Thread: Shoulder Impingement Syndrome

Dude fix the motor control issue. It's gonna be either infraspinatus or supraspinatus + lower fibers of trapizeius.

Cortisone shots are temporary and should not be relied on. Research has shown that try may reduce the inflammation relieving the pain temporarily by the damage caused to the surrounding tissue is permanent.

Neither Cortisone nor the GH Peptides will really work to correct the issue, only mask the pain and repair the damage that is continually being done by the mechanical obstruction in your joint. I would recommend seeing a orthopedic surgeon and evaluate what your options are. Depending on the severity of the impingement you may be able to correct the issue with precise stretching and massage, but if it is badly locked up you may need to go the surgical route. Good luck either way brother, sorry to hear that you're having to deal with this

Originally Posted by ScottyMac710

Neither Cortisone nor the GH Peptides will really work to correct the issue, only mask the pain and repair the damage that is continually being done by the mechanical obstruction in your joint. I would recommend seeing a orthopedic surgeon and evaluate what your options are. Depending on the severity of the impingement you may be able to correct the issue with precise stretching and massage, but if it is badly locked up you may need to go the surgical route. Good luck either way brother, sorry to hear that you're having to deal with this

Surgery is crap shoot With shoulder tears. Never mind impingments. Surgery and an orthopedic auger goin should be his last option.

Have been dealing with it for 15 years, but have it pretty well licked now. I was in physio therapy for 9 months when the syptoms first came on; it caused bicep tendonitis so bad that I could not grip a steering wheel without tearing up.

Remedy (which is a long process)

Posture, walking with chest out and shoulders back and down.
Car seat in the upright position.
Sitting on a ball at work.
Sitting with a pillow behind your back when you watch T.V.
Lots of rubber band work and rotator cuff work.
The matress you sleep on could be a major contributing factor.

Still, it's going to take you a year or longer to stablize your back muscles. stop training your large back muscles and work on the smaller and stablizer muscles. My physio therapist said lifting contributed to the problem. I never isolate the back anymore. Almost all back work is standing...

I believe this is what I have, though I think my case is fairly severe. I have an MRI this friday so we'll see, but I have it in both shoulders and I definitely feel it's caused by bone spurs/a hooked acromion. It gets worse with time lifting, and has prevented me from doing so completely a few times over the years. This past year and a half I pushed through it for probably like 4 months when the pain was obviously bad enough I shouldn't have been lifting at all, and it got so bad I literally couldn't move either arm at all without pain... Definitely frustrating to have something chronic like this but if you have insurance I would get an MRI done. I've tried all the PT exercises, backed down weight, taken weeks/months off and it still hurts like shit so I think surgery may be my only option unfortunately

Originally Posted by Digitalash

I believe this is what I have, though I think my case is fairly severe. I have an MRI this friday so we'll see, but I have it in both shoulders and I definitely feel it's caused by bone spurs/a hooked acromion. It gets worse with time lifting, and has prevented me from doing so completely a few times over the years. This past year and a half I pushed through it for probably like 4 months when the pain was obviously bad enough I shouldn't have been lifting at all, and it got so bad I literally couldn't move either arm at all without pain... Definitely frustrating to have something chronic like this but if you have insurance I would get an MRI done. I've tried all the PT exercises, backed down weight, taken weeks/months off and it still hurts like shit so I think surgery may be my only option unfortunately

You got bursitis or a tendonitis. That's what my money would be on. In all honest uubprobably need to back off your regular lifting the previous poster and focus on the motor control of the glenohumeral joint. I bet it's sloppy have someone check to see if you have poor scapula control as well. Correction these issues will go along way in reducing the irritation to tr bursa when you get back to lifting.

Does it click or snap when u do certain movements? Ie rasing the arm up and then coming back down. Or as if you were using one hand to turn a bus steering wheel away from the body?

Originally Posted by pebble

You got bursitis or a tendonitis. That's what my money would be on. In all honest uubprobably need to back off your regular lifting the previous poster and focus on the motor control of the glenohumeral joint. I bet it's sloppy have someone check to see if you have poor scapula control as well. Correction these issues will go along way in reducing the irritation to tr bursa when you get back to lifting.

