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This is anecdotal and people should be extremely cautious if they have RC injuries. Talk to a pro, look into proper exercise progressions, and start with baby s

This is anecdotal and people should be extremely cautious if they have RC injuries. Talk to a pro, look into proper exercise progressions, and start with baby steps even if you feel strong enough not to. But: My right shoulder was a piece of trash for over 5 years. I couldn't use my trackpad or mouse some days at work because it became incredibly hot and excruciating. I couldn't throw rocks at the beach, ride my bike as far as I wanted, drive in comfort, you name it. Just standing could be incredibly painful if my shoulder needed rest. You don't know how awesome shoulders are until they stop working. One day I decided to try the exercise route after avoiding it for a very long time. I did because someone shared an anecdote of exercise helping on reddit. I started a pull up progression using elastic straps to assist at first. I did push ups from my knees. I started doing stretches in door ways and on a big inflatable ball. I rolled myself on a lacrosse ball like the cross fitters do. If it fixes them it'll fix anything, right? Within a year I was 'cured'. I was doing pull ups with a 45lb plate strapped to my body and push ups with the same plate resting on my back. I began weight lifting fairly seriously and made it up to a 400lb deadlift by the second year. My shoulder was a limiter in my first year, but once I took up yoga as well it never bothered me again. Now, having said that, this all took a lot of time, energy, and will power. It's not easy and it's not a silver bullet. Your body will strengthen though and you can overcome biomechanical issues by working the system carefully, methodically, consistently, and with good sleep and nutrition. But again, don't jump into it and don't expect it to be easy. My experience was positive in the end, but it's a total dog along the way. If you have the money, find a trainer who understands injuries and recovery. Get on a program and commit. The best thing you can do for your body is use it. But never go too hard, and go as slow as you can handle at first. You can make it so much worse in one little moment of overdoing it. Hopefully someone is motivated by my anecdote because someone sharing theirs on reddit ten years ago really did change my life.

