try everyhing if I were you. I have noticed good results so far and have returned to flat-benching. I haven’t tried any Overhead work yet until I am completely pain free.

Hope it helps!

Jaybee.

So you had an initial cortisone injection?? i have not had any injections for this as yet. I will try the stretching you have written about, but i am now unsure weather or not to have this injection tomorrow…

Thanks

I disagree with the necessity of an initial cortisone injection, even with chronic issues.

How did you initially injure the shoulder? Was there a specific incident or did it come on gradually? If gradually, what types of activities were you doing that aggravated it.

From the location of your pain, you may even just have some tendinopathy of the long head of your triceps. I think diagnostic US has the potential to be a great tool, but only when the person using it understands it and reads it well. The main problem I have with it is that people get tunnel visioned with it. They come across an area of inflammation or abnormality and automatically assume that is the cause. Same thing happens with MRIs.

If you haven’t already, I would have your static posture and dynamic movement screened to find any improper muscle patterns and mobility deficits. I would also recommend starting with some therapeutic exercise first and seeing if that helps before starting to inject medication into your body.

[quote]Bam_Bam wrote:
So you had an initial cortisone injection?? i have not had any injections for this as yet. I will try the stretching you have written about, but i am now unsure weather or not to have this injection tomorrow…

Thanks

[/quote]

As you see above opinions vary on the initial shot, my previous therapist was pro, a friend of mine (who is a Nutritionist) is anti, but they’re both women… :slight_smile:

I’d still say to go for the injection as the longer term effect on tissue weakening from a single shot will be nominal, whereas the short term boost will be huge and give you momentum. BUT - that is not an excuse to go hell for leather. The morning after the shot, my entire shoulder had frozen up, I couldn’t fucking rotate it at all, I was putting on clothing one-handed. Lasted the whole day. You will still have to moderate your upper body work, if not eliminate it altogether, for 4-6 weeks. Hey, I wish I could shift 30lbs of flab in 4-6 weeks, not 14, but thems the cards we’re dealt. No bodybuilder likes reading that he can’t train all-out, myself included. But any downtime is actually a golden opportunity for something else. Smart thing to do is, work on anything that’s lagging, calves, forearms, abs, CV fitness, all the stuff you wouldn’t have gotten around to otherwise, and it’ll be great for your morale.

Couple of extra points about the stretches, 3 sets of 10 reps @ 30seconds per stretch, morning, noon and night - yep, 90 stretches over 45 mins per day. You should also add some stretching BEFORE you work out, ie warm-up reps, STRETCH, main work, stretch. If you look at any field sports, Footie/Rugger etc, the fellas stretch before the game to minimise the chance of injuring themselves or re-aggravating old injuries.


ok…so i had my injection last Thursday and up until now it has been a little better, im still avoiding any movements that aggravate it but on another note lately i have noticed (last two days) sometime when i extend my arm straight down and back a little bit i can feel a tight stretch in my delt…see diagram.
i going to avoid using/aggravating it and hopefully i will be able to start training properly soon…