My shoulder is restricted!?

[Disneos]

So I'm sure everyone has done the stretch where you reach one arm behind your back and the other over your shoulder to meet your fingers and hands at your back around the shoulder blades, the problem is when going over my back with my right arm and under with my left it feels fine and i can even close my hands inside each other, my left arm end up nice and straight up and my hand is nice and between my shoulder blades.

When i try to reverse and do my right arm behind my back my arm will not straighten up and it stays slightly crooked and will not reach as high so my fingers wont even touch each other and my right shoulder joint feels stretched and kind of tight, for emphasis ive never been able to do this and thought it was normal found out last year around winter\spring.

I know theres nothing wrong mechanically with my muscles, as I've been suffering some shoulder problems and got an MRI this week, no pulls or tears in my shoulder, so I'm just wondering what might be wrong with it and how i could fix it up? do I just need to do some stretching to emphasis that kind of movement? or should i just not worry about it?

If it helps I'm a righty with 2hbh.

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

First of all, it helps if you've got punctuation here and there. Good god, my eyes hurt. A paragraph is a paragraph, not an entire sentence.

I hope I can understand you and help. After an eyesore of a read, it sounds like you are lacking significant internal rotation of the shoulder. The "arm-behind-the-back" is a good indicator of internal rotation of the rotator cuff. The further up you can slide your hand up, the more range of motion you have.

Use a towel with your off-hand, and grip the towel with the hand behind your back, and slowly use your off-hand to pull the arm behind your back up.

Your shoulder maybe mechanically sound, and you claim to have shoulder problems despite the lack of structural damage. It sounds like there is significant muscle imbalance. Uneven tightness within a joint can cause a lot of stress.

So, there are two things for you to do, stretch your internal rotators, followed by punctuation.

 

[Disneos]

First of all, it helps if you've got punctuation here and there. Good god, my eyes hurt. A paragraph is a paragraph, not an entire sentence.

I hope I can understand you and help. After an eyesore of a read, it sounds like you are lacking significant internal rotation of the shoulder. The "arm-behind-the-back" is a good indicator of internal rotation of the rotator cuff. The further up you can slide your hand up, the more range of motion you have.

Use a towel with your off-hand, and grip the towel with the hand behind your back, and slowly use your off-hand to pull the arm behind your back up.

Your shoulder maybe mechanically sound, and you claim to have shoulder problems despite the lack of structural damage. It sounds like there is significant muscle imbalance. Uneven tightness within a joint can cause a lot of stress.

So, there are two things for you to do, stretch your internal rotators, followed by punctuation.

Sorry I'm usually very good about my grammar and punctuation; I wrote that after getting up from a long needed nap and stretching out some stiffness. Thanks a ton on the advice I'll definitely be using that stretch from now on in my normal routine.

Sorry for hurting your eyes! :|

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Sorry I'm usually very good about my grammar and punctuation; I wrote that after getting up from a long needed nap and stretching out some stiffness. Thanks a ton on the advice I'll definitely be using that stretch from now on in my normal routine.

Sorry for hurting your eyes! :|

How is your shoulder hurting? Is there a particular motion/posture/arm position that triggers the discomfort?

How are your serves? I ask that because tennis players, along with every other throwing-based athletes (like baseball players) should have higher than normal internal rotation. The bulk of a tennis serve (throwing motion), particularly the follow-thru is accomplished by internal rotators of the rotator cuff.

 

[Disneos]

How is your shoulder hurting? Is there a particular motion/posture/arm position that triggers the discomfort?

How are your serves? I ask that because tennis players, along with every other throwing-based athletes (like baseball players) should have higher than normal internal rotation. The bulk of a tennis serve (throwing motion), particularly the follow-thru is accomplished by internal rotators of the rotator cuff.

As of right my pain is mostly through rotating the joint ( ball of my shoulder ), it isn't particularly painful just uncomfortable and not super tight and occasional popping ( not bad just slight ). When using my racquet and going through my motion I don't feel any real pain besides some slight popping and occasional tightness.

When I serve I have a normal flow through; hand a racquet together until the toss, then ill take my right arm back, elbow pointing out, sometimes slightly down a bit and racquet with my wrist bent and then knees bend go up and serve. I'd like to note though that this is my new serve that i worked on after my injury my old serve was much for rigid and I paused way to long between toss and hit which is what I believe, caused the initial stress so my rotator cuff and shoulder blade; Though my shoulder blade is fine now after some work and a steroid shot.

I've worked with an orthopedic and physical therapist to solve this issue, orthopedic figured out through tests, x-ray, and MRI that structurally my shoulder is fine, the physical therapist realized the muscles around my rotator cuff were to week and my newer heightened level of play ( that I'd developed over the summer with my coach ) along with 5 days of practice a week for 1.5 - 2 hours a day had strained my shoulder to much causing inflammation.

