Diagnose me Datalounge

Well, I'm more than a decade younger than you, but I suffered the same thing a few years ago, OP. It's called shoulder impingement and it sucks. It took me nearly two years to fully recover from it.

OP- I'm NO spring chicken either but I would NEVER do TWO hours of shoveling at once. Maybe 30 minutes in am and 30 mins in pm.

Here ya go, OP.

OP, I had that problem when I was in my 20s after I did something funky to my shoulder while making a motion similar to the one you did.

It took me 3 months of physical therapy, 3 days a week to fix my left shoulder and I went to a GOOD place that deals with our local NFL team to do it.

"Luckily" the injury happened at work and worker's comp INSISTED on paying for it. No one argued because they saw it happen when someone asked me to throw something at them.

Also look into hiring someone to do your snow for you, if it's a money issue, check into seeing whether or not your city has programs that will do it for you. Sometimes there are volunteer programs that will come by and help or get a snow blower or something. You really shouldn't have been out there that long doing that!

Also continual usage of ibuprofen is not a good idea and could lead to more issues with your stomach.

Either find a Doctor or if it's a money issue find a clinic that works on a sliding scale but honestly I think what you're going to end up doing it physical therapy if you have the injury R1 & I both had.

Wow, #3 that is an awesome link. I never heard of that, but it sounds exactly like my symptoms.

I had begun gingerly doing stretching exercises on my own, and it did foster mobility.

Doesn't seem like there's anything they can do about it except stretching exercises and anti-inflammatory pills. Though surgery is an option.

Luckily I don't have a physical job. Maybe it will fade away...

It won't fade away, R6.

What helped me was physio and, yes, hot yoga.

Rotator cuff damage.

Surgery and extensive PT.

But what did people do before surgery, physical therapy and meds- just live a life of discomfort?

Add me to the other posters saying you should NOT be doing that particular activity for so long. Hire someone to deal with the snow. At the very most do it for far smaller periods of time. Today your shoulder, tomorrow your heart. Feel better soon.

Have you considered that you may be Clinically Tiresome,OP? You may not be, but more and more people these days are becoming tiresome. It is easy to tell, because they will go online and describe their symptoms in minute detail. These symptoms may vary, but frequently involve stories about how oppressed they are, how triggered they are, or how many physical ailments they have.

This is the silent epidemic that has been completely overlooked due to Covid.

If you suspect that you, or a loved one may have become tiresome, please log onto Twitter, and tell the world your symptoms.

It is the only way to drag this epidemic into the light.

Sounds you may contracted either Covid or are now HIV positive.

[quote]But what did people do before surgery, physical therapy and meds- just live a life of discomfort?

Don't take this the wrong way, friend, but before surgery, physical therapy and meds they probably wouldn't have been out there shoveling their snow either. They'd start a fire and sit next to it.

Don't waste your time or money on a doctor. I had "50-year old shoulder" at 52 and it got so bad I went to the emergency room where they basically were able to do nothing. I just had to wait it out over several months, usually having to sleep in a chair. It finally went away and haven't thought about it in years. It stinks.

My neck, my back, my pussy, and my crack!

I would be surprised if you actually tore your rotator cuff to the point of needing surgery from your description of what you were doing when you were shoveling. Conservatively, the first thing you should be doing is to keep your full range of motion. What is normal with any damage to a rotator cuff is the inability to lift anything without excruciating pain. Many people notice it first trying to take a milk or juice jug out of the refrigerator and dropping it. Very often people can only lift their arms to waist level. To avoid pain, people stop moving their arms, but the body quickly loses its range of motion and then the bad things involved in this sort of injury begin to compound.. The problem is that the MUSCLES which lift the arm and their surrounding tendons are the one that are damaged. So to keep range of motion, you need to go up next to a wall or similar structure, and using your fingers, with NO INVOLVEMENT WHATSOEVER of your arm muscle at all, (and using the wall for support), walk your arm up until it is overhead and then back down again. It might be several weeks or even months until you can lift your unsupported arm again without pain. Using a full range of motion will allow blood to flow into the damaged area and begin the healing process. Any premature efforts to lift your arm up unsupported will merely reinjure you, which is why for some people these injuries last for months or even years. . You need to remind yourself consciously NEVER to attempt to lift your arm to do a routine task until you feel that you are pain-free. It takes a lot of self-discipline, because there are so many daily tasks that involve lifting the arms.

When you are in recovery mode, there are many good stretches that you can do. I'm linking only one video of many showing some.

Thanks for all the info.

I want to clarify that the pain in the shoulder/upper arm area didn't occur til about 4 days later- nothing ripped or popped while I was shoveling.

Things are slightly better. I've been vigorously massaging the area with my other hand- kneading it like dough- first thing in the morning for about 20 min. and it really helps.

Boy, you realize you takes things for granted when something like your arm goes out. We've got 2 for a reason!

It sounds like consumption

Haemorrhoids for sure. Try a suppository or three.

Fuck you're out of shape for 57. There's nothing much there. But tendinitis is not only about stretching. The exercises are far more specific than simple stretching. There's wall climbing, resistance bands, tricep strengthening and even something resembling a half push up. This type of injury is completely healed through physio and heat treatments or a quick fix of steroid injections. The exercises take more than a half hour a day, in 2 x 20 minute intervals. Minimum. Go to physio 2 times a week. Three months and your not only healed - but you'll be in better shape. Joint and tendon wise.

You're a mess if you can't life some snow at 57. Get on a plan old man.

If you amputate your arm then there will be less weight pulling down on the injured shoulder.

Try that.

[quote]R21 You're a mess if you can't life some snow

You’re a mess if you can’t spell.

^ old queen^

Those who can't fuck, monitor typos.

Yeah, it sounds like rotator cuff damage. However, do NOT get steroid injections for tendinitis. it actually exacerbates it. I'm going on 2 years of pain in my elbow from tendinitis and it's a long road. since it's early days and i went to PT for this (i know it was from elbow and not shoulder, but it's the same condition), it was recommended to me to do daily icing then heat therapy.

I'm sorry this is happening to you. i had to completely stop gardening, which is one of my remaining passions. it's still there.

My parents are both over 60 and can shovel snow and do heavy lifting no problem. Are you a great big fat person?

I eat piles of shit!

OP, maybe you've been jerking off too much

Since someone bumped this... I'm feeling slightly better every day. As long as I don't overdo things (got groceries Sunday- ouch) and keep up with self-massage a couple times a day I think I will continue to improve. I don't feel that I tore or injured anything; just that I abused the arm so much that my old muscles just seized-up and 'locked' on me.

Time to move south; tired of black ice, blizzards and being stuck indoors 5 mos. a year.