Ok, had a slowish crash back on the 24th. Shoulder must have got twisted in some way. Only 2 small bruises but hurt like hell from as soon as I got up after the crash. Had an x ray a couple of days later, no break. I assume no break as they just said to contact me gp in around 5 days.

Trouble is, it’s still aches like mad and if I raise the arm forward, or to the side (particularly) it really hurts.

GP said to go back after 2 weeks (she sent me for the x ray) if not much improvement and just told me to do a couple of basic physio stretches, which I’ve been doing.

Am I just being unrealistic at how fast the pain should be subsiding in a shoulder injury? I’m.50.now so clearly don’t heal as fast as I used to I suppose.

Basically there is little improvement in the pain/aching and normally I find after a couple of weeks the usual knocks and bangs improve by quite a bit.

So I just have to accept this is going to take a long time to heal and for the pain to subside?

Ive only been on one 10 mile ride since the crash and as long as I stayed seated the pain really wasn’t too bad.

Did you land on the point of the shoulder at all – sounds slightly similar to AC joint damage. Collar bone still in the right place?

I cracked my scapula, amongst other things, in a big off 2 years ago. It took about 6 months to be pain free. It was “OK” after about 6 weeks, but it would ache and then tense up various muscles which in turn made it ache and tense up various muscles.

Time and a a couple of deep tissue massages broken the cycle eventually.

Although 3 different specialists missed my broken scaphoid for 4 weeks. I’d keep going back to the GP and asking to be referred if it doesn’t settle down.

Sounds like AC joint issue.
Did something similar a few years back – fell over and landed awkwardly on my arm & force went through shoulder.
I have an impacted AC joint where the end of the bone is all roughed up.
Intensive physio and injections have sorted it.
Don’t get fobbed off by the GP though – I did and it took 2.5 years to get it sorted properly.
See if they can refer you to a specialist – they’ll do ultrasound too probably to check for ligament damage.

Luckily managed to avoid surgery with the physio etc. – wasn’t looking forward to being minus a chunk of my collar bone.

Am I just being unrealistic at how fast the pain should be subsiding in a shoulder injury?

Yes depending on the injury of course but if it’s ligament then it’ll take longer than a fracture.

I’m.50.now so clearly don’t heal as fast as I used to I suppose.

That too.

X-ray won’t show up any soft tissue damage.

Sounds to me like a rotator cuff tear – something I am off work with at the moment. Back to GP.

Ligament tears are 6-12 weeks to heal

I’m 5 weeks in after I fractured my scapula. Your description sounds similar. I had hardly any movement for a day or so but over the weeks most of the movement has returned albeit not without pain.

You mentioned having an x-ray but have you had a CT scan? My local hospital insisted to check for damage at the joint that might not show up on a standard x-ray. I would recommend a second opinion.

Done both my ac joints (one twice) and they take forever to mend, even 2 years later my shoulders aren’t great,
I’ve done grade ii and iii, http://www.backandbodyclinic.co.uk/conditions-treated/shoulder-pain/acromioclavicular-joint-pain/

Far better to break the collarbone if u want a speedy recovery..
First one I was in static sling for 5-6 weeks the last time 3-4 weeks
So no driving , physio for 3-4 months every other week.

Go and see a physio, they’ll be able to advise as well as a regular gp

I got tendonosis in my left shoulder after idiots caused me to crash at the Sherwood National last year. Took a year to heal properly.

Without a scan (MRI probably), everything else, including what your GP says, I’s just guesswork, that will inevitably lead to a scan, and corrective treatment (or not if you’re NHS)……I’ve busted up both shoulders, and they’ve both got loads of other issues; Lennard Funk (see link) will: scan, X-ray, and work out how to fix your injury in one consultation. It’s the best money I’ve ever spent on my broken body. The Athertons, Mark Cavendish to name a few, are testament to this IMHO.

https://www.shoulderdoc.co.uk/

Thanks guys.

I’ve broken my collar bone on this shoulder in the past but that was some time ago and this injury is right at the end of the shoulder. At least that’s where the pain is coming from. Right at the tip of the shoulder.

