shoulder slipping out of socket

strangedejavu · Post by **strangedejavu** » Oct 21, 2005 23:32

Does anyone ever have a problem with their shoulder slipping out of the socket and going right back in? This happens to me every few months. It'll go back in on its own or with a slight nudge. At first, it burns, but it's quite tolerable. Then it's sore for a few days as if I had just overworked it at the gym. Then it's good as new. It usually happens doing everyday activities, although three days ago it happened while bench pressing with dumbbells and it's back to normal already. I've ruled out shoulder dislocation or shoulder separation because the descriptions of the symptoms of those maladies in even the mildest of cases are much more severe than what I experience. I do have odd shoulders that allow me to bend my arms behind my head so that they're parallel to the ground without feeling any stretch. It really serves no use except as a headrest and for scaring kids on halloween (It's not useful for picking up women. Already tried it. Hence, I'm sitting here typing this on a Friday night). Anyways, I finally broke down and made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to make sure it doesn't become worse. I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience and could tell me what to expect. I fear he'll use the dreaded S word (surgery). I'd much rather hear the F word (fysical therapy). I would appreciate any input.

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Oct 22, 2005 04:51

Never had it or had experience of it.Seeing a professional is definatley the way to go though.
I could guess(and it is only a guess!) that because you suffer no long term pain and your shoulders have an extreme ROM that maybe strength training will be advised by a professional to help stablize the entire shoulder joint(exercises such as prone adduction/abduction,supinated front raises,etc).

Good luck,let us know how you got on.

Dragon.

strangedejavu · Post by **strangedejavu** » Oct 24, 2005 19:03

Thanks dragon. I saw the doctor today and you were pretty much right. He gave me three pages of exercises to do to strengthen the muscles stabilizing the shoulder. One page is isometric exercises, one is exercises with very light weights (the weight of my arm alone or holding a 2-5 pound weight), and one is exercises with a huge band. Each page has around 5 exercises in sets of 10-12 reps and I have to do all of them twice a day every day until my next appointment 3 weeks from now. I now wonder if it would be wise to continue with my normal upper body routine while I do these or if these exercises should replace my normal routine for a while. My normal upper body routine is twice a week of general preparation exercises like bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups, etc. If anyone wants to comment, I would be more than grateful. I would be especially delighted if Mr. Kurz bestowed upon me his unique brand of bluntness (hint hint

).

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Oct 25, 2005 05:48

Even though the intensity of your rehab exercises isn't going to be as high as low rep/high weight work they could still contribute to over training.
Working your upper body twice per week with exercises such as military press,bench press,and chin ups is still a lot of stress for the shoulders.Adding these new exercises may be counter-productive to what you are trying to achieve.
When you have your next appointment take a copy of your training routine and hopefully you and your specialist will be able to find a balance.

Dragon.

strangedejavu · Post by **strangedejavu** » Oct 25, 2005 23:21

I think you're right again Dragon. Actually, something good happened last night. After much inner-conflict, I decided that I'm already overtrained. Just a little bit. Of course it's not good that I overtrained, but the fact that I could admit it is definitely progress for me. In times past, I would stubbornly ignore the signs and after a while of seeing no progress, I would say, "Oh, I'm not overtrained. I just have too much else going on. I don't have time for exercise. Exercise is stupid anyway, blah blah blah" and give up for several months. I thought that by pushing through despite having a hard time in the gym, I was being diligent. Wrong. I was just being impatient. Now that I'm actually taking my training seriously and studying good information from experts like Mr. Kurz, I'm learning the humility and patience I need to say "OK, I've been pushing too hard. I need to take it easy for a while and then get back into it." The signs are just as he says- not wanting to get up in the morning, loss of appetite, dreading workouts, lack of progress. For now, I plan to do the exercises the doctor gave me and do a watered-down version of my strength exercises. Basically, I'm going to follow the advice from Science of Sports Training on page 327 (the bathtub is filling up right now). Question: To quote that page, it says "Considerable reduction of sport-specific training loads, low intensity endurance work..." Does that mean to do endurance work or to considerably reduce endurance work? I don't know if the comma means "and" or if it is separating the two phrases. Sorry to veer off topic a bit, but I suppose learning to recognize the signs of overtraining is a good way to avoid chronic injuries (or sudden for that matter). Bathtub just overflowed. I'd blame Tom, but he has a darn good disclaimer in his book, so I guess I can only blame myself. Gotta go!

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Oct 26, 2005 05:19

After years of training i definatley go with quality over quantity.Or to quote another training dictum-"You can train long,or you can train hard,but you can't do both".

As for your question:-

I read it as....If you're overtrained reduce your sport-specific training loads.Perform low intensity endurance work,in some cases(i assume this means if you are severely overtrained) merely active rest....

Hope this helps,

Dragon.

strangedejavu · Post by **strangedejavu** » Oct 30, 2005 12:29

I reread the section about basedowic overtraining and what you say makes sense. He talked about Aerobic Deficiency Syndrome. Unfortunately, my aerobic training took a hit when I got shin splints (oops) and had to lay off the running and use an elliptical (it turns out I have flat feet by the way, so if anyone reading this has low or high arches, don't ignore them! Also, follow the 10% a week rule rather than the 100% a week rule I tried. Just because you can doesn't mean you should). I take all these little setbacks in training as learning experiences and fortunately, I'm catching the problems while they're still mild. Well, I better go. I have about an hours worth of shoulder and calf exercises to do.

Post by **Thomas Kurz** » Oct 31, 2005 17:40

dragon wrote: I read it as....If you're overtrained reduce your sport-specific training loads.Perform low intensity endurance work,in some cases(i assume this means if you are severely overtrained) merely active rest....

Right. To adjust the amount and the type of exercises observe your response to them. Do the exercises that cause the signs of overtraining to subside and the signs of well-being reappear. The signs to look for are described in Science of Sports Training ( http://www.stadion.com/science.html ).

Post by **Thomas Kurz** » Oct 31, 2005 18:13

strangedejavu wrote:I saw the doctor today [...]. He gave me three pages of exercises to do to strengthen the muscles stabilizing the shoulder. [...] I have to do all of them twice a day every day until my next appointment 3 weeks from now. I now wonder if it would be wise to continue with my normal upper body routine while I do these or if these exercises should replace my normal routine for a while. My normal upper body routine is twice a week of general preparation exercises like bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups, etc. If anyone wants to comment, I would be more than grateful. I would be especially delighted if Mr. Kurz bestowed upon me his unique brand of bluntness (hint hint ).

The rule for long-term training: “strengthen stabilizers first and prime movers later” applies to all joints. See http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch18.html and http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch19.html .

strangedejavu · Post by **strangedejavu** » Nov 03, 2005 01:14

Thanks Tom. I'm fairly new to training and you're a life saver. The shoulder exercises are going well. On an unrelated note, I recently built up to back extensions with a third of my body weight and you're right; it's not that hard. Your answer to that guy on column 24 made me laugh so hard it gave me a great ab workout. Then I bought a back extension bench and got to work.