Fifty Plus (50+) - Sore shoulder update

They gave me a cortisone shot in the shoulder and a list of recovery exercises that I will do on my own. He also said to lay off the Chuck Norris TotalGym thing for a while. It might be aggravating the rotator cuff area with all that extreme stretching under heavy load (was he insuating I'm fat?).

I chose the cortisone shot because I didn't want to give up my daily commute ride and hoped this would speed the symptoms away. This is a new tack for me --medicating symptoms instead of focusing purely on root cause. At our age(s), long symptom recovery can degrade quality of life and possibly undo hard won lifestyle habits (like bike commuting).

They gave me a cortisone shot in the shoulder and a list of recovery exercises that I will do on my own. He also said to lay off the Chuck Norris TotalGym thing for a while. It might be aggravating the rotator cuff area with all that extreme stretching under heavy load (was he insuating I'm fat?).

I chose the cortisone shot because I didn't want to give up my daily commute ride and hoped this would speed the symptoms away. This is a new tack for me --medicating symptoms instead of focusing purely on root cause. At our age(s), long symptom recovery can degrade quality of life and possibly undo hard won lifestyle habits (like bike commuting).

I had major problems with my rotator cuff area last summer when I decided to see if the "one pull" start on my new mower really worked. Yep, all it took was one pull and I thought my family might have to take me to the emergency room as I was laying in the yard screaming in pain. The pain finally went away but I wasn't able to do anything with that arm for weeks without experiencing pain. I didn't go to the doctor because I was afraid he might want to do something drastic like cut on it:eek: I bought a book on rotator cuff exercises and followed their directions for the next several months. As of this summer, I no longer have any pain associated with using the arm.....haven't tried the mower and probably never will again.

Hopefully the exercises will work for you. I only wish I had gotten some type of medication to lessen the pain during the recovery phase....Tylenol/Advil just didn't work 100%:( Fortunately riding the bike didn't seem to bother the shoulder unless I was standing to climb hills.

I had a minor rotator cuff injury about 3 years ago. Doctor recommended taking it easy for a while. Took almost 6 months to heal - I must have re-injured it 4 or 5 times along the way. I still remember the pain of those re-injuries - felt like someone plunged a knife into my shoulder.

He also said to lay off the Chuck Norris TotalGym thing for a while. It might be aggravating the rotator cuff area with all that extreme stretching under heavy load (was he insuating I'm fat?).

Disagrees:
http://mike.files.wordpress.com/2005/12/chuck_norris_1.jpg

... Brad

There is a book on exercises for rotator cuff injuries? Please post a link or at least the title. Thanks.