Jumping ahead a few steps…. How much is private physio these days? Appoximate cost per session I mean?

I’ll go back to GP tomorrow or Wednesday as a starting point anyway.

Thanks again for all the info guys.👍

I’m 54 years old. On pancake day I tried to jump a ditch on the way home, fell off and hurt my left wrist. It’s only stoped aching in the last week or so, and it’s not back to full strength – I’m struggling to take the tops of jars.
It might have healed a bit quicker if I stopped riding, as I have a bumpy route to work.

Keep monitoring it, but it might well be your age slowing it, as I’m sure was the case with me.

Rotor cuff injury to my right shoulder over a year ago. Had physio and still doing excercise’s every day. It’s not 100%, maybe it never will be, but it’s managble now. These things take time especially as you get older 🙁

I landed hard on my shoulder years ago, went to hospital and told them I’ve dislocated shoulder or broken collarbone. they took X-rays and said no dislocation or break, just soft tissue damage. It hurt a lot over next few days, went back to another hospital and it had been dislocated all along – but first hospital took X-rays from wrong angle, so didn’t see that it was dislocated backwards (which is apparently more unusual). Maybe your problem too…..

This could be me writing this. I’ve busted my collar bone previously on two occasions. Had a crash in November, my shoulder ached at the time but no real pain. 6 months later and the pain is getting worse, no grip in my hand. Movement above 45 degrees is unbearable. Putting a jumper/shirt on is ridiculously painful. Can’t sleep as I can’t lie on my shoulder, the only non painful position is flat on my back, as soon as I roll in my sleep massive shooting pain for hours from my shoulder to my fingers. Been to the GP in Jan, was told probably muscle damage and to leave it another month. Rebooked to see them, but my GP process means I have to see a physio first who will then decide if I get referred to a specialist. It was a month between recontacting the doctors and getting the physio appointment.
Anyway, all I’d say is, see the GP immediately and ensure you are taken seriously. Don’t be the typical bloke and feel bad about wasting the Doctors time.
Mine has got progressively worse, to the point where I’m struggling to hold onto my bars for any rocky sections. Even two weeks ago I had to stop a turbo session due to discomfort. I can’t do long road rides anymore either as I can’t stay in my normal riding position.
I know I’m lucky to have my fitness and my health in general, but this pain and discomfort is actually quite depressing.

I had a similar sounding injury a few years ago and after some physio I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon. After some x ray and MRI I was diagnosed with an impingement and needed an operation (subacromial decompression) which mostly sorted it out. That shoulder is noticeably weaker than the other but I don’t have any pain.

This all took a couple of months to sort but was done thanks to my private health cover as part of my job.

W00dster – it sounds to me as if your injury has progressed to frozen shoulder. Sadly I’ve become a bit of an expert, as I’m still recovering from frozen shoulder in my second shoulder after an 18 month recovery in the original shoulder. Anything you can do to speed up your physio appointment and referral to a specialist will be beneficial. I’ve ended up having injections in both shoulders – the only way I could get relief from the pain, enable me to sleep again, and actually start doing the physio. It’s taken me a long time and I’m still not 100% yet – I can ride for around 2 hours before the aches come back, and that’s not ‘proper’ off road yet. Shoulders are a bugger 🙁

Rotator cuff damage in both shoulders, wish I could afford time off.

sounds to me as if your injury has progressed to frozen shoulder

I’d go with this too.

Fell off and injured shoulder.
Not improved after 3 weeks so went to private physio diagnosed Rotator Cuff Tear.
Given gentle stretches etc to encourage healing and keep movement.
Gradually improved but after 6 weeks started getting much more pain.
Got to the point where if I just knocked the shoulder on a doorway or something I went all pale and had to have a sit down.
After 3 months went to GP got referral to should specialist and diagnosed with frozen shoulder.
Manipulation of shoudler under general anesthetic to pop the bubbles and free it up plus some cortizone injections and it sorted itself out.

I’d say the frozen shoudler was easier to diagnose than the rotator cuff tear – basically even with all my muscles relaxed and someone else taking the weight moving my arm above a certain height was incredibly painful – within a small range of movement there was no pain and no real loss of strength (once origina tear was healed).

