Beth,
I fell while riding little mush burgers, and I caught my weight on my shoulder while extending my hand downward by hitting the bottom.It didn’t really hurt when I did it, but the next time I tried to surf it hurt to paddle, the only way I could actually paddle was to swing my arm out to the side and slide it over the water, then stroke. Any normal over-head paddling hurts. Anyway, I am laying low, stretching, yoga, and doing this thing called body rolling- using an 8-inch ball and your own body weight to release muscle tension. It is getting better, but I wonder if there is anything else I can do, and perhaps what part of my shoulder I injured.
Thanks a lot,
Melanie
ANSWER:
Hey Melanie,
You need to change your story. You didn’t crash on a mush burger, you fell while getting barreled on a double overhead wave not to mention it was your backside!
Bummer on the shoulder. Sounds to me like you jammed it good. You may have pushed your humerus head hard into the shoulder socket and could have done a number of things. There is a lot going on in the shoulder girdle, which makes it a very difficult area to self diagnose. You could have pulled/torn a muscle; you could have aggravated/torn the labrum or any part of the socket, etc.
So, basically what I am saying is you may want to get a doctor’s diagnosis so you can further your rehab without causing any more injury.
However, it sounds as if it is getting better by giving it a bit of TLC. The next step after the pain subsides and you get some range of motion back would be to do some shoulder strengthening exercises with a Theraband. You would definitely want someone to show you how to do these exercises properly. This is when a visit to a physical therapist would be a good call. Once your shoulder is stronger you could start adding more aggressive weight lifting and then get back into swimming or surfing.
I just gave you a very general guideline but again it depends on what kind of injury you are dealing with. I always like to know because I want to avoid hurting it again. Keep up the stretching, etc. and let me know if you have any more questions.
Hasta,
Beth
(Posted 2/28/04)
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Just to let you know… the therabands are awesome. I actually use them at home all the time for stretching during and after a weight lifting workout. You can get them on Amazon pretty cheap too. That’s where I got mine. Hope you healed up over 5 years ago!