Posts Tagged ‘injury recovery’

Things are going as well as they can with two torn tendons in my left shoulder.

The Accident

To cut a long story short I lifted an odd shaped object overhead with improper form. Its as simple as that. The odd shaped object was my 80lb weight vest which I then proceeded to use for an hour. When putting it on I struggled & contorted the wrong way. Tore two tendons.

Symptoms

Its been two months since the initial injury. For the past two months I have seldom raised my left arm above shoulder height. To do so would result in intense pain. Putting my hand behind my back has been the same.

There has been pain all night if I exercise or lift weight too hard but its a dull ache not severe.

Stretching it is pure agony.

The Physio

I waited three weeks before seeing the physio because I hoped it would heal up and go away. It did not.

First visit he did some tests and told me I have bursitis and a possible small tear.

I was sent for an ultrasound and they made me take an x-ray also. I have two small tears in the subscapularis and infraspinatis and bursitis in my left shoulder.

The physio is guiding me through a progressive recovery starting with isometrics only initially. Now I do band exercises and stretches.

If it doesnt hurt I am allowed to do it.

What Exercise can You Do?

Well its actually nowhere near as bad as it sounds training wise. I can not lift overhead or do benchpress. Anything behind the back is out. Apart from that I can train exactly like normal even with the same weights.

Have I lost condition?

Over all no none at all with the exception of my left shoulder. My left arm is fine I can still do heavy bicep curls. tricep kickbacks etc. But I can lift zero above my shoulder. Until this week I could not stretch my arm above my shoulder without pain so did not try.

Today I have regained the ability to raise my arms but not straight up by a wide margin so it may take a month of daily careful exercise to regain a fully stright vertical arm. Before doing this I will check with the physio that it is safe to do.

Any new exercise I add I check with the physio first. So yes I have lost considerable range of motion in my left shoulder & no doubt strength but I wont be testing that for 1-2 months.

I can do side delt raise with bands & trap shrugs with 140 lbs (2 x 70 lb kettlebells). I can do front raise and cable flyes.

So the injury is very specific in that it prevents over head & behind back only.

When will I be better again?

I expect the bursitis and pain to be fully gone in two months. That will be four months after the injury. I expect to be pressing over head & doing pressups and bench again about four months from now with light to moderate weight.

I expect to be lifting heavy overhead & weight vest training six to seven months from now.

Full recovery from tendon injury is widely regarded as 9 months same as getting pregnant.

What medication have I taken?

Zero. None at all I think in the last two months I have taken two ibuprofens which I felt seriously guilty for taking. I have used Turmeric & black pepper instead. I have also used a raw ginger poultice a couple of times. Thats it.

Its highly unlikely that I will take a cortisone shot into the bursa.

I do intend to experiment with DMSO and deer antler velvet. I will put this directly onto the wound and maybe sublingually. I also intend to use Pine Pollen & Black Ant extract with DMSO. This is to combat andropause and should have a dramatic effect on the tendon healing. I will not apply DMSO directly to the tendon for an extended time. Perhaps daily for a week then once per week for a month.

If I could use ostarine, other SARMS and peptides I would but they are illegal in New Zealand and hence expensive and difficult to import.

I will at some point be moving overseas and will become a regular user of SARMS & peptides.

My Advice

First of all if you are a serious athlete that trains with weights & will do so for life you probably have a 50% chance of a tendon tear. Its something we all dread. Took me 32 years before it happened. I started lifting at 16.

So just do what you can for your joints, good supplements, warm ups and downs, special exericises. Physio equipment like PEMF can help too.

Also have rest days and periodize your training.

In addition if you are 40-50 start considering Hormone replacement and chemical performance enhancement at some point.