I’m sure this question or a similar one has already been answered, but I’ve spent the past couple days reading forums and articles and watching videos. I promise if you suggest anything from BBM I’ve seen it, but I’m a humble CC student and all the info about pain and red flags and movement and rehab and surgery and nocebo and nuance is blending to mush and I don’t know what I should do from this point.
Long story short I suddenly can’t OHP with my left. Little to no pain, no instigating occurrence, just very weak with any movement that involves my hand moving upward and cant OHP even 10 lbs. Bench is fine but very unstable.
Something is obviously torn or detached but I literally have too much physical work to do for the next 6 months or so to do shoulder surgery, so I was hoping to get by on the rehab template.
Is that a good idea, or is this “red flag” enough to require attention? Should I give it a week or two before trying rehab? I don’t want to make a bad situation worse. Any guidance would be appreciated.
Hi. Firstly, I am very sorry to hear about the problem you are experiencing. Secondly, I have no former medical or rehabilitation training, so please take my opinion with that in mind.
I would not assume that some type of tissue rupture is the cause of your problem as there are many factors influencing movement coordination and force production. However, I would not rule it out either without an assessment by a professional.
When dealing with a problem without an obvious incident which might have caused it my thought process is as follows. I prefer to wait a few days and to see if the condition changes in any way. If the situation starts improving, I tend to give it more time while training around it and trying to see if I can find a ways to slowly reintroduce loading to the area without stalling the recovery. If the recovery platoes at some point or the situation is not improving at all from the onset, I either try to alter the way I was reintroducing loading (rehabilitating) the area or try to search for some professional help. If the situation is progressively worse, I prefer to search for medical attention right away. In case the advice does not feel right, I like to get a second opinion.
With all that said, I try to think about other modifiable factors that could be related to the problem, but not obvious at the first glance. If I can think of some, I try to adjust them to see if they move the needle a little bit. However, if I identify multiple, I try not to attack all of them at once to not cloud their effect.
In conclusion, if the situation is not improving, getting a professional advice early (if available to you), while adjusting your training and other confounding factors might be a way to go.