[petejh]

I've had a pretty bad rotator cuff strain a couple of years ago so I'm fairly clued up on symptoms and treatment but... I've now got a similar pain in the other shoulder after a spell of fairly intense (for me) climbing. After doing the research etc it sounds like tendonitis of the r-cuff - dull ache, not very painful but hurts in certain positions like gastons. Annoying as fuck because I was going better than usual. javascript:void(0); It feels like i want to climb on it but then it flares up if I do anything remotely interesting. At least with a strain, however bad, you know where you stand.  Does anyone else have experience of this annoying injury? Timescale/best treatment?

[michal]

I've had this injury a couple of times.  It always felt really bad for a week or two and gradually subsided to nothing over the course several more weeks.  I found that, for some reason, a full rest from climbing was not helpful and my shoulder responded much better to light climbing on a vertical wall...obviously you don't want to be cranking hard on it while it's feeling inflamed, so just make a firm commitment to climb very lightly while the injury persists and gradually return to your normal level.

Theraband exercises for the rotator cuff and icing 2 to 3 times a day were also helpful.  Way better to have this problem than another strain.  Good luck.

[petejh]

Thanks. I guess it's a good excuse to work on my endurance and movement instead of power.
On a related topic - I've been told by a couple of sports physios that my shoulders are very imbalanced, one of the physios pointed out my shoulder blades should be a couple of inches further down and back! Have been trying to strengthen the muscles back there to balance things out but I'm wondering if they'll ever be in what a physio would consider the 'right' position. Has anyone out there gone from having weak/imbalanced shoulders to strong/balanced shoulders and actually noticed a change of position or had a physio notice a difference?

[SA Chris]

I thought I posted this yesterday, some quite good info http://www.theshortspan.com/features/injury/shoulder.htm

[The Sausage]

Oh god, here we go again...
...you cannot diagnose yourself using the internet. If your car was making funny noises and black smoke was coming out the exhaust, would you ask a few random people on the internet (while still using it), or would you take it to a garage (probably one recommended by somebody), and fork out a bit of your hard earned to get the problem sorted?

Now, there are a few shit physios out there, and it isn't an exact sciece (by any means), but if you think you have an actual acute injury, you need to get it seen to properly. It will only get worse.

[Jaspersharpe]

Listen to Jerry.

[steven82]

Oh god, here we go again...
...you cannot diagnose yourself using the internet. If your car was making funny noises and black smoke was coming out the exhaust, would you ask a few random people on the internet (while still using it), or would you take it to a garage (probably one recommended by somebody), and fork out a bit of your hard earned to get the problem sorted?

Now, there are a few shit physios out there, and it isn't an exact sciece (by any means), but if you think you have an actual acute injury, you need to get it seen to properly. It will only get worse.

defo agree with this, get yourself a consultation with a physio, they will give you a better idea of whats actually going on and excerises to deal with it, for the 20/30 quid or so it costs it will save you alot of time and effort in the long run

[petejh]

Don't worry Sausage, Steven. I'm not naive enough to think I can get a pro diagnosis from the interbox.
I wouldn't rely on anything other than a professional diagnosis for an injury even if my post may not have given that impression.
This board's a great place to get a range of ideas to look into further, which I guess is all I was aiming at with my post. Reading through other threads on the injuries/training/diet pages, it's obvious that this board's a really good place to pick up useful tips to look into and/or discard whatever doesn't sit right.

My shoulder problem's got a lot better    I found doing a range of theraband exercises for strengthening the small muscles combined with the doorframe stretches to stretch/loosen my pecs, and a bunch of 'posture shit' did the trick.