Figuring Out This Shoulder Thing
Okay, so I started dealing with this shoulder issue, kinda reminded me of when you hear about athletes like Keenan Allen getting sidelined with shoulder problems. Not saying mine was that bad, of course, but it was definitely messing with my routine.
It all began subtly. Just a little twinge when I reached for something high up. Ignored it at first, you know? Thought it’d just go away. But nope, it stuck around. Got worse when I tried doing my usual push-ups or lifting anything remotely heavy overhead. That sharp pinch, man, it wasn’t fun.
Trying to Fix It
First thing I did was basically stop doing anything that hurt. Sounds obvious, right? But it’s harder than you think. Had to modify a lot of my workouts. Everything felt… off balance. Frustrating.
Then I started digging around, trying to figure out what helps these kinds of things. Read a lot about rest, ice, and eventually, very gentle exercises. So, I got myself some of those light resistance bands. Felt kinda silly using them at first, they look like nothing.
Here’s basically what I started doing:
- Super light band pull-aparts. Just focusing on squeezing the shoulder blades.
- External rotations with a band, keeping my elbow tucked in. Felt weird, but supposed to help the small muscles.
- Wall slides. Basically just sliding my arms up a wall, trying to keep good form.
- Lots of stretching for my chest and lats, figuring tight muscles elsewhere might be pulling on the shoulder.
Did these almost every day. Slow and steady. Didn’t want to rush it and make things worse again. Some days it felt better, other days it felt like I hadn’t made any progress. Patience isn’t my strong suit, gotta admit.
Where I’m At Now
It took a good while. Weeks, maybe a couple of months of being really consistent with the gentle stuff. Gradually, I started adding back very light weights. Focused entirely on form, not how much I was lifting.
The sharp pain is gone now, which is the main thing. It still feels a bit… delicate sometimes? Like, I know it’s not 100% the same as it was before. I’m much more careful about warming up properly now, and I don’t try to ego lift overhead stuff anymore. Learned that lesson.
So yeah, that was my journey with the whole shoulder situation. Annoying process, but glad I stuck with the rehab stuff. You really gotta listen to your body when it starts yelling at you.