ambicapter 7y ago
I would say pull-ups are far more dangerous than push-ups, on the shoulders if you do wide-grip, on the wrists if you do close-grip.
- sethammons 7y ago
  a lot of folks push their elbows out too wide on push ups. Ideally, they are in closer to the body, around 45 degrees out at the most. For many, especially folks newer to pushups, it is something they struggle with.
  - dogma1138 7y ago
    Because for many people the front delts are more developed than their chest and biceps so they are essentially doing a shoulder press. You can also see it at the gym with people not doing a chest press correctly.
SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
This pretty much mirrors my experience exactly, FWIW.
ericmcer 7y ago
I am a big believer in this, so far doing a form of trigger point therapy on myself and exercise/stretching has relieved all my nagging pains (right shoulder, right knee, both wrists). It seems completely insane to me that you would have a painful wrist or knee and start a regiment of ibuprofen for it. Why would you suppress your bodies signals that something is wrong rather than trying to get your muscles, bones and tendons to work correctly and healthily together. It's like fixing your car by turning off the check engine light.
- qwsxyh 7y ago
  > Why would you suppress your bodies signals that something is wrong Because after so many years of living you realise your body is utter shit at sending the right signals.
- Jach 7y ago
  Given the choice of "live with it" and having a wide and increasing array of palliatives to make living with it easier, or "suffer more exercise" that has at least a sunk time cost and isn't necessarily going to resolve the issue or reduce need of palliatives, is it that insane why someone would do the first? I'm not anti-exercise (barbell squats are the only good thing for my knee that got out of whack from an elliptical) and think "so what's your plan?" when I hear excuses about weak X stopping people from even starting a progression system, but I don't think it's insane to make the tradeoff in favor of "living with it" and I've made that tradeoff myself at various points in life for various things besides body aches.
- tomjen3 7y ago
  As an example, I would assume meds would start working noticably within hours whereas exercise is more of a long term thing. However I am extremely interested in where you got your exercises from as my wrists have started to hurt and I want them to stop.
  - ericmcer 7y ago
    The internet is crazy full of resources for carpal tunnel relief. I just kept trying stuff until i found what worked. My problem was a ton of tension/tightness in my forearm muscles that was leading to inflammation in the wrist making using mouse/keyboard pretty unbearable, even for browsing the internet. If you do some basic forearm/wrist stretching while probing the muscles for pain/tight feeling you will be able to tell if something is wrong. I fixed it by doing a combination of stretching, rubbing really hard on the muscles, and pushing into the muscle while activating it. I would finish by holding my wrists in ice water. The whole routine took 10-15 minutes and after doing it for a weekish I was playing FPS games pain free.
atom-morgan 7y ago
Yeah I had some shoulder issues as well a few years back. An occupational therapist friend of mine was adamant that I avoid activities like pull-ups and hanging from a bar to try and treat the pain even though I'd seen evidence suggesting it was a viable route. I ignored it since I wasn't convinced with her logic. Fast forward to now and I'm like you. I regularly rep 45-70lb weighted pull-ups and have gone as high as 90-100lbs. My shoulders have never felt better.
tootie 7y ago
IDK. I broke my shoulder a while back and once it healed I had lost some strength and flexibility in my rotator cuff. I did a little PT which did nothing for me. Eventually I just decided to hit the gym and start building up some muscle. I've been doing dumbbell bench press and one-arm rows and have been very slowly increasing the weight, but the bad shoulder is still noticeably weaker. I always quit my sets when that shoulder starts to wobble.
- HatchedLake721 7y ago
  You need a resistance band and low weights, not dumbell bench presses and one-arm rows to strengthen your broken shoulder. Speak with another PT
Rapzid 7y ago
Rehab is now the best practice for a lot of injuries that would have been rest and/or surgery before. A large part of this is due to the recognition now that certain injuries, particularly tendons, require exercise to heal properly. Particularly in the area of tendons; much rehab is now centered around eccentric exercises to load the tendon and encourage healing. Shoulders, elbows, knees, ankles, and etc. Avoiding all pain is also pretty much out the window now. Rehab will typically start as soon as acute injury symptoms have dissipated and pain is not avoided during rehab; just moderated. For anyone who wants to dig into this more lookup "tendinosis" and also eccentric exercises for [insert knee, elbow, etc injury here]. There will be medical studies you can read about the effectiveness.
johnnycab 7y ago
In comparison, my injury doesn't sound as severe as yours, which was over a decade ago and it took over a year of trying almost all manner of physio, acupuncture, massages, sleeping on hard floor and other therapies, before serendipitously stumbling upon the lateral abductor/adductor rotator cuff exercises, as illustrated in the linked YouTube video. I used the cable machines with differing weight sizes, alternating it with resistance bands where possible and it took around 3-4 months to recover fully. I have co-incidentally managed to screw it up again last week, by being overzealous in the gym, and it is entirely my fault for getting carried away! Although, all the symptoms are the same as last time, but I am hoping that it is only an inflammation. It will be unthinkable to do any kind of push-ups/pull-ups, planks, burpees, rows, TRX or any kind of exercise which agitates the injury further; I am inclined to follow the tried and tested method first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3BOzN00kyM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3BOzN00kyM
dbcurtis 7y ago
> But again, don't jump into it and don't expect it to be easy. My experience was positive in the end, but it's a total dog along the way. If you have the money, find a trainer who understands injuries and recovery. So I will agree mostly. I am at the age where I find I must ramp up exercise very slowly. If I do, the benefits are huge. If I go to fast, I pay. I tend to be an off-and-on exerciser. When my back starts twinging, it is $DIETY's sign that I have not been doing my crunches.... But I think finding a trainer that understands therapy/recovery and that things need to go slow is..... let me say "difficult". Most are a little to exuberant and just don't have the patience (or respect) for a slow work-up. I'll save my money, thanks. Actually, I have found that myofascial therapy from a knowledgeable provider has helped every single one of my long-standing pains of various sorts. Years of shoulder pain eradicated in two 1-hour sessions. A case of "trackball thumb" that made me switch to different pointing devices for 6 months cured in 10 minutes, and I was even taught how to work that one out for myself.
- steve_adams_86 7y ago
  > But I think finding a trainer that understands therapy/recovery and that things need to go slow is..... let me say "difficult". You're totally right, and I think finding that certain someone actually requires a lot of specialized knowledge to know what you're getting into. Failing that, very good references from people with past injuries. There are a lot of people out there who'll tell you they're professionals, but have never opened up a kinesiology text book or worked through a significant injury themselves. Hopefully having someone at all would be better than going it alone, if only for the external motivation... But going slow is paramount, and if they want to make your recovery happen fast, it should probably be a deal breaker. That's a tough one.
- kian 7y ago
  Any particular recommendations for myofascial therapists in the bay area?
  - dbcurtis 7y ago
    Myofascial Therapy Center on Hamilton in Campbell has a lot of great therapists. I also know a great therapist in Fremont if that is more convenient but I’d have to look up the contact info.
ssvss 7y ago
>My right shoulder was a piece of trash for over 5 years I too faced this issue, moving my mouse to my left hand completely stopped the pain. Though it does return if I move the mouse to right hand usage.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