Does it click or snap when u do certain movements? Ie rasing the arm up and then coming back down. Or as if you were using one hand to turn a bus steering wheel away from the body?

It's just finally started to feel kinda ok, and this is after nearly 6 months of minimal/light training. I took a solid two months completely off but couldn't deal with it, it still hurt but I had to train somewhat or I'd go crazy lol. I've thought of bursitis but I don't know whether that would last this long and be an issue everytime I train consistently for a while? It was totally fine throughout most of highschool but started to develop and now it comes back immediately whenever I'm training. Thanks for the input though bro I'll see what the MRI says and I may just have to try and work it out non surgically. I'm at least hoping it's not a labrum tear...

Originally Posted by Digitalash

It's just finally started to feel kinda ok, and this is after nearly 6 months of minimal/light training. I took a solid two months completely off but couldn't deal with it, it still hurt but I had to train somewhat or I'd go crazy lol. I've thought of bursitis but I don't know whether that would last this long and be an issue everytime I train consistently for a while? It was totally fine throughout most of highschool but started to develop and now it comes back immediately whenever I'm training. Thanks for the input though bro I'll see what the MRI says and I may just have to try and work it out non surgically. I'm at least hoping it's not a labrum tear...

Tears are common, don't be to concerned with them. Everyone has them or will have them.

I was diagnosed with a SLAP lesion four years ago. It took two years to rehab, but I am back and feeling great now. Sure if I over do it, it can get sore or tired, but sometimes you just need to know when to take a week off or cut back volume/intensity.

Good luck man.

Oh, and yeah bursitis can be a bitch like that.

Originally Posted by pebble

Tears are common, don't be to concerned with them. Everyone has them or will have them.

I was diagnosed with a SLAP lesion four years ago. It took two years to rehab, but I am back and feeling great now. Sure if I over do it, it can get sore or tired, but sometimes you just need to know when to take a week off or cut back volume/intensity.

Good luck man.

Oh, and yeah bursitis can be a bitch like that.

Yeah I suppose, I was thinking worst case scenario would be a complete labrum tear and recovery from that surgery is like 7-8+ months which would be godawful. I'm kinda hoping it's not bursitis because then I don't think a whole lot can be done about it right? I've done most of the things I've read are supposed to help but didn't notice any difference, if they can't fix it surgically I'm really afraid I'm just gonna be stuck with this...

Had MRI's and Xrays before.

Honestly had kind of started to think that Orthopedists and PT's are worthless cunts.

The 2 Ortho's I saw kept saying I had only a sprained A/C joint - I first sprained it July 2010 but over 1.5 years later and pain still going on ... clearly it is impingement syndrome.

I was planning to go to one of the Ortho's I had been seeing (the one who gave me an MRI and my second cortisone shot) to just talk to him about another cortisone shot. Though maybe now that I have it pinpointed to for sure being impingement syndrome (not just a one time sprained a/c joint) he will be able to help me better and discuss better routes of treatment. Though short of surgery not sure what else could work beside maybe that intense stretch/massage someone mentioned in one of their posts.

Originally Posted by Digitalash

Yeah I suppose, I was thinking worst case scenario would be a complete labrum tear and recovery from that surgery is like 7-8+ months which would be godawful. I'm kinda hoping it's not bursitis because then I don't think a whole lot can be done about it right? I've done most of the things I've read are supposed to help but didn't notice any difference, if they can't fix it surgically I'm really afraid I'm just gonna be stuck with this...

Not much can be done for it. Consistent ultra sound can be very helpful to reduce the inflammation, but it needs to be accompanied by proper training mechanics to ensure you are not re-aggravating it. It could be a smart idea to have a physio look at it, to specifically ask them what are your motor control issues. Once you have that you can start retraining the area so that your humerus is not slipping out of the pocket causing the impingement.


To fix my issue I had to take 6 full months off of lifting. When I came back I started with lower body and rehab type exercises to strength and ensure proper motor control/ stability of the entire rotator cuff. It sucks, but it has paid off.

To trouble shoot yourself you could just Google some basic shoulder impingement tests to find out what muscles have the issues and than do exercises to correct it. It may work it may not. Just be sure to focus on control of the movement rather than weight. Start very light.