Shoulder soreness question?

I am having a bout of shoulder soreness with overheads and serves. What's interesting is that once I warmup with 15-20 serves or overheads it goes away and there is no soreness or pain and I can play fine - just finished 4.5 sectionals this weekend, played hard, and it was fine once I warmed it up.
However there is definitely a residual soreness in the shoulder "area' all the time right now but no specific pain. If I just do the serving motion with no racket it feels "tight and a bit sore" but again no real pain, and like I said if I went out and played so far it goes away.
I do not want to further injure this, but am wondering if it might just be tendonitis (overuse in getting ready for sectionals?) or the beginning of something more serious? Has anyone had any experience with this. I am 52, in good shape, and play 2-3 times a week.
Of note is that I can lift weights with no pain.

Thx

Drak

It could be a rotator cuff injury or tendonitis in your deltoid muscle, i just got diagnosed with that problem today lol

I get pain in my shoulder area when doing a service motion too, but i also get pains randomly with regular day-to-day movements... so its not looking good...

It could be impingement or possibly something more serious. I would get it checked out to (hopefully) rule out torn labrum/rotator cuff. Better to do it early than wait until you have a more serious problem.

Sound like rotator cuff injury, tendinitis or arthritis. Certain cremes might help from arthritis. For Rotator Cuff and tendinitis - ultra sound.

old coach said:

Sound like rotator cuff injury, tendinitis or arthritis. Certain cremes might help from arthritis. For Rotator Cuff and tendinitis - ultra sound.

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The weird thing is that once I warm it up and play it does not hurt at all, its normal. Does this make it likely it's tendonitis as opposed to a rotar cuff injury. I would think a rotar cuff injury would hurt even more while I was playing? any feedback on this?

drak said:

The weird thing is that once I warm it up and play it does not hurt at all, its normal. Does this make it likely it's tendonitis as opposed to a rotar cuff injury. I would think a rotar cuff injury would hurt even more while I was playing? any feedback on this?

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That is how mine started out. A few warm-ups and it felt fine, but would fatigue quicker than normal. Weeks later it was constantly sore.

Teyko said:

That is how mine started out. A few warm-ups and it felt fine, but would fatigue quicker than normal. Weeks later it was constantly sore.

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Meaning it was a rotar cuff tear or impingement or something else? What did you ultimately do for it?

My bet is on rotator cuff as that's how mine started as well. Rest and re-hab before it gets worse. I'm on my second year of shoulder pain and the only way to fix it is surgery, but it's not bad enough for that, just a nuisance. Take some time off, do the band exercises and you'll be thankful you did.

Hokiez said:

My bet is on rotator cuff as that's how mine started as well. Rest and re-hab before it gets worse. I'm on my second year of shoulder pain and the only way to fix it is surgery, but it's not bad enough for that, just a nuisance. Take some time off, do the band exercises and you'll be thankful you did.

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Thx, good advice, been doing some google searches for exercises.

drak

drak said:

Meaning it was a rotar cuff tear or impingement or something else? What did you ultimately do for it?

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Torn rotator cuff...and possible labrum tear.

drak said:

I am having a bout of shoulder soreness with overheads and serves. What's interesting is that once I warmup with 15-20 serves or overheads it goes away and there is no soreness or pain and I can play fine - just finished 4.5 sectionals this weekend, played hard, and it was fine once I warmed it up.
However there is definitely a residual soreness in the shoulder "area' all the time right now but no specific pain. If I just do the serving motion with no racket it feels "tight and a bit sore" but again no real pain, and like I said if I went out and played so far it goes away.
I do not want to further injure this, but am wondering if it might just be tendonitis (overuse in getting ready for sectionals?) or the beginning of something more serious? Has anyone had any experience with this. I am 52, in good shape, and play 2-3 times a week.
Of note is that I can lift weights with no pain.

Thx

Drak

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I had the same thing, pain on overheads and serves that got better as I warmed up. It progressively got worse however, the pain became constant & unbearable. I went to the Andrews Institue and they ordered an MRI where they inject dye in the shoulder. The diagnosis was a posterier labrum tear.

I had arthroscopic surgry last thursday which confirmed the MRI. I had a large tear and fraying of the labrum. The rotator cuff was okay. He drilled three suture anchors into the bone to tie the labrum back to glenoid.

I am lucky to have the Andrews Institue in my backyard. Dr. Andrews has saved the career's of Roger Clemens, Drew Brees, Troy Aikmen, and many other elite athletes. I have total confidence in their ability. Now it's up to me work my but off in Physical Therapy to get back to playing at high level again.

If it's not getting better with rest, anti-inflamatories, and ice, I would suggest finding an ortho doc with a lot of experience with overhead athletes and go from there.