Had it for over a year, nowt seems to shift it, Physio didn’t make a difference. Prob end of biking for me 🙁

Any experiences to share/ advice to give?

I got an impingement many years ago, but not as a result of cycling.

Not sure if it’s the same physiology as what you’re talking about, but mine was a ligament in my shoulder getting drawn into the shoulder joint and once inflamed, keeping on getting aggravated.

Ridiculously I did mine while painting a ceiling with a roller over my head (because at 6’4″ I can 🙂 ) so I can see how it might be caused while cycling.

Mine was managed away with a combination of immobilisation* if it got bad, some ‘fen to keep any inflammation down a bit, and regular soft tissue massage from a hefty South African lass.

* tape crossways across my back from clavicle on front, diagonally over my spine and down to the back of my ribs on the opposite side. Same on the other side. Bloody annoying.

I had a bit of an issue a year or so ago, i was away from bikes but surfing a lot, not sure what the issue was but think it may have been subacromial bursitis.

Raising my arm at all was enough to make me weep like a little girl, I avoided t shirts for a while due to this (not the end of the world in Bali) but any surfing was out of the window for a good few weeks. Luckily mine faded with rest.

I hope you can get it sorted. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Speak to your GP and get them to refer you to the upper limb specialist at your local hospital.

I had problems with impingement in my shoulder for about 3 years and once I was seen by the specialist he had some tests done then I had surgery on it within a few months.
It’s all sorted now and like brand new!

+1 about the GP. I **** mine dirt jumping and an impingement developed over about 6mths. Eventually 12mths further on and after much faffing i had surgery to have a spur on AC bone ground off and inside cleaned up – honestly it was like magic – 3 weeks later it was pretty much perfect and i was discharged from phyiso. be that pain in the arse until you get referred to a shoulder specialist. I had some award winning dude from the US (on the NHS I might add) and he worked wonders. until then, biking was a misery.

Oh wow that’s interesting to find I’m not the only one! The Physio said it’s caused by my winging shoulder blades and poor posture. I got no end of exercises to do (seemed to have some short term impact) so was discharged. Bit stuck now though, Osteopathy a viable option?

Winging shoulder blades?

Sticking out more than they should apparently. Supposedly the stability muscles that hold them in place are weak

You said that physio didn’t make a difference. I have a question for you – could you hand on heart say that you put absolutely everything into following what the physio said?

One of my colleagues who is the best physio I know has this one his desk:

You have three options:
1 – Do nothing,
2 – Do exactly as I say,
3 – Leave.

Did you do exactly as the physio said?

Yep, that’s why I’m at a loss. I’d go back to the Physio if I had any faith in it working. Anybody had experience of any other methods to sort it?

Cheers

Don’t know if it’s called that but I can get really severe pain in my right shoulder if I put in too many miles per week on my road bike. It seems to kick in after about 45 minutes and can become so severe that I have to stop. If I have a break for a little while it all seems to settle down and I can be fine for another 45 minutes or so until it all kicks in again.

I’ve tried loads of things, different stems, gel under the bar tape, aromatherapy massage, anti-cramp pills, voltarol gel, etc, nothing makes any difference apart from doing less road rides. I’m fine with one 45-50 miles road ride per week but two or more a week that length and I start having serious problems. No problem off road though, although sadly I don’t do much of that these days.

The only thing left for me to try is a custom made road frame to suit my not that average measurements.

As I say I have no idea if it’s ‘shoulder impingement syndrome’ but if it’s the same as you have and it similarly affects you on a road bike then I would suggest trying to cut down the miles per week before giving up biking altogether.

Sticking out more than they should apparently. Supposedly the stability muscles that hold them in place are weak

Suggests that you haven’t done everything the physio asked of you. Sounds like a secondary/postural impingement and you need to sort out postural issues before the pain will start to resolve. Think months of hard work, several times each and every day.

wanmankylung – If you are a Physio I would be genuinely interested in hearing your advice. Yes the Physio did say it was a secondary to a postural issue.

