Shoulder injuries

Hi Heart, that's a real bummer on the bicep tendon. Get it checked out by another - second opinions are good. I have chronic rotator cuff impingement in my right shoulder. Repetitive motion injury > from the computer! #1=carpal tunnel; #2=mouse elbow; #3=rotator cuff impingement. #3 is a real bummer for a swimmer! I keep thera-band in my office, at home and always travel with one. Now, I can say that I'm not as diligent as I could be. I tend to be more diligent when my shoulder isn't bothering me and then rededicate myself when it hurts! :D Orca, it does help. I have switched from mousing on my right to being a lefty at the computer. I have adjusted my stroke. I was over reaching on free entry. I try to be very aware of my entry position. If my shoulder bugs me, I first think about what I did at work the day before or what I'm screwing up with my stroke! The long winded dissertation is me trying to verbally describe my exercises that are different from the you-tube vid! :blah: I watched the link that GMM posted. I do not like how she does the exercise, at least for rotator cuff. This is off topic for Heart's original post, except that it is shoulder injury related. I think the range of motion that she shows is way too large! She also does not isolate the motion to the arm rotation but is rotating her whole body at the extremes. Also, as a function of over rotating the exercise, she is lifting her elbow away from the body. I was trained by a physical therapist to use a much smaller range of travel. I probably only rotate 30 degrees on either side of perpendicular to my body. That is, I set myself up with the thera-band with my elbow at my side and my fore-arm pointing straight ahead. I adjust my body so that the band is also perpendicular to my body in this position. I was also taught that it was better and more secure for the elbow and the isolation of the muscle groups to have a small cushion between the elbow and the ribs. At home I use a tiny pillow, at work I use one of those little packaging air bags as my cushion. Looking at the links, my range is a little different than all, but these are way closer to what I do than what CarolAnn demonstrates! I only do 12 to 15 reps and then switch exercises. I do a full set 3 times. If I can do too many reps w/o feeling any burn, then I either tighten the band by stretching it more or go to the next color. I think the 20 reps the video says is way too many - I want to build strength, not bulk up! When I do the exercises correctly, there is no pain in my shoulder. Though, and especially when doing the external - I can feel the burn in that little muscle underneath my shoulder blade that I'm working on! I also did the internal rotation, what CarloAnn starts with in her video, but I've recently been told this is of little value since my front side is so developed. Other exercises are shoulder flexor and extensor (punching.) I do still do this and the range of motion is also rather small. I've recently added two more. The one is arm straight, about 15* forward of being parallel to my body, little finger up - holding a 2# weight. Lift the arm up, but do not go through the shoulder plane - in other words lift from about the hip, but only upwards until either the arm is parallel to the ground or you find any discomfort. The second is nearly the same, but the arm is straight ahead, perpendicular to my body, weight is held thumb up. lift only to parallel to the ground. Way too wordy....:blah:.....how many did I .... :bed:! www.webmd.com/.../external-rotator-strengthening-exercise www.webmd.com/.../internal-rotator-strengthening-exercise www.webmd.com/.../shoulder-flex-and-extension-exercise Cheers, PT

Hi Heart, that's a real bummer on the bicep tendon. Get it checked out by another - second opinions are good. I have chronic rotator cuff impingement in my right shoulder. Repetitive motion injury > from the computer! #1=carpal tunnel; #2=mouse elbow; #3=rotator cuff impingement. #3 is a real bummer for a swimmer! I keep thera-band in my office, at home and always travel with one. Now, I can say that I'm not as diligent as I could be. I tend to be more diligent when my shoulder isn't bothering me and then rededicate myself when it hurts! :D Orca, it does help. I have switched from mousing on my right to being a lefty at the computer. I have adjusted my stroke. I was over reaching on free entry. I try to be very aware of my entry position. If my shoulder bugs me, I first think about what I did at work the day before or what I'm screwing up with my stroke! The long winded dissertation is me trying to verbally describe my exercises that are different from the you-tube vid! :blah: I watched the link that GMM posted. I do not like how she does the exercise, at least for rotator cuff. This is off topic for Heart's original post, except that it is shoulder injury related. I think the range of motion that she shows is way too large! She also does not isolate the motion to the arm rotation but is rotating her whole body at the extremes. Also, as a function of over rotating the exercise, she is lifting her elbow away from the body. I was trained by a physical therapist to use a much smaller range of travel. I probably only rotate 30 degrees on either side of perpendicular to my body. That is, I set myself up with the thera-band with my elbow at my side and my fore-arm pointing straight ahead. I adjust my body so that the band is also perpendicular to my body in this position. I was also taught that it was better and more secure for the elbow and the isolation of the muscle groups to have a small cushion between the elbow and the ribs. At home I use a tiny pillow, at work I use one of those little packaging air bags as my cushion. Looking at the links, my range is a little different than all, but these are way closer to what I do than what CarolAnn demonstrates! I only do 12 to 15 reps and then switch exercises. I do a full set 3 times. If I can do too many reps w/o feeling any burn, then I either tighten the band by stretching it more or go to the next color. I think the 20 reps the video says is way too many - I want to build strength, not bulk up! When I do the exercises correctly, there is no pain in my shoulder. Though, and especially when doing the external - I can feel the burn in that little muscle underneath my shoulder blade that I'm working on! I also did the internal rotation, what CarloAnn starts with in her video, but I've recently been told this is of little value since my front side is so developed. Other exercises are shoulder flexor and extensor (punching.) I do still do this and the range of motion is also rather small. I've recently added two more. The one is arm straight, about 15* forward of being parallel to my body, little finger up - holding a 2# weight. Lift the arm up, but do not go through the shoulder plane - in other words lift from about the hip, but only upwards until either the arm is parallel to the ground or you find any discomfort. The second is nearly the same, but the arm is straight ahead, perpendicular to my body, weight is held thumb up. lift only to parallel to the ground. Way too wordy....:blah:.....how many did I .... :bed:! www.webmd.com/.../external-rotator-strengthening-exercise www.webmd.com/.../internal-rotator-strengthening-exercise www.webmd.com/.../shoulder-flex-and-extension-exercise Cheers, PT