Recommend Some Post Labrum Surgery Activities

[SociallyChallenged]

You are right. It is the pressing that is causing the issues. I have no problems with any type of pulling/rowing motion and am actually back to pre-injury strength with my back workouts.

I will heed your advice and just lay off the chest stuff. If I had the range of motion, I would be satisfied with just doing squats/deadlifts 3x a week with jogging on my off days.

One realization I have come to through all of this, and this is a personality thing for me, is that I have put every ounce of effort and will into lifting weights to the detriment of any other type of fitness. I have always been very intense and an everything or nothing type person, which has been why I have been successful in my endeavors. I refuse to give up and just take the pain and abuse that comes as result. But by doing so, I am taking years off of my life. I feel in many ways, both personal, health-wise, and professional that I am at a crossroads and the decisions I make from here on out there will be no coming back from.

While, I will always consider myself a weightlifter/powerlifter first and foremost, I want to be able to run a 7 minute mile without having a heart attack or get tendonitis in my knee after two weeks of a noobie jogging program.

I need to recover from my injuries and find new ways to challenge myself because I HAVE to challenge myself. That is the only way I feel alive.

It's insane how similar we are. I feel the exact same way when it comes to challenging myself physically. I'm also in the same boat with a surplus of injuries because of it (SI joint dysfunction, rib pathology, just got over thoracic spine stuff, bicep tendonitis, wrist flexor tendonitis, tricep strains). You've gotta take a step back, work on everything else, and come back slow. If you only start with kneeling pushups and work from there, you're still improving. Even standing wall push-ups are a place to start. You've gotta keep using those muscles, but definitely not to the significant degree that you want to.

I, too, enjoy lifting very much... but right now I can't do it. So in the meantime, I bike. It's not the same, but I know it's something that will get me back to my goals. Think of the other lifts the same way. You're still lifting, you're still in the gym. Just take your time with the press.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Along the lines of what SC said, I would take a hard look at the volume of work you do on chest. Once you start accumulating injuries like this, you have to look at the incremental benefit the extra sets are getting you vs the irritation to the joint. I do a Wendler 5/3/1 type program so I only have 3 working sets per chest workout, and only one of them is at full intensity.

In terms of stretches I would think your PT has showed you most of them. I did a lot of external rotations by putting the arm on a door frame and leaning. I was taught to do 3 rounds of 30 seconds of the stretch, 30 seconds of rest. If the joint is 100% stable shoulder dislocates are good too, but be careful.


For squating you might want to try this. http://topsquat.com/ It's a little pricy but I used it for over a year after my surgery until I got enough ROM to squat.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Along the lines of what SC said, I would take a hard look at the volume of work you do on chest. Once you start accumulating injuries like this, you have to look at the incremental benefit the extra sets are getting you vs the irritation to the joint. I do a Wendler 5/3/1 type program so I only have 3 working sets per chest workout, and only one of them is at full intensity.

In terms of stretches I would think your PT has showed you most of them. I did a lot of external rotations by putting the arm on a door frame and leaning. I was taught to do 3 rounds of 30 seconds of the stretch, 30 seconds of rest. If the joint is 100% stable shoulder dislocates are good too, but be careful.


For squating you might want to try this. http://topsquat.com/ It's a little pricy but I used it for over a year after my surgery until I got enough ROM to squat.

Just wanted to mention this: nobody with a rotator cuff repair should try shoulder dislocates. They're honestly not worth it. If he has trouble with pressing, he's gonna have trouble with multiplanar stability. I wouldn't suggest these at all.

 

[GoNiners!]

Just wanted to update this thread. I am going to have my final physical therapy session for the shoulder today.

It is now 6 months post surgery. I still have issues with external rotation. My shoulder isn't there yet in regards any sort of pushing motion. I feel pain doing things like sleeping on my side. I am 100% back to normal when it comes to any sort of pulling.

I have stayed out of the gym for last couple of months just resting the shoulder. I will kick things off again in another couple of weeks. I have managed to drop 30 lbs in the mean time, so I do have that going. I am actually at the halfway mark with the weightloss. I managed to gain a significant amount of weight over the course of the year from when I hurt my shoulder to a few months after the surgery. I feel good about working that weight off and getting back to where I was weight-wise. It has been strictly a diet related weight-loss regimen, with a focus on low-carbs.

I will just have to go with a back-centric workout for the next few months until I can do push motions pain-free. I am looking at making deadlifts the core of my routine since I can't do squats due to flexibility issues.

How do you guys feel about tossing baseballs or footballs as a way to work on external rotations? Maybe throw some baseballs or footballs for 20 minutes a day 3x a week to help with the flexibility? Seems like leaning against a doorway isn't cutting it for me in regards to stretching. The problem is that I tend to forget to do it quite often whereas I strictly followed all of the other things in my earlier rehab.

That's where things are at now. For those of you who went through this similar type of surgery, where were you at when you hit the 6 month mark?