Nobody gave me a time frame before? Was doing bizarre exercises with a band for weeks on end and nothing seemed to make any difference… email in profile, advice massively appreciated. At wits end with it!

I am a physio. Try this lot for a month, work hard at it and see if you have any improvement. My email is in my profile.

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/PDFs/Rehab_Shoulder_5.pdf

Thank you wanmankylung, YGM.

Assuming by “impingement” you mean rotor cuff issues I’ve nursed myself back to health a few times. Causes were MTB and ski crashes, long periods of rest then a gentle return to sport through swimming were the answer.

If you mean ligament woes: 18 months ago my left shoulder started locking painfully when lifting the arm rearwards under load and even when swimming crawl, and klunked around as if there was slack in the joint. I’d had no accident and couldn’t remember doing anything to hurt it. Nothing serious showed up on x-rays or echography (which shows up rotor cuff issues well). I saw a surgeon who thought it was the ligaments that hold the shoulder in place were slack and calcified (faint shadow on the x-ray) due to repetitive shocks (bike and vibrating tools). He advised 22 weeks rest and then try swimming again. After the rest the joint no longer locked and felt more stable. After 10 months I’m swimming quite well and back on a full-suspension bike. Any discomfort and I stop what’s causing it – down tools if DIYing – get out the water swimming – ride home one handed on the road. My patience seems to be paying off.

When 22 weeks rest is not an option ie you make your money from a physical job,what can i do to alleviate the pain?

I’ve had some sort of very painful shoulder injury for 7 months now
A constant dull pain in the shoulder area and excruciating pain on the back of my upper arm if I try to raise my arm much past 90 degrees or try to reach back with it. sometimes getting pain inside my elbow and occasionally my wrist.
The shoulder does seem to be the hub of the issue though and the first doc I saw diagnosed an impingement and gave me a steroid injection (to little effect)
Back again today to try and get some progress 🙁

I had a frozen shoulder after 2 heavy falls
I had hydrodilation where they squirted some cortisone and h2o mix into my shoulder,
the difference was remarkable instantly, I could lift my arm above my head, I can now lift it vertical and I am getting the power back as well and can lift my bike over gates.
when I went to the physio, I knew I wouldn’t do the exercises they gave me but the massages were great

Agree with stingmered get a scan, had the same thing – subacromial decompression – three small hole, one for the grinder, one for the hoover and one for the camera (got photos somewhere). Before the op couldn’t lift my arm above 45 degrees to my body or put any pressure through it and riding was very painful, a week or so after all back to normal. Magic.

See a genuine shoulder expert. There are not many around. I had long thoracic nerve palsy and was only fixed when I saw Kathleen Rooney at http://www.manchestershoulder.com. I also recommend http://Www.readingshoulderunit.com. If you’re near London then I can recommend specialists here too. Good luck

Had impingement problems for a few months – painful and it really does get you down, so you have my sympathies.

Mine was down to posture (and a bit of stress making my posture worse!).

Took about 6-8 months of physio to sort it – exercises already covered in the PDF that Wanmankylung posted a link to.

After a couple of months the physio sent me for an injection of ‘dye’ in the shoulder and an MRI as he wanted to make sure there was nothing amiss with the joint. There was, but it wasn’t bad enough to warrant opening my shoulder up and scraping some bone away!

For once I did actually do what I was told and was pretty religious in following the exercise regime.
It helped that we have a physio that comes to the office and is covered by our healthcare policy here, so I was seeing them once every week or two so they could keep an eye on progress, change the exercise intensity etc.

Bottom line is that the stretchy bands and exercise sheets aren’t magic talismans – keep doing the exercises and try to get a physio that will see you every so often to make sure you’re doing them properly and monitor progress.

Good luck.

Si

Wow thanks for all the responses. After reading what Wanmankylung has said via here and email I think it’s down to poor posture in the first instance (sounds similar to your issues scc999). Thanks for sharing all, got my Physio regime back on track now!

Dave.