bollocks! my shoulder

[suk1978]

before xmas i got some painkillers for my shoulder as it my doctor thought that i had a minor tear in my rotator cuff. iced and went on holiday for 2 weeks, felt much better, been training well ever since...until last night.
now it's started hurting again, not searing pain, but an ache, reminding me that i need to be careful and kinda putting me off going too heavy on the bench. competition is in 4 weeks - 3 weeks training left. im off to the docs tonight to get more painkillers and i'll be icing it with devotion. gonna throw in some rotator cuff exercises on the off days i dont train. any other tips or suggestions - apart from rest - i'll do that after the day?? im fucking annoyed cos im wanting to go really heavy in the competiton on my bench as it's my best lift..

 

[the koala]

personally i would forget about the competition,....

are you shooting for some official record? if not then why bother?
competitions come again, your shoulder you have only once

it may seem unfair and extremely frustrating since you trained hard for the comp, but a tear in the rotator cuff isn't something to take lightly i would say

and since you can't go heavy you're preparation for the bench press won't be optimal, so you'll be even more frustrated afterwards

i would say let it heal out completely and start off again light before you do some major, maybe irreversible damage

just my humble opinion

 

[suk1978]

personally i would forget about the competition,....

are you shooting for some official record?

YES. AND ITS ON THE BENCH PRESS. to be fair, i can actually press the offical UK record without it hurting, i was just hoping to do MORE. like 10 kg more. i think a light week next week and hovering around the record +2kg maybe the way forward, instead of +10kg. still gonna compete, if anything to get a feel for it. cheers for the advice though.

 

[blut wump]

Only you can judge how bad it is but backing off for a week on the weight might just give the shoulder a chance to sort itself out or at least sort itself out enough. The risk is to ignore it with ice and painkillers and have it worsen and end up not lifting at all.

Obviously, you have a bit of a tight-rope to walk to keep your lift up and keep your shoulder healthy but if you have 10Kg in your pocket then priority has to be to get there as healthy as possible.

Try to get some massage and do some gentle stretching. When mine went a while back I would stretch with just the bar on the bench and bring it slowly right down to my neck. I guess it depends just where in the shoulder it's hurting.

 

[the koala]

well,.... i think dave tate said in an article once 'competition is where health concerns have to be taken aback' (not a 1:1 citation)

if you're shooting for the official record and you have you're mind set to it then go for it

a loooong time ago there was a good post on here about rotator cuff exercises, i can't describe them in words, and it probably wouldn't do you any good since it's a case of 'one picture says more than 1000 words'

other than that,... what always helped me was doing those rotator exercises with a mini band and high reps, really gets the blood flowing

i can also recommend 'ibuprofen' if there is an inflammation too - it's a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug which has a plasma-protein-binding-% of about 99%, which means that a high percentage of the dosage you take will actually reach the inflamed region (as opposed to aspirin which takes higher dosages for anti-inflammatory effects) and has analgetic effecs too; _but_ if you got some painkillers prescribed from your doctor go with them

hope i could help

 

[Parabellum]

Since your so focused....
Ice it after every workout for 20 min every hr. Keep icing it. Take your meds to keep the swelling down.
Remember pain killers only mask the problem. I know I evetually needed surgery to SOMEWHAT fix my shoulder.