Jumping ahead a few steps…. How much is private physio these days? Appoximate cost per session I mean?

It depends. My local guy, who is very good, charges £40 per hour and – so far for me at least – it’s been one session per injury: diagnosis, advice, rehab exercises. I’m sure you can pay a lot more – I think he charges too little tbh – but within reason, I’d be more concerned about finding someone good rather than the outright cost. Ideally ask around locally and get some recommendations for someone with sports experience and take it from there.

I’d also try not to jump to conclusions from the experiences of others on here. You might have the same issue as someone else, you might not.

Edit: also, personally I wouldn’t bother going to the GP for a relatively minor mountain biking injury. Mostly any sort of referral will take a long time. GPs generally have a different idea of what an acceptable outcome is than someone who’s a keen sports person. And sports physios are specialists in the one particular area, not generalists, no matter how good. I’m not disparaging GPs generally btw, just saying that for a lot of sporting injuries, it makes sense to go and see a sports physio as your first port of call. They can always advise you to take it the GP anyway if it makes sense from a diagnostic scanning sort of point of view.

You might have the same issue as someone else, you might not.

this too – three weeks is no time for a muscle/ligament injury. As I said my original injury had almost healed before the frozen shoudler started.

Macebell – you might want to get a lighter one for rehab and then a heavier one for later.

Recommended one to the physio guy who was fixing my knee – now all this shoulder problems are fixed, and he has recommended it to all his patients with similar effect.

or indian clubs are supposed to be excellent but probably not quite the same as the macebell works your core as well.

Had a slow off three years ago. Rotator cuff damage scarring to supraspinatus. Still causes pain, especially since I’ve decided I like enduro stuff.
Went round the gp-consultant-physio roundabout a few times but the best thing they did was cortisone injections.

I had floating bits of bone in my shoulder a good few years ago – physio didn’t help, just bloody hurt. After scan, had op (back when I had private healthcare through work), sorted for a few years, but stiffened back up over time. Then I crashed yesterday and can hardly move it now 🙁
Don’t think I’ll be back doing tennis serves any time soon.

Not that any of this will help … but I have just been dealing with a frozen left shoulder for 9 months. It was operated on in Oct and re froze in January, so MUA in March.
Final session of physio on the 28th April … still stiff but basically getting there…
On the 29th April I went out on the bike and had an off … and have fractured the head off the humerus and it was on the left side where all the work has been done.
What I can tell you is that it hurts … alot.
I am 5 and a bit weeks in, and I am beginning physio, I can move the lower arm … but the rest is really painful still. What we don’t know at this stage is whether this is nerve damage, muscle damage or frozen shoulder!
However, it’s not rotator cuff dmage which is good news.
Basically, I share your pain … I also damaged two ribs, my bicep and really badly bruise the bone of my fore arm…
If it is a frozen shoulder the NHS will do very little ( but contact me and I will send you a scan of the exercises you need to do).
If there is no break, then it is just a case of waiting …
I there is a break, it is a case of waiting
If it is rotator cuff then that wait is a long time …

🙁

I had a damaged shoulder after getting hit by a car….it was the landing rather than the car that wrecked it.

Mine took a good year to go away. I had cortisone (which just resulted in Cortisone flare…which is agony), physio (to no avail) and then had MRI. Which showed a few things but the surgeon was a little annoyed that they didn’t do a MRI Arthrogram – whereby they give you a contrast injection and then MRI to give greater clarity of the area.

Anyway – mine was a damaged lagrum as well as AC joint. I found an excellent osteo and through much pain she managed to help me regain most of my range of motion (I could not put on a coat or backpack without wincing) and even now, 3 years on, still have to work on strength and flexibility in it just as a maintenance routine.

They’re complex beasts. Best of luck.

#metoo 😬 crashed 5th January, surgery and pins still there, still off work Pain in same place as OP. I’m 52 and although not right, it is improving.
Great advice above, chin up and get well quick 👍

Lots of good advice so far, and from my experience of shoulder injury, an MRI might be very useful to get a diagnosis.

