Over, probably about the last 6 months (and coming back from my local Covid lockdown) my left shoulder has been “off”. It started with the normal low bar discomfort being on the other side of the “pain” line, and has gotten worse from the. I used this pain was a “good” excuse for skipping training and it got MUCH WORSE.
Finally, and after a jarring it EXCRUCIATINGLY, I got in to see the physio: frozen shoulder.
I’m a 46yo guy who has “worked out” at the gym, on and off, for many years, taking up powerlifting about 3 years ago. I’m never going to be the strongest middle aged lifter, but my bench was ok (110kg) - the rest are povo (Squat 125kg, DL 147.5kg).
I’m back at the gym again, having done a couple of seasons. There is zero chance of squatting - absolutely cannot get under a bar, and there is no SSB available (though I did ask the other day). Lat pulldowns are rough, but can be modified to work by leaning back a bit. Press - no chance. I haven’t tried bench, but chest press is tolerable. DL is fine.
So having done a couple of seasons with a lot of shoulder work, it appears that at this time, I tolerate it pretty well - no extra aches or pains post-workout.
My plan is to continue gentle (uncomfortable) stretching and working out, so long as the shoulder isn’t getting worse.
Does this seem like a reasonable approach, and is there anything you (or any of the forum members) think I should do/avoid? Also, has anyone been down this path (or know someone who has)? How did it go, lifting with a frozen shoulder?
Hey Glen - sorry to hear about your experience. I think it’s reasonable and appropriate to continue pursuing the movements and activities you want to be able to do, albeit to tolerance. Generally speaking, the approach is outlined in this article: Pain in training: what do? We’d need a consultation with you to offer individual advice and recommendations for management. If you are interested, please complete our intake paperwork HERE to get scheduled for a remote consultation with one of our team members. I can say the label of frozen shoulder doesn’t give me a ton of concern but just means we need to spend time working into those movements/positions/activities you want to be able to do to tolerance over time. There’s nothing magical that expedites this process.
We’ve had some training interruptions (Covid) here, but when able to access the gym, it seems that the shoulder is responding extremely (unexpectedly) well to the stress applied by weight training. On Monday I managed to get under a straight bar (with a neck pad) for 2 sets of high bar squats - the first since last year. I’ve also managed shoulder press, though can’t yet manage a proper vertical path. This is still a huge improvement!
I’ve found some temporary benefit from unloaded stretching activity, and quite a lot of discomfort. My reading of the literature suggests that this is the expected outcome from this type of intervention.
I looked, but could find little information looking at using heavily loaded exercises applied across the full range of motion, such as bench press, lat pulldown and shoