Hi all
I crashed quite hard on shoulder a week before Christmas and i have doctors appointment coming up soon.
Its no longer painful when i don’t move it but i still don’t have the strength to hold a half empty glass of water in front of me with an outstretched arm. My range of movement isn’t impinged at all but lifting my arm in front of me is painful until my arm is above 120° when teh pain starts to ease.
Has anyone had a similar injury and can give me a timeline or tips for recovery?(i never thought i could miss winter riding this much :-))

Thanks

You really need a diagnosis. I’d probably go to a decent physio rather than a GP, tbh.

Soft tissue injury of any magnitude – I’d give it 3 months.

I had a rotator cuff injury – was 3 months before I started gettign strength back. Then I developed a frozen shoulder that required a day in hospital and a general anaesthetic to resolve. So here I am 20 months after the initial injury and I’ve got almost full movement and about 80% strength back.

Other people’s experience may be more positive!

I posted something similar before Christmas. 2 months plus later and it’s still not much better.

I separated my AC Joint several years ago and the Physio reckons my shoulder didn’t ever fully recover and this crash flared up the same injury.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/shoulder-injury-recovery

I’ve started some more rehab exercise and stretches last week and it’s very slowly improving although it’s always very stiff in the morning as I often seem to sleep on that side

The pain in the mud position is very common with impingement injuries – quite a lot of info online.

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/shoulder-pain/impingement-syndrome-shoulder/rehabilitation-impingement-syndrome

I think it’s worth paying to see a local sports Physio/injury specialist to get an accurate diagnosis.

When I injured it last time, it was probably 2 months until I could ride again and a year until it stopped hurting, whereas this time it hasn’t stopped me riding at all, but I’ve had to stop boxing and a lot of other stuff in the gym.

I have a few races planned this year and am determined not to let this get in the way hence starting rehab exercises now it’s become apparent that rest alone isn’t helping quickly enough.

Good to see I gave much the smae answer last time the question wa asked 🙂

I’ve seen a few doctors and physios over the past year for a frozen shoulder – it’s a complex joint with a massive range of motion, so it seems to be difficult to pinpoint problems the way you might be able to do with a simpler joint. The frozen shoulder is often not caused by anything in particular, though, so it’s a bit vague. As you have had a direct crash onto it, it may be easier to diagnose what is wrong.

An X-ray will show up anything obviously wrong with the joint so the doc might get that done straight off as it’s easy. An MRI may then be in order, but I have no experience of this for mine. Then it’s physio time – the strengthening exercises seem well understood for the various ranges of motion, you just need to stick at them. Hope it sorts itself out for you.

Thanks for the advice i’m definitely gonna try to get my appointment moved forward.

I have a broken clavicle, it broke right at the end so couldn’t be pinned. I have been seeing a physio who has been treating for similar symptoms (surgeons advice) for a frozen shoulder. I just about have full movement in my shoulder now and have strength exercises to do daily.
Go see a sports physio, they will probably tell to get an xray, but you have to start somewhere. Start small and work at it. You’ll get there!

I managed to see my GP today as lots of appointments were cancelled thanks to the snow and I now have an ultra sound booked. I may have a number of different tears involving my Deltoid but it could just be badly inflamed in which case ill get some steroid injections.

Thanks for giving me some urgency, 😀

Fingers crossed

You really need a diagnosis. I’d probably go to a decent physio rather than a GP, tbh.

+1. A sports injury specialist off the bat could have saved both self and Mrs MR years of trouble and ongoing issues. I struggled along with GPs for many months with a misdiagnosed subluxated ankle joint. By the time I was frustrated and desperate finally went to see a private sports physio and had it diagnosed and relocated – but by then had developed inflammatory arthritis in the joint and it was too late to make good progress, not to mention now a whole other life-changing issue . If you’re Looking to continue sporting activity IMO it’s worth coughing up and biting the bullet – see someone who specialises in getting players back on the pitch quickly.

i had a separated shoulder a year ago – when they do the scans/x-rays make sure they do the full job. when i went for my first, they only looked at the front of the shoulder, diagnosing one issue for which i did rehab, but missed another, which the rehab i was doing was causing extra issues.

took 3 months to get back on a bike, 8 months of riding with tape on and 9 months before i felt comfortable riding how i was doing so before the crash. shoulders are bastards.

I had a stupid off , when not paying attention on sloping grass and went down on shoulder…similar thing…could not raise arm and rotate etc. got it checked same day and had a ultrasound a few weeks later – diagnosis – torn rotator cuff – Severe damage to Supraspinatus which resulted in an op. 6 months later ( NHS waiting times ) and a year of rehab, which has left me with 70% mobility and limited strength ….My advice for what it is worth is to ask for a scan for rotator cuff / shoulder damage and hope it is not too bad…good luck.

Over the past week, I’ve been doing the stretches on here at least once a day, more if I can, and the mobility in my shoulder has improved massively after 6 weeks of being much the same.

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/shoulder-pain/impingement-syndrome-shoulder/impingement-syndrome-exercises