What Is It With The Dang Shoulders
 

For the first 50+ years of my life, crashing - off bikes, skateboards, skis, whatever - onto my shoulders just wasn’t a thing. It simply never happened or maybe I never noticed it. Now at the ripe old age of 61, every time I crash it is on my shoulders. Moreover, almost every time I suffer some manual work injury or misuse-of-body injury, it is to my shoulders - well, lower back too, I throw it out occasionally through violent trauma like “sleeping wrong” and “sneezing”.

A partial list, over the past several years:
- Left shoulder screwed up, turns out was because I’d extract myself from the 911’s racing bucket by putting my left upper arm on the B-pillar and levering my body out of the seat. Physical therapy, and re-installed the stock seat.
- Right shoulder separated, from a bicycle crash. More PT.
- Right shoulder had trouble raising arm high, from the damn summer of house siding stripping and sanding. Self administered PT at the gym, took a couple months to fix..
- Right shoulder slightly separated, from a skiing fall, the kind where you hook a tip and get body slammed to the snow. Self PT.
- Right shoulder again, another skiing fall. Resolved on its own in a couple weeks.
- Left shoulder, same kind of skiing fall. Feels like it will resolve in a short time, knock wood.

I decided maybe I need some preventative work on said shoulders, so have been doing shoulder exercises - shoulder flys with light weights. I think those may be helping me be a little more durable. I’m also more circumspect about lifting things over my head.

So hopefully the exercises will help, but it is weird that this previously cooperative part of my body is now such a drama queen.

Anyone else find that some hitherto uncomplaining body part is starting to complain more than the others? What is it for you, if not shoulders?

It's shoulders for me. I hyper-extended my right arm in 2021 while grabbing a tree (while on my bike, trying to avoid riding over the edge into a ravine). It froze up about a week later and took me about a year of PT to get all 98% of the mobility back.

After that it's hands and fingers - I just seem to nick them more often (and they bleed more often...).

Left wrist. I can't twist it a certain way now that I am a tad older. This is from landing on it over the years during bike racing. If my hand is on top of the handle bar and I don't pay attention, hit a big bump, twist it wrong, especially when I had those damn aero flat bars, I feel it.

Left shoulder started to go frozen. Range of motion was about 60-70%. Can't scratch a certain part of my back without a good amount of pain. Doc gave me anti inflammatory pills. Work for few days. Friend recommended that I go see chiropractor. The same day, my foot was killing me so I went to my guy for a cheap Chinese foot message. This old dude kills me and know what my needs are with my stinky feet. Instead, he twisted my upper body to stretch me only to hear me scream when me pulled on my arm. He spoke no English and decided to work on my poor arm and shoulder. He was kicking my ass while hitting all the necessary pressure points or just working out the knots in my muscles around the area. After an hour of that painful experience, I finally had full range of motion back in over a year. I went back three time after that and have free range of motion, 100%. Worth the 30 bucks an hour. I do simple weights, 3-5 lbs couple time a week lifting over my head, back and forth to strengthen my muscles around the shoulder which they never get used much now days. Its has worked wonders for me so far.

Now the big one. Born with flat feet. It never bother me until around 45. I went to SEMA and couldn't walk or stand for more then two to three hours. It was kicking my teeth in having to sit and rest after an hour of walking. Due to my flat feet, they pronate to the point that it puts a lot of stress on the tendon right under my ankle on the inside. I have tendonitis there constantly but OK to ride for many hard miles. After the ride, I feel it but not too bad. Custom orthopedics insole fixed that and now I can stand for 5-6 hours without pain.

A lifetime of abuse

Current
Torn rotator cuff on both shoulders
Carpal tunnel both hands

Previous
Frozen shoulder on both
Trigger finger on both hands, all fingers except the pinkies and thumbs

Girl (hard out lesbian actually) at the gym said "9 out of 10 physios get injured persons to do this... So you should do it preventatively. Lie on your side. Elbow at 90 degrees. Lift 5kg from the floor vertically about ten times. Now do the other side."

There are tiny little muscles in you shoulder that need bulking up to prevent injury. It's easier to prevent it than to fix it.

I've certainly given my body grief over the years. So I try to stay moderately fit and strong to minimise my decay.

