As some of you may be aware, I threw the MTB in the floor, along with my shoulder head, arms, legs lol. So the cuts and bruises are now 10 days old and healing up well, only a few bits of blood showing on the outside.

The shoulder I had to go to X-ray as I thought I’d broken it, happily it wasn’t broken though, just soft tissue/tendon etc damage.

So I’m wondering if I should worry about physio yet or wait and see what happens, or at least wait until some of the pain goes away?

If I move forward/back from a standing position (walking like a soldier), I have about 70% movement forward, 50% back compared to normal, but with lots of pain to show for it. My outward movement is less slightly, but the pain is greater.

I thought I’d ask on here as I guess quite a few have lobbed their shoulders in the floor.

The pain is sort of the tattoo area of the arm (generically), not quite shoulder, not quite elbow. Somewhere up in the mid range. When in a pool I have 100% pain free movement.

If nothing is broken I would be giving it at least 3 weeks before being concerned enough to consider physio.

I would seek out a physio. You don’t have to break bones to have major issues resulting from an off. Nerve damage can lead to pains and restricted movement in all sorts of ways.

I came off in march and thought i’d broken my shoulder, turned out i had damaged the a.c. ligaments and I am not completely pain free yet but have been riding for about a month.
I would see a physio just to make sure it isn’t your rotator cuff that is damaged as this is a long lay off, but it doesn’t sound like it with the description of where the pain is

Defo physio, I damaged my shoulder 10 years ago and it still aches every now again with physio help, can’t imagine what it would be like without.

5 days post massive shoulder stack and physio today and again on Tuesday so if it’s not broken get in there making a good difference today

One think I’ve learned over the years is that it’s never too soon to seek advice from a sports injury specialist. The sooner you can start doing the right thing by it, the quicker the recovery.

Build a good relationship with one you trust, they’ll tell you if it just needs rest and patience.

@Onzadog +1 a good physio who knows you can get you back on the bike much quicker if they start early in an injuries life cycle

Physio, as soon as swelling goes a bit

I thought I’d broken ribs a few years back and waited six weeks realising they weren’t really any better.

Physio visit relocated my dislocated ribs with almost instant comfort once again.

They may not be able to do too much at present with you but it will start the process and the quicker that starts, the quicker it ends.

Meh – if you can get back on your bike just get back in your bike and get yourself out and about again. Be grand probably.

What exactly do people expect a physio to be able to do?

When I fecked my shoulder up I was doing physio in the A&E department the following day after my initial visit. Unfortunately 6 months of physio didn’t help and ended up having surgery.

What exactly do people expect a physio to be able to do?

For me, identify the exact injury – Bruised rotator cuff
Work out what is restricting movement and pick the best exercises and stretches to work on that.
Some hands on manipulation an loosening up of the affected area.
Previous shoulder injury was some acupuncture on the area.
Made heaps of difference and helped me sleep.

Dislocated mine about 7 years ago. Resulting in a tear in one of my rotator cuff ligaments.
12 weeks of nhs physio and it was slightly better, lived with it for a while but ended up with a MRI to diagnose the tear.
Another 12 weeks of nhs physio and all was good.
My view now is if it still hurts after a month, find out what’s causing it, not second guess.

Same as kuco, physio did nothing for my shoulder (except hurt a lot). Operation was needed, maybe you could get a scan done?
Luckily riding a mountain bike doesn’t put too much stress on the shoulders, so recovery after op was pretty quick.

I’m 6 months down the line after a big off and landing on left shoulder for the second time. 7 months prior I landed on it and did a grade 2 AC dislocation. This time first consultant said they couldn’t do anything because of the swelling and x-ray was inconclusive.
1 week later consultant says it will be fine
2 months later and collarbone is moving around and I’m still getting tremendous pain in shoulder, can’t sleep and huge headaches. GP diagnoses tension headaches and refers me to Physio.
5 months later get physio appt. Physio says ‘Oh I’m sure it’ll be nothing to worry about’ then sees swelling and crunchy moving collarbone and sends me for x-ray after I almost faint under manipulation.
Brief phone call last week and could be either broken tip of collarbone, dislocation, scar tissue on ligament or something else.
Back in Monday to hopefully find out WTF is actually going on.
Daily meds are amitriptyline, co-codamok and naproxen.
Still riding but MTB is way than road more painful as joint moves on pedal strokes.
Good luck and push if you’re not happy.

2 months later and collarbone is moving around and I’m still getting tremendous pain in shoulder, can’t sleep and huge headaches. GP diagnoses tension headaches and refers me to Physio.
5 months later get physio appt.

WTF!!!!!!

I’m guessing thats why I’ve never gone to NHS physio, if somebody says you need it and the appointment isn’t there by next week it’s time to go private.

One thing the physio helped in doing was keeping a full range of motion in the shoulder.

Jeez, seems many have worse ones than me. 11 days in and pain is lessening daily and movement a bit better day by day. Certain posiutioins and angles worse than others. Stretching behind to pull up my pants hurts, but I can lift heavy objects.

Plan is to give it till Wed, I’m at home Thurs and Fri and can book local GP then for a referral to private through work if needed.

If anyone knows a good person for private work in either Berks/oxon please put on here just in case.

I took on a French curb 3 weeks ago and came off second best. Broke my right collarbone, grade 3 separation of the shoulder and split the good part of my collarbone back to the rib cage area, had it all plated and pinned 2 weeks ago.

Been back for my first checkup, had X-rays and seen the surgeon, who congratulated me on the mess I had made, it gave him the chance too show his trainee what can happen!

Currently signed off for 6 weeks, in a sling and have very limited movement, and constant pain, being allergic to anything other than paracetamol isn’t a great help either, but I can laugh about it, watch the tour and chill out for a bit.

The mere mention of getting on my bike too him, drew an intake of breath and the words “don’t even think about that for weeks” seemed pretty real, not even had a mention of physio yet, but when I do, I think it might be a bit grim.

I’ve no idea about shoulders having been fortunate enough never to have knackered mine (yet), but I’ve never wished I’d waited a bit longer to see the physio. Not that they’ve always been able to do anything much, but it’s always helped my progress back to full fitness in one way or another. Hence I’d always recommend seeing a physio sooner rather than later.

Get it looked at by an upper limb specialist, if possible.
I had a nasty off in 2004, resulting in arm dislocation and a grade V/VI A/C separation, among other things. The separation was missed due to soft tissue trauma and the dislocated humerus. In the end, it took four bouts of surgery to repair and restore some functionality.

It is still a long way from right, though it is at a point where
I can live with it.

Apparently, the biggest contributing factor to the long term damage and slow recovery was the fact that it was not operated on within the first four weeks. This is the case with all A/C injuries that require surgical attention.

Early physiotherapy to help with the other dislocation may have actually made the whole thing worse.

I would get it checked out thoroughly before attempting rehabilitation, as the severity of mine was missed on the first set of x-rays.
It is always nice to be sure.

Well it’s still improving. I managed a gym bike session today… the ribs being sore made it hard, the shoulder/arm made it hard and the cake/beers from Morzine made it hard..

The arm/shoulder is getting better day by day.. but DAMN it’s a slow and frustrating process.

Get back on your proper bike, that way you’ll be distracted and forget about any pain you may have.