Bone Spur + Bursitis in Shoulder @ 27

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

Hey guys,

Right (dominant side) shoulder started bothering me 2.5 months ago. I’m hard-headed and continued to train through the pain because it hurt but wasn’t horrible, and more importantly was relatively stagnant (i.e. more lifting didn’t make it much worse). Overheads were by far the most painful and dropped, but flat pressing is tolerable and therefore kept around; also interestingly enough, dumbbells hurt more than barbells.

Given how long it’s been, I finally got it checked out. Via x-ray, the orthopedic specialist I saw today said there was a bone spur on the shoulder, and significant bursitis. This is where I should note that while I’ve been training for about a decade, I’m only 27, with a frequent history of strains and various injuries across my body from the gym. Overuse, if I’m being honest with myself.

Received two cortisone shots (one into the AC, another into the bursa sac itself) and was prescribed three weeks of both daily NSAIDs (Celebrex specifically; not sure why not just ibuprofen) and a topical anti-arthritis cream (Voltaren, 4x / day), on top of regular icing (which I was skeptical could have much impact after this amount of time). No surprise, I was told to avoid lifting, specifically anything that could cause “impingement” – which I know is generally less of a concern when full ROM is used, but I probably cannot do so right now. My questions are:

  • Would you recommend completely stepping away from upper body work for a few weeks? Or severely limiting your exercise selection? Still planning to squat, deadlift, and the like unless I’m firmly advised against here.

  • Is stretching actually a bad idea? I definitely don’t want the ROM to close up on its own, but am admittedly not familiar with the physiology and treatment mechanisms at play here.

Thank you.

2

I’m not going to speak for the Docs themselves but my guess is they might recommend a few things.

  1. Some pain science education (specifically what your diagnosis suggests)
  2. a consult
  3. Reduction in load to a tolerable amount
  4. if no load is tolerable, a reduction or alteration in ROM to one that is less “threatening” with eventual progression back to full range of motion.
  5. Evaluation of the importance of overhead movements.

Things they probably won’t recommend:

Injections.

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