My mother's doctor suggest she use her fingers to walk up the side of a wall or cabinets three times a day, 5 sets each time to keep her back from hurting and strengthen her upper body. She's 85, active and walks about a mile daily, lives by herself. It worked like magic after two weeks, no more back pain or soreness. I realized, after 40, we no longer really exercise our upper bodies especially our shoulders with all those tiny muscles. As kids, we climb monkey bars, trees, and play ball all day long and get enough of the upper body exercise. About the only thing I do now its to reach for the coffee mug in the upper cabinet and that's really about it. Now, I try to keep it moving, nothing like lifting weight but I try to stay mobile. I carry some things here and there but nothing too heavy for work anymore. HAvn't done it since my mid 30s. My father always told me to hire a donkey and save myself and don't abuse my body.

Oh, I recognize that as a PT exercise to strengthen muscles around rotator cuff, usually you do it with a rubber band tied to something or you can work both arms against each other, I’ve never thought of doing it laying down with weights.

Buncha geezers ;)

We play .... so we pay ... but what else are ya gonna do?

Best wishes to you all ... good luck!

Hmmm, skiing, bicycling, and heavy duty home repair at the age of 61.

I'll give you the talk my doctor gave me when I had knee trouble at age 60.

"Doc, when I'm running my left knee gives out at mile 18, every time."
Doc looks at me.
"Do you really need a doctor to tell you to stop running 18 miles!!?"


"Anyone else find that some hitherto uncomplaining body part is starting to complain more than the others? What is it for you, if not shoulders? "

Yep, arthritis in my feet and hands, L4-L5 Spondylosis.
My shoulders seem to be holding up though - so far, and my knees straightened up when I stopped running.

I can't sleep on my left side without waking up with a shoulder that is genuinely pissed off. A life well lived will cause you pain....eventually.

Exercise bands. It has been a game changer for me. Mine have handles that can hook over a door handle. I used to get frozen shoulder during the winters. Not a single episode since I started with the bands.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711976581.jpg

Age has a lot to do with it.

I broke my right scapula and left collar bone coming off of my mountain bike 20 or so years ago. It's been a lifetime of PT since. If I slack off, the pain and mobility issues eventually come back. Go to a few PT sessions to learn the right exercises and do them regularly. Frozen shoulder PT is one of the most painful things I've been through. Avoid that at all costs.

Playing hard as a kid and working hard as an adult ruined both my shoulders. I couldn’t sleep because of the toothache in my shoulder’s. At 67 I had to get the left rotator cuff fixed. The surgery was awesome with very little pain after. So, I proceeded to get the right one fixed. Mother of god!! The pain after the surgery was crazy. Took a few days to subside and got better and better. At 72 now and my shoulders are fantastic. I can lift weights and do just about anything pain free. I just feel that the human body was not designed to live past 45. Modern medicine keeps us ticking for a very nice profit..

Yeah, shoulders are a problem when you get older. I had my complete right shoulder replaced 2.5 years ago. The socket was worn out, had a bicep tendon that was torn, and lots of damage to the joint itself. Best surgery I ever had. My shoulder is 100% now and I have no pain or issues. I was painting the interior of our new (to us) home 3 weeks after surgery- very carefully of course.

Yes. Right shoulder. MRI shows rotator cuff tear and arthritis.

Right wrist and thumb. Xrays show arthritis.

Not gonna bother with imaging on the hip as i'm sure it's more of the same.

Hmm, I didn't realize shoulders were such a common problem point for we of a certain age. I'd better work more on mine.

I can't guarantee that this will work for everyone but I have discovered that "Red Light Therapy" has worked wonders for my shoulder and back pain.

About 25 years ago I broke my shoulder skiing. I have not had any pain for many, many years. However, the last couple of years I have had a throbbing pain in my shoulder, and it makes sleeping ....well, a pain. I can't get comfortable. I'll change positions but the pain is back in just a couple of minutes.

UNTIL NOW - My Red Light Machine has eliminated all of my shoulder pain. It's a 20 minute session 4-5 times a week. You just stand in front of this thing (10 min front, 10 min back).

The red light is for skin and helps your cells produce collagen (reduces wrinkles, scars, etc..). It also has near infrared which soaks into your body about 3 inches. This stimulates your cells to start healing things. I don't know exactly how it works but it worked for me.


The Machine: MitoRedLite 1500+750 (about 6' tall
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1712010418.jpg

Do my neighbors think I'm weird? Probably!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1712010509.jpg

Minor rotator cuff problems with my left shoulder here. Got it back to normal about 4 years ago then fell while skating and was back to square one. At least second time around I knew what exercises would help.
When you think about what we ask our shoulder joints to do, I find it amazing we get so far before we are reminded to take care.
Last summer I got on a pair of rings in a playground and went inverted then over. Fantastic that old shoulders could do that!(Hey, I was with my granddaughter, showing her how.;) )

Best
Les

This is why I never played football, sorry Coach Clemons