ambicapter 7y ago

I would say pull-ups are far more dangerous than push-ups, on the shoulders if you do wide-grip, on the wrists if you do close-grip.

sethammons 7y ago
a lot of folks push their elbows out too wide on push ups. Ideally, they are in closer to the body, around 45 degrees out at the most. For many, especially folks newer to pushups, it is something they struggle with.
- dogma1138 7y ago
  Because for many people the front delts are more developed than their chest and biceps so they are essentially doing a shoulder press. You can also see it at the gym with people not doing a chest press correctly.

SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago

This pretty much mirrors my experience exactly, FWIW.

ericmcer 7y ago

I am a big believer in this, so far doing a form of trigger point therapy on myself and exercise/stretching has relieved all my nagging pains (right shoulder, right knee, both wrists). It seems completely insane to me that you would have a painful wrist or knee and start a regiment of ibuprofen for it. Why would you suppress your bodies signals that something is wrong rather than trying to get your muscles, bones and tendons to work correctly and healthily together. It's like fixing your car by turning off the check engine light.

qwsxyh 7y ago
> Why would you suppress your bodies signals that something is wrong Because after so many years of living you realise your body is utter shit at sending the right signals.
Jach 7y ago
Given the choice of "live with it" and having a wide and increasing array of palliatives to make living with it easier, or "suffer more exercise" that has at least a sunk time cost and isn't necessarily going to resolve the issue or reduce need of palliatives, is it that insane why someone would do the first? I'm not anti-exercise (barbell squats are the only good thing for my knee that got out of whack from an elliptical) and think "so what's your plan?" when I hear excuses about weak X stopping people from even starting a progression system, but I don't think it's insane to make the tradeoff in favor of "living with it" and I've made that tradeoff myself at various points in life for various things besides body aches.
tomjen3 7y ago
As an example, I would assume meds would start working noticably within hours whereas exercise is more of a long term thing. However I am extremely interested in where you got your exercises from as my wrists have started to hurt and I want them to stop.
- ericmcer 7y ago
  The internet is crazy full of resources for carpal tunnel relief. I just kept trying stuff until i found what worked. My problem was a ton of tension/tightness in my forearm muscles that was leading to inflammation in the wrist making using mouse/keyboard pretty unbearable, even for browsing the internet. If you do some basic forearm/wrist stretching while probing the muscles for pain/tight feeling you will be able to tell if something is wrong. I fixed it by doing a combination of stretching, rubbing really hard on the muscles, and pushing into the muscle while activating it. I would finish by holding my wrists in ice water. The whole routine took 10-15 minutes and after doing it for a weekish I was playing FPS games pain free.

atom-morgan 7y ago

Yeah I had some shoulder issues as well a few years back. An occupational therapist friend of mine was adamant that I avoid activities like pull-ups and hanging from a bar to try and treat the pain even though I'd seen evidence suggesting it was a viable route. I ignored it since I wasn't convinced with her logic. Fast forward to now and I'm like you. I regularly rep 45-70lb weighted pull-ups and have gone as high as 90-100lbs. My shoulders have never felt better.

tootie 7y ago

IDK. I broke my shoulder a while back and once it healed I had lost some strength and flexibility in my rotator cuff. I did a little PT which did nothing for me. Eventually I just decided to hit the gym and start building up some muscle. I've been doing dumbbell bench press and one-arm rows and have been very slowly increasing the weight, but the bad shoulder is still noticeably weaker. I always quit my sets when that shoulder starts to wobble.

