Shoulder pain from strength training

Hi @thisnthat, you may have injured your rotator cuff, which is very common. Pain may be worse in the morning because there's been reduced blood flow to the area overnight. Probably best not to do anything to irritate your shoulder. Can you get a referral to physical therapy?

Hi Teri!
Thanks for your response. Seeing my PCP tomorrow, but his guess over the phone was it was probably not a rotater cuff tear…but methinks you are correct! I will ask for a PT referral. In the meantime, I dread to think of the potential further loss of bone from lack of resistance & strength training! And I was making good progress. 😔

Ahh, but here is the good news - you need not stop all resistance and strength training due to a shoulder injury! The PT can show you many safe exercises to do. Also, there are shoulder-sparing positions for doing planks. I cannot due a standard plank due to arthritis in hands, elbows and shoulders, but can do modified versions on my forearms. And resistance doesn't always mean machines at the gym. We use a variety of resistance bands and even our body weight to exercise because we travel, and finding a good gym isn't always possible.
Sue

Hi @thisnthat, Hopefully, it's not a rotator cuff tear because they are terrible. I can't raise my right arm much past shoulder level. By the way, you can take tylenol to block pain signals with ibuprophen which reduces inflammation. I vary the two, depending upon what kind of pain I have. Were you told to ice it or do heat treatments?
You can still work the shoulder that isn't injured and that is supposed to benefit the injured shoulder. Just go easy, as it would be a real pain to injure both.
As @sueinmn mentions, there are alternate forms of planks and pushups, done from the forearms or even standing. Maybe PT would clear you for those. Good luck!

Good suggestions, Sue! I will definitely follow your advice! 😉

I did something similar with exercising. Had full range of motion in shoulder but painful sleeping and in some positions. Dr said it’s a rotator cuff strain. Doing gentle exercises and stretching. Takes time to feel better and mostly frustrating. Good luck!

I had been doing the planks using my forearms…oh, well! Maybe need some pointers! Very sorry to hear about your rotator cuff. I do know of two people who were able to avoid surgery by doing PT!

Oh, I can relate to your frustration, lauratys! Guess I tend to go overboard on things, and getting that osteoporosis diagnosis scared the heck out of me! I have been anxious to make up for lost time and ended up shooting myself in the foot…er, shoulder!

I was doing PT for about a year for the shoulder. It didn't work and surgery isn't an option for me. The odd thing is --- I can do a traditional plank. It doesn't bother my shoulder, but anything over the head or sideways, forget about it.

Have you had a cervical mri?