pinched nerve

[flenser]

So I survived another week in the sling doing nothing but working or watching movies. The muscles have mostly healed which makes not being allowed to use them pretty frustrating. There's still enough pain to remind me how fragile the tendons still are, though. Supposedly, if all goes well, I will be able to lose the sling for good on the 9th, a little over two more weeks, sigh.

PT still involves no use of the shoulder muscles. I do "pendulums" 4 times a day and some grip exercises. At therapy the therapist moves my arm through its available ROM while telling me to completely relax my shoulder. Then I go home and ice it. At least ROM is actually improving. It's somewhere around 75% in every direction after 4 weeks. I guess that's good.

I'm walking a couple of miles a day now, and I discovered I can use my rower by gripping it in the center with my right hand. The left stays in my lap, and the shoulder doesn't move, so I think it's safe. It's a challenge keeping the handle centered so the chain doesn't rub, and after 30 minutes my forearm is toast. After I'm healed I might keep the one arm rowing thing going to see if it makes my lagging forearms grow. It's probably genetic, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Planning on returning to the gym on Sunday - against the advice of both doc and therapist. I figure some light leg extensions three times a week can't be that risky. Hell, just hanging out with the other old farts like me is probably pretty good therapy by itself.

Oh yea, still no neck pinch pain. It's completely gone.

 

[Heavy Iron]

Man sucks to hear this. Hope you have a speedy recovery. I would bet BPC 157 and TB500 would work excellent to help up the process. Not the same injury as yours obviously, but tore my left pec in April and I'm at about 70%. I didn't need surgery. But still it helped a ton. Might be something worth looking into for tendon repair.

 

[flenser]

Man sucks to hear this. Hope you have a speedy recovery. I would bet BPC 157 and TB500 would work excellent to help up the process. Not the same injury as yours obviously, but tore my left pec in April and I'm at about 70%. I didn't need surgery. But still it helped a ton. Might be something worth looking into for tendon repair.

Thanks brother. I'm actually pretty positive about the whole thing. Losing 6 months of training in exchange for not having that pain in my neck is a fair trade IMO. I had a pec tear a couple of years ago.

Hope the pec tear heals well. I tore mine a few years back, and made it worse having to lift my 80lb dog in and out of the car after his knee surgery. Pec didn't heal until the dog did..

I decided not to use BPC 157 or TB500 this time. I used them after previous injuries and convinced myself they improved healing time, but now I'm not so sure. I decided to go as natural as possible this time. Of course I'm taking GH, though, I'm not crazy : )

 

[Heavy Iron]

Hope the pec tear heals well. I

It's doing pretty good. I'm gonna try to do some dumbbell presses tomorrow

Hope it goes well man!

 

[flenser]

Not much new to report. Shoulder is improving slowly, but not really to the point I feel comfortable without the sling. It doesn't hurt unless I do something stupid, but because it doesn't hurt it's easy to forget and then do something stupid..

Still sleeping in a chair. Even an hour in a real bed makes the shoulder ache enough to make me think it's a bad idea. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but doc and PT have both confirmed it's normal for the kind of surgery I had. I have a pretty comfortable recliner, so it's not really an issue. Just annoying. The ache in the shoulder wouldn't really bother me if I wasn't being paranoid and thinking I'm preventing it from healing.

Hitting the gym 3 times a weeks now, doing the same workout each time. Basically, 6X20 sets of leg presses, 3 sets of leg extensions, some one handed cable crunches, and 9 sets of (I know) one handed Romanian dead lifts on the Smith machine. I tried several lower back exercises, and the Smith machine version is the only one I can handle with any weight. Everything with DBs or cables make my shoulder hurt. I dunno why.

 

[Heavy Iron]

Everything with DBs or cables make my shoulder hurt. I dunno why.

Be careful man! Don't overdo it!

 

[flenser]

Another week in the sling is over... ROM is pretty good at this point, but not 100%. I'm told it will be at least another 4 weeks for that. Supposed to be released from the sling on Monday, though, so it's something to look forward to, I hope.

Last weekend I was opening a zip lock bag and somehow ended up with a small biceps tear. No idea how it happened, since I wasn't straining at all, but I worry the doc will see it and decide I need a few more weeks in the sling. It was noticed at PT and ended up in the report they are faxing to the doc before my second post op visit, so there's no hiding it from him, lol.

 

[flenser]

The sling came off Monday. The doc just said to stop wearing it, and do light activities. For a doc the guy really doesn't talk much. I decided to wait and talk to the physical therapist before doing too much. I'm sure she has a lot more experience with the physical side than a doc would anyway.