For background, I came off my bike and hit my shoulder and head on a rock, heard something crack but thought it might be my helmet – later found out I’d broken the ‘greater tubercle’ off my humerus.  Went to local minor injuries, who X-rayed it, but nothing showed up.

To cut a long story short, apparently there are some specific shoulder injuries/broken bones that are very difficult to diagnose, unless you’re an experienced specialist. I saw two sports injury physios before I properly diagnosed; first didn’t think any bones were broken, second (more experienced) was 99% certain I’d broken a bone.  Turns out the part of the bone I’d broken is notoriously difficult to pick up on a shoulder X-ray, unless you’re orientated in a specific way – and, according to the experienced physio, it’s not an entirely unusual part of the bone to break in contact sports.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>Waited so long to see specialist, that I ended up with frozen shoulder, which was an absolute f***er (symptoms as mentioned above).  Specialist requested urgent MRI scan, but when he got the results, they were inconclusive, but he was convinced there was something broken – so, while I was there he sent me for immediate X-ray, with specific instructions for radiographers.  New X-rays clearly showed the detached piece of bone. Once that had healed, the specialist got me straight into surgery to unfreeze shoulder and then it was just weeks of physio to get stability and strength back.  I’m still doing specific exercises 2 years on to reduce the amount of clunking, clicking and maintain stability (I’m 57, and injuries definitely take longer to sort, but physio reckons the delay in getting diagnosed wouldn’t have helped).</span>

I guess my advice is much the same as some people have already suggested – get into your GP and emphasise how important it is that you need this sorting. (If you haven’t already got it, you really want to avoid full on frozen shoulder!) Ask them if they could send you for an MRI scan and referral to shoulder specialist – if they decline, ask them the reasons why (I.e. how sure are they of their diagnosis).

The specialist explained to me that MRI’s are normally one of the best diagnostic tools, and is best to have as soon as any swelling has reduced.

Hope this helps in some way.  Best of luck with it.

p.s. second what mccraque has said about MRI arthrogram (surgeon explained to me why he wanted that doing)

I damaged my shoulder spinning ny kids round on a roundabout in 2014.

It took eighteen months  of physio and two lots of steroid injections before it stopped being sore every day.

Now it only hurts once a week.

Played my first full round of golf on Friday for 4 years and it aches.

Bad news for the OP and W00dster: you’ve both got the classic symptoms of adhesive capsulitis or a frozen shoulder.

Typically affects people aged 40 to 60, usually after a trauma or immobilisation of the arm (mine was a broken clavicle) and is extremely painful. Sometimes it just happens for no apparent reason, more often to women in that age range.

Raising the arm above horizontal becomes impossible, you can’t reach behind you and your hand gets swollen and numb. It may go away in a year or three or you might benefit from a capsular release operation. I had this a month ago and I’m back at work this morning for the first time. The surgeon told me: “you have to go backwards now to go forwards, the success of the procedure depends entirely on your willingness to stretch and subject yourself to pain. If you think your broken ribs were painful, just wait for this!” It has been painful especially when the shoulder joint would settle with a clunk after stretching, which sent an electric shock of pain through me but today I’m feeling much better and I’m anticipating that the consultant will be pleased with my range of movement when I see him on Friday.

Some surgeons will give you a steroid jab and others will try to use hydraulic pressure to loosen the capsule but mine told me an arthroscopic capsule release is the only proper solution. He manipulated my arm under anaesthetic and told me I have 100% range of movement and must get going on physio, five times a day for a month to prevent it from re-freezing while the capsule heals.

I have found the greatest benefit in lying on a yoga mat and allowing gravity to help me raise my arm above my head. Paracetamol is your friend, a safe and underused drug. Take 1gm every five hours and keep a note of the times on a piece of paper so that you don’t let the level drop. I reckon I’ll be back on the bike by end of May, nine months after the crash, which broke my collar bone.

forget a GP get it checked out at a hospital asap.

I **** my shoulder up a few years ago crashing my bike. Went A&E the following day and remember saying I heard a big pop but no cracking or snapping (driving back home 112 miles from the FoD wasn’t much fun) X-ray showed no broken bones and started physio literally the following day as doc said reckoned I had a grade 2 ligament tear.

