Rotator Cuff

[tditmar]

I recently moved and while I am settling space is of a premium so I haven't been on the erg for a few weeks. In the meantime I have been running with sprint intervals, and lifting weights, mostly an exercise called The Bear (hang clean, front squat, push jerk, back squat, then back again) 5x5, followed by other various O lifts and some bodybuilding lifts.

Anyway, while laying off the erg, I've noticed my often nagging rotator cuff seems to be nagging me less and less. Now when thinking about it, I recall when I would get off the erg the endorphins would prevent me from feeling any pain, but in the next few days following my rotator cuff would sometimes get very painful.

Has anyone known the erg to cause this? I guess laying off at least for awhile has been a good thing, but now I want to ease back in. Anyone have some good advice on how to do so?

[krytie3]

For the first year on my C2 I was fine then one day--pain in my right shoulder and bicep region! I was also hearing and feeling a clicking sound as I used the C2. The pain diminished but never went away completely. I tried several bouts of physical therapy, lots of rest, but nothing helped to get me back to normal. I also noticed that some times the pain increased after my rowing sessions ended. Other times it was painful while on the rower. Ultimately I had to stop rowing.

It turns out there was a bone spur in my right shoulder which caused a partial tear in my supraspinatus(one of the four rotator cuff muscles). 7 months post surgery I am much better but still slowly working my way back onto the C2. The tear was too small to fix in my case, he did remove the bone spur arthroscopically and also remove some torn/frayed tissue while in there.

I am still working through the physical therapy at home using Therabands and I am trying to ease back onto the C2, so far just 1 minute sessions though. My orthopedists says improvement can continue up to 1 year after the surgery.

I would recommend seeing an orthopedist to get your pain evaluated, sooner rather than later. A simple x-ray discovered the bone spur on my first visit and an MRI later determined the extent of the muscle damage. (In between I had several unsuccessful attempts at physical therapy.)

Best wishes.

[tditmar]

Wow, interesting! I think the C2 does aggravate my RC issue. The first time I ever noticed anything with my RC was 20 years ago when I was swimming in a lake. I was throwing my arms way back and scooping up water to tread water and lift my body as high as I could out of the water. Suddenly I felt my left shoulder semi-pop out of the socket, but not all the way. Later it was very sore. From that point on, it would do the same thing on occassion when I would weightlift doing a seated military press. The left shoulder would semi-pop out of socket if I was holding enough weight. That can make you nervous with weigh overhead! Later and usually the next day it would be quite sore.

Now, I have not had the problem of anything semi-popping out of socket for years, but anytime I exercise in a way as to incorporate lots of my shoulders, I usually become quite sore in the rotator cuffs. It is always more noticeable at certain angles. For example, I can do dips no problem, but if I am sitting in bed and want to prop my body back using my arms, I may not be able to hold my own weight (if you can picture what I mean).

I should have it checked out to see what is going on in there. I am just not a doctor person. It takes a lot for me to go. Still, it is probably a good idea. I do hear clicking and even some grinding sounds in there. I even hear grinding in my right shoulder which gives me very little trouble, but can also be quite sore from time to time.

Thanks for your reply

[Joedoc]

If you are having shoulder pain after rowing you should have it checked out by a local orthopaedic doctor. If you would like to work on a rotator cuff strenthening program first, try the exercises at this link http://www.binghamton.edu/athletics/strength/rota.pdf. If you have pain while performing any of the exercises decrease the resistance/weight. If the pain persists then consult your local physician. The exercises can be performed daily in sets of ten at a time. Do all the exercises slowly without any jerky motions, form is more important than weight/resistance. Try to hold the contracted position for a count of three before returning to the start position. This is general information for rotator cuff strengthening, which may or may not be applicable to your condition. Good Luck
Joseph Alhadeff, MD

[LJWagner]

The pdf link fails.

[DryRow]

The pdf link fails.

Try this link. The link had a period on the end. It does work.

http://www.binghamton.edu/athletics/strength/rota.pdf