I've since been going through strengthening and stretching routines everyday and will continue to even after my injury subsides; which it already has begun to and my orthopedic told me I can return to playing within the next three weeks as long as i maintain my routine of strengthening and stretching.

I only realized this particular stretch was a problem when trying to do a yoga stretch combing stretching my hip and glute with shoulder and realized it was impossible to do it on my right side.

The popping worries me since its right in my joint even though its not painful in any real noticeable way.

also if its helpful I'm a 17 year old male JR and Highschool player.

 

[Disneos]

First of all, it helps if you've got punctuation here and there. Good god, my eyes hurt. A paragraph is a paragraph, not an entire sentence.

I hope I can understand you and help. After an eyesore of a read, it sounds like you are lacking significant internal rotation of the shoulder. The "arm-behind-the-back" is a good indicator of internal rotation of the rotator cuff. The further up you can slide your hand up, the more range of motion you have.

Use a towel with your off-hand, and grip the towel with the hand behind your back, and slowly use your off-hand to pull the arm behind your back up.

Your shoulder maybe mechanically sound, and you claim to have shoulder problems despite the lack of structural damage. It sounds like there is significant muscle imbalance. Uneven tightness within a joint can cause a lot of stress.

So, there are two things for you to do, stretch your internal rotators, followed by punctuation.

In regard to the towel stretch how should it feel and how should my right arm look during the stretch been trying it, but when i pull up its very tight, wont go straight along my back and a little painful. Is this normal for right now and will it improve with time? If you have any links to videos or pictures I'd appreciate it a lot .

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

In regard to the towel stretch how should it feel and how should my right arm look during the stretch been trying it, but when i pull up its very tight, wont go straight along my back and a little painful. Is this normal for right now and will it improve with time? If you have any links to videos or pictures I'd appreciate it a lot .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAWkYlDH288

Except that I would hold it for ~30seconds instead of rocking/bouncing it back and forth.

As with all stretches, you want to stop right before the point of pain/agony. Of course, you want to push yourself little by little with each stretching session. But if you're in agony, then you've gone too far.

I'm no doctor, but I have had two shoulder surgeries and subsequent rehabs and have made a complete recovery since. So what I bring is experience. And "popping and clicking" is an indicator of cartilage damage. Most of time, it's loose/torn piece of cartilage getting trapped in the joint.

Also, I will also stress that MRI and various other visual techniques are not definitive. False positive/negative are actually quite common.

 

[Disneos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAWkYlDH288

Except that I would hold it for ~30seconds instead of rocking/bouncing it back and forth.

As with all stretches, you want to stop right before the point of pain/agony. Of course, you want to push yourself little by little with each stretching session. But if you're in agony, then you've gone too far.

I'm no doctor, but I have had two shoulder surgeries and subsequent rehabs and have made a complete recovery since. So what I bring is experience. And "popping and clicking" is an indicator of cartilage damage. Most of time, it's loose/torn piece of cartilage getting trapped in the joint.

Also, I will also stress that MRI and various other visual techniques are not definitive. False positive/negative are actually quite common.

So do you think paying my ortho another visit would be smart?

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

So do you think paying my ortho another visit would be smart?

Very much so. While people on the forums can provide you with general knowledge and their experiences, you need to remember that these are their experiences.

Each injury is unique to the joint and the individual. So you need to talk with your orthopedic surgeon (hopefully specializing in shoulder) and physical therapy to get to the bottom of your issues, and tailor a rehab plan specific to you.

 

[Disneos]

Very much so. While people on the forums can provide you with general knowledge and their experiences, you need to remember that these are their experiences.

Each injury is unique to the joint and the individual. So you need to talk with your orthopedic surgeon (hopefully specializing in shoulder) and physical therapy to get to the bottom of your issues, and tailor a rehab plan specific to you.

appreciate it!

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

appreciate it!

Ask your surgeon about something called "impingement syndrome", of course you can look it up yourself too. But I was diagnosed with it when I was 16 and my shoulder was in a downward spiral since. Eventually had a procedure done, followed by a supraspinatus tear at 22 and another surgery. Fast forward to 27, my shoulder is the strongest and most durable it's ever been.

I brought up impingement syndrome because some people (like me) are much more susceptible to it. It's essentially the narrowing of the space in which the rotator cuff is allowed to operate. Once you have it, it sets the stage for all kinds of chaos in the shoulder, particularly to your bursa and supraspinatus.

Don't worry, once the issue is addressed, there shouldn't be any lasting effect on your tennis game.