After a month of physio went back to the next appointment and said I felt it pop again at work. Physio reckoned I took it to a grade 3 and she referred me to see a specialist. He gave me a steroid injection to no effect, then an MRI which showed I actually done more damaged than they thought. Because the bone didn’t break everything else moved around the bone causing damage to ligament, tendon, and nerves.

Ended up having a Subacromial decompression and a tidy up of the AC joint. As the ligament was healing they left that to heal by itself.

Ended up with 14 weeks off work and still 6 years later if I don’t keep on top of exercising it, it can cause a lot of hassle, especially in the side of the neck. Find going to the gym helps.

A physio will diagnose the issue quickly – looking around £50-£60 for the first visit, a little less for others.

Another that did his AC joint – never healed, was always painful. Eventually had it decompressed, and that took 18 months post surgery to not be painful. All good now.

I hit my ‘fixed’ shoulder 2 years ago – OTB. I went and saw a physio rather than a doctor and despite getting told off for not going to A&E, it was OK, just badly bruised. Lots of exercises and a good month, it was getting better. Did take a few months though.

Sorry cannot help with your shoulder but all I will say is don’t be fobbed off by your gp. example 1: (very short version) I fell down some stairs resulting in sever pain in my ankle, visited 2 different hospitals and saw my gp 3 times all said it was sprained, advised elevate it, ice and “walk it off”. After 5 weeks of intense pain I finally got to see a physio (only after I asked my gp). Within 2 mins of seeing the physio I was diagnosed with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon which due to time passed required surgery. Took almost a year to recover.

Example 2: my 2 year old boy fell while climbing in the garden, took him to a&e and they “thought” he had fractured his shin so put him in a lower leg cast and told to come back in a week. Well he screened every time you picked him up and after 5 days his leg started to swell so took him back only to find he hadn’t broken his shin it was his thigh up by his hip (every time we picked him up with the weight of the cast on his leg it pulled the bones apart). He ended up having to have traction and a general anaesthetic I order to fit a full lower body cast (ribs down to ankles) which he was in for 8 weeks.

Like I said don’t be fobbed off.

Ok guys an update today as spent £40 and saw a private physio.

He is adamant it’s a partial rotator cuff tear which a good few of you mentioned.

Got some exercises to do and in theory it should heal itself. In theory.👍

I’m going back in 2 weeks to see him and I’ll update you guys with how I get on offer the weeks and months ahead.

Huge thanks for all the info and encouragement given here. I might still be able to ride the sdw in the latter part of the Summer but we shall see. Was feeling pretty down about not being able to do that.

I’ll be ditching up the turbo to Zwift again to try to keep improving the fitness in the meantime too.

I had a rotator cuff injury from a fall on the mtb, then made worse by a skiing fall – couldn’t lift my arm above horizontal, etc.

Saw physio and some PTs, did exercises, had percussive massage, etc.

Even took my exercise gear out to the Maldives for a 2 week holiday so I could concentrate on it – including straps and a gym ball for stretching.

Was getting nowhere then decided to try swimming long-stroke breastroke around the island with no leg work.

Only did 50 minutes that time but my arm was fixed the next day – could raise it with no pain. Every susequent year I went I would do a 1.5 hour swim like that around the island with subsequent benefits to my arms and general posture.

I don’t go to the maldives anymore but that macebell I linked to earlier is as good or better.

Buy one in 10 or 15 years time and then curse yourself for not getting one 10 or 15 years earlier…

^^ I had wondered about swimming actually…. Whilst lagging there awake last night with my shoulder aching.lol

I’ll look into the maceball too!👍

I’ll look into the maceball too!👍

get a light one to start and concentrate on smoothness and control – jerky motions cause injuries – so I like the 360s best.

Hold the pole upright at the base with the hand on top being the opposite from the way you going to rotate it, then push with that hand so the pole starts to fall. swap hands for your reps in the other direction.

The faster you ‘twirl’ it the heavier it will feel.

Keep your feet together so your core has to work against the weight of the mace falling to your side.

Also look up indian clubs on youtube – I think they might have loads of benefits which I have been too lazy so far to investigate.

good luck.