So Wednesday at PT I was finally able to use my shoulder to move my arm. I did band work mostly with bands about as strong as a normal sized rubber band. I could have broken one with my pinky, but still couldn't do a front raise to parallel. At the gym the next day I used a 3LB DB for front and lateral raises, and even that left me pretty sore. The whole arm is seriously atrophied on the injured side. Reminds me of a fiddler crab with one big claw and one tiny one.

Also started rowing with both hands every night. I still use a single hand grip, but I hold it with both hands. My speed actually dropped when I added the left hand, but at least it's getting some steady use.

 

[flenser]

Seven weeks after surgery. I just realized they cut out a week somewhere, and have me ahead of schedule. I got the sling off and started using the shoulder at PT a full week early. Nothing bad happened, so I'll just call it a lucky mistake.

I'm now able to setup for bench press with a bar touching my chest, but I can't really lift even a 35LB short bar without enough pain to discourage me. I've been using a PVC pipe instead. That I can press.

This morning I tried to setup under a squat bar, but no dice. I could get it behind my head, but not to my shoulders. Maybe in another week if things progress the way they have been. Need to start working on overhead press form as well. The ROM stuff I do at PT is too generic for my taste. I've been spending a lot of time on the leg press, since it's about the only thing I can do with any weight on it.

My rowing is also improving. Probably no rowers reading this, but I'm able to hit just over 1:50/500m with the right hand and hold it for a 3-5 minute sprint. I'm actually faster with one hand than I was with 2 hands before I was injured. Add in the left hand, and it drops to 3:00/500m, but I can do that all day. So I've been alternating 1 handed sprints and 2 handed steady state.

Overall the shoulder ROM is about 90%. I think in a couple more weeks I'll be able to start working on strength again. Not heavy lifting, but at least something I can feel.

 

[T-Bagger]

Seven weeks after surgery. I just realized they cut out a week somewhere, and have me ahead of schedule. I got the sling off and started using the shoulder at PT a full week early. Nothing bad happened, so I'll just call it a lucky mistake.

I'm now able to setup for bench press with a bar touching my chest, but I can't really lift even a 35LB short bar without enough pain to discourage me. I've been using a PVC pipe instead. That I can press.

This morning I tried to setup under a squat bar, but no dice. I could get it behind my head, but not to my shoulders. Maybe in another week if things progress the way they have been. Need to start working on overhead press form as well. The ROM stuff I do at PT is too generic for my taste. I've been spending a lot of time on the leg press, since it's about the only thing I can do with any weight on it.

My rowing is also improving. Probably no rowers reading this, but I'm able to hit just over 1:50/500m with the right hand and hold it for a 3-5 minute sprint. I'm actually faster with one hand than I was with 2 hands before I was injured. Add in the left hand, and it drops to 3:00/500m, but I can do that all day. So I've been alternating 1 handed sprints and 2 handed steady state.

Overall the shoulder ROM is about 90%. I think in a couple more weeks I'll be able to start working on strength again. Not heavy lifting, but at least something I can feel.

Good to hear brother!

 

[flenser]

Probably my last post here unless something unusual happens. I have full ROM pretty much everywhere, even external rotation which is now greater than my uninjured arm (have to work on that other arm). Still some pain to keep me cautious, but the strength is returning rapidly. Most of the visible atrophy is gone, like the muscles just reinflated overnight.

Pretty sure I'll be benching again in 4-6 weeks, though probably very light weight for at least a few months. Just going to let the PT trainers guide me on when and how much I can lift. They are holding me back now, when just last week I felt they were pushing me too hard.

 

[LeoTC]

One thing to note, and I'm kicking myself for not mentioning it earlier now. If you're able to keep working the uninjured arm, work it and do not stop.

Its actually been repeatedly shown to help prevent or lessen atrophy in the injured appendage.

I actually feel bad for not throwing this out there after reading through updates. Shitty deal, man.

 

[flenser]

One thing to note, and I'm kicking myself for not mentioning it earlier now. If you're able to keep working the uninjured arm, work it and do not stop.

Its actually been repeatedly shown to help prevent or lessen atrophy in the injured appendage.

I actually feel bad for not throwing this out there after reading through updates. Shitty deal, man.

I wish I had started earlier, but I have been doing that a little more the last couple of weeks. When I do front and side raises I use 3lbs for the left and 45lbs for the right. Same with cables and triceps work. Maybe that's why the left reinflated so suddenly.

 

[flenser]

More to do with wallet recovery than shoulder recovery.

I learned this week my surgeon hired an out-of-network assistant surgeon for my procedure without my knowledge or consent. This other surgeon billed my insurance company 325% more than my surgeon was paid. The insurance company agreed to pay the assistant 16% of what it paid the surgeon (more than is standard practice), and now the assistant surgeon (or his equity firm) is coming after me for the $13,000 difference. It's lawyer time...