[alaan]

Hello,

Been struggling with a very tight upper-back and shoulder for a while now (probably eking into the months now) - it feels tight and tender just to the left of the spine and almost under the shoulder blade (upper thoratic and rhomboid?) and is most acute when I twist to the side opposite the shoulder.

Had a series of physio sessions (with a reputable and well known chap) now and I've been told that structurally the shoulder is sound and just needs maintenance, so no real need/urgency for any more physio, although the shoulder feels as tender as before (although not weak!). Has anyone else had similar experiences? Any miracle cures?

I've been spending my evenings rolling around on a rolling pin, going to yoga, doing 'hunched' press-ups (wide arms, and lots of pushing the shoulders around before doing a proper push-up), stretching obsessively and lying on an ice packs...oh, and climbing. Still doesn't really want to go away though. Not painful when I climb, so I have continued to do so - may be forced to go into stamina mode for a month or so to see if that helps (just started bouldering again in the last couple of months after a year of routes due to finger injury!). Anyway, thoughts and sincere sympathy all appreciated.

Cheers,

Al

[The Sausage]

Obviously your Physio hasn't done a good job. Saying your shoulder is 'structurally sound' when your original complaint/main problem hasn't really changed is total bullshit. No physio can tell you anything is 'structurally sound', all we can say (i'm a physio) is that it has full strength, full pain free range of movement, and normal movement patterns. Which it obviously hasn't. Who is this 'reputable and well known chap'. It could be connected to your thoracic spine, it could be a rib problem. It sounds more likely to be one of these as you say it hurts when you twist your body. It could be connected to any of the scapula stabilising muscles (subscapularis is reasonably likely). It's impossible to say without looking at it.

Did your physio look at your spine/press on the vertebrae?

[alaan]

Sorry, perhaps I've mis-quoted my physio. He did basically say what you suggest they can advise on, which is that there are now normal movement patterns, nothing seems to be compensating for anything else and it's full strength in all the positions you'd care to test. I'm reluctant to specify who I've been seeing in case I do misconstrew his advise - I've seen him a lot over the last year and he's always been excellent. If I felt he had been total crap, I wouldn't hesitate in sharing the specifics! It's also worth noting that his advice was corroborated by a second physio I saw whilst he was away. He did take a look at the spine and did a variety of interesting manipulations, which we're, at times, terrifying.

The pain is never sharp and only apparent as a dull ache when I stretch out (for example, twisting), much as it might feel the morning after climbing too hard for too long.

Ta,

Al 

[Iesu]

my shoulder is fucked too. mine is a teenage BMX related dislocation that never got sorted and leads to occasional sub-lux (particularly when gaston-ing or doing yoga).

there doesn't seem to be  a proper pattern to how it feels, but it always seems worse the less climbing i do! theraband exercises seem to help and i would definitely take a look at the shortspan website's article on shouders - good info on preventing shoulder injuries rather than reactive remediation
http://www.theshortspan.com/features/injury/shoulder.htm