Guys I keep doin in me shoulder. First it was the left , torn ligament and bursitis, now its the right one sama sama. Whats the secret, apart from letting go when your getting pitched? At my age it takes sooooo long to heal.

Yep, been there too,
Out of balance shoulder joint from surfing and sailing. I had weakness in lateral raising and the shoulder blade was lifting a little of the rib cage. I now do plenty of stretching and look towards isometric exercises to balance the muscles around the shoulde. Apparently Kieren Perkins had similar to my problems from all the freestyle he was doing and started doing somebackstroke to balance the area.
Also I've heard glucosamine supplements can be a help in joint and muscle repair, I do this but am also a natural sceptic, so who knows!
Good luck, its worth the effort to keep yorself on the water

Used2surf,
Not all pain is the same and not all injuries are the same. Seek professional advice. Get your shoulder assessed by a physio or specialist - your GP should be able to refer you appropriately. There are a number of causes of shoulder pain - with the leading definitely being tendon related (the rotator cuff tendons are the ones we mainly deal with). And the best treatment can only be given with an accurate diagnosis. In my professional opinion all shoulder rehab must include a progressive strengthening program. But do not attempt this without seeking professional help - because if the problem is more sinister than you think then you could end up in a lot more trouble - of the surgical kind.

Oh - and pierrec45 - I am a physio and I find your comment regarding physios to be rather ignorant. Just to prove my point - the shoulder is composed of the gleno-humeral joint the acromio-clavicular joint and the scapulo-thoracic joint. Mate where prey tell are the other 4 joints you talk about in this complex? If you were eluding to the sterno-clavicular joint - it is associated but not anatomically considered a part of the shoulder.

My apologies for the rant but I could not let this twit go around claiming that physio's are idiots, and then make such a stupid comment.

> Seek professional advice

He's right. Don't go to a physio, unless your real doctor tells you you need something specific they have (ultra-sound, some machine, etc.)

> My apologies for the rant but I could not let this twit go around
> claiming that physio's are idiots, and then make such a stupid comment.

Gleno-humeral, that's one. Start counting.

Supra-humeral. Acromioclavicular. Sterno-clavicular. Costo-sternal. Costo-vertebral.

Now, name #7, there is a catch there.

All of these individual joints are used through motion of the shoulder girdle. It is a known mistake to look very locally only, OS don't do that usually though. Of course, it's easiest to look in one place, I'll grant you that. Anthropologically, the complexity of the shoulder apparatus is a legacy of brachiation. That is why the scapula in many shoulder motions is moving to such an angle as compared to the normal erect position.

I visited exactly 6 physio places in 3 different countries (I was moving about at the time). Includes Sydney, Australia and North America. In all cases, I would see anyone walking in being applied the same simple-minded remedy as the one that was declared me, even though there were unrelated injuries. That's when I started having doubts, which I proved after a while.

Sometimes, for everyone it was heat. The other shop, it was ice. The other shop with click-click visa for the next visit in a week, it was "range". You have to work on range. (AH HA on that one). One would walk in with a vaginitis and she'd have to work on "range".

3 shops recommended range exercices to me, which an OS told me was a killer for the Bristow repair in the first year.

I started going much better once I visited my native country and sat with a real doctor - friend of mine, who brought in a friend of his (ortho). Took a long time, but I beat it.

aus301 said...

After a lot of dislocations a few yeras back I had a reconstruction.

Since the reconstrucion and rehab the shoulder with the big scar actually feels better than my other one.

How long were you out of action for?
Heard its anything from 3 months to a year

Obviously there is no secret formular and obviously when my brother told me not to let go of the boom when getting pitched to save the nose of my board, he was right but he neglected to tell me that I was likely to be off sailing for months with a ripped shoulder, nice one bro! Sorry to cause any consternation between sailers, Physios, doctors and patients but it does seem like a very complex issue. I havent dislocated yet only ripped tendons or ligaments or something or other thats in there causing a swelling of the burser and I think thats the main pain producing part of the whole deal. How you deal with that is up for grabs , hey we're only new at all this, I've done a lot of acupuncture but apart from rapping it up and going to sleep for about a year, you still have to work and no matter what you do you always hurt the bloody thing so I guess its just a matter of taking it easy and time. cheers Bob

used2surf said...

Obviously there is no secret formular and obviously when my brother told me not to let go of the boom when getting pitched to save the nose of my board, he was right but he neglected to tell me that I was likely to be off sailing for months with a ripped shoulder, nice one bro! Sorry to cause any consternation between sailers, Physios, doctors and patients but it does seem like a very complex issue. I havent dislocated yet only ripped tendons or ligaments or something or other thats in there causing a swelling of the burser and I think thats the main pain producing part of the whole deal. How you deal with that is up for grabs , hey we're only new at all this, I've done a lot of acupuncture but apart from rapping it up and going to sleep for about a year, you still have to work and no matter what you do you always hurt the bloody thing so I guess its just a matter of taking it easy and time. cheers Bob

I had a lot of burser problems with my achilies a little while back (I believe it's a condition called runners heal). Anyway the only way I found to help it was a dose of strong anti-inflamotries. They were perscription and for me were the only thing that worked. Now I am not a doctor and don't know a great deal about this stuff, but I would guess the burser in your shoulder works much the same as in your heel, so a similar treatment would work.