HatchedLake721 7y ago
You need a resistance band and low weights, not dumbell bench presses and one-arm rows to strengthen your broken shoulder. Speak with another PT

Rapzid 7y ago

Rehab is now the best practice for a lot of injuries that would have been rest and/or surgery before. A large part of this is due to the recognition now that certain injuries, particularly tendons, require exercise to heal properly. Particularly in the area of tendons; much rehab is now centered around eccentric exercises to load the tendon and encourage healing. Shoulders, elbows, knees, ankles, and etc. Avoiding all pain is also pretty much out the window now. Rehab will typically start as soon as acute injury symptoms have dissipated and pain is not avoided during rehab; just moderated. For anyone who wants to dig into this more lookup "tendinosis" and also eccentric exercises for [insert knee, elbow, etc injury here]. There will be medical studies you can read about the effectiveness.

johnnycab 7y ago

In comparison, my injury doesn't sound as severe as yours, which was over a decade ago and it took over a year of trying almost all manner of physio, acupuncture, massages, sleeping on hard floor and other therapies, before serendipitously stumbling upon the lateral abductor/adductor rotator cuff exercises, as illustrated in the linked YouTube video. I used the cable machines with differing weight sizes, alternating it with resistance bands where possible and it took around 3-4 months to recover fully. I have co-incidentally managed to screw it up again last week, by being overzealous in the gym, and it is entirely my fault for getting carried away! Although, all the symptoms are the same as last time, but I am hoping that it is only an inflammation. It will be unthinkable to do any kind of push-ups/pull-ups, planks, burpees, rows, TRX or any kind of exercise which agitates the injury further; I am inclined to follow the tried and tested method first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3BOzN00kyM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3BOzN00kyM

dbcurtis 7y ago

> But again, don't jump into it and don't expect it to be easy. My experience was positive in the end, but it's a total dog along the way. If you have the money, find a trainer who understands injuries and recovery. So I will agree mostly. I am at the age where I find I must ramp up exercise very slowly. If I do, the benefits are huge. If I go to fast, I pay. I tend to be an off-and-on exerciser. When my back starts twinging, it is $DIETY's sign that I have not been doing my crunches.... But I think finding a trainer that understands therapy/recovery and that things need to go slow is..... let me say "difficult". Most are a little to exuberant and just don't have the patience (or respect) for a slow work-up. I'll save my money, thanks. Actually, I have found that myofascial therapy from a knowledgeable provider has helped every single one of my long-standing pains of various sorts. Years of shoulder pain eradicated in two 1-hour sessions. A case of "trackball thumb" that made me switch to different pointing devices for 6 months cured in 10 minutes, and I was even taught how to work that one out for myself.

steve_adams_86 7y ago
> But I think finding a trainer that understands therapy/recovery and that things need to go slow is..... let me say "difficult". You're totally right, and I think finding that certain someone actually requires a lot of specialized knowledge to know what you're getting into. Failing that, very good references from people with past injuries. There are a lot of people out there who'll tell you they're professionals, but have never opened up a kinesiology text book or worked through a significant injury themselves. Hopefully having someone at all would be better than going it alone, if only for the external motivation... But going slow is paramount, and if they want to make your recovery happen fast, it should probably be a deal breaker. That's a tough one.
kian 7y ago
Any particular recommendations for myofascial therapists in the bay area?
- dbcurtis 7y ago
  Myofascial Therapy Center on Hamilton in Campbell has a lot of great therapists. I also know a great therapist in Fremont if that is more convenient but I’d have to look up the contact info.

ssvss 7y ago

>My right shoulder was a piece of trash for over 5 years I too faced this issue, moving my mouse to my left hand completely stopped the pain. Though it does return if I move the mouse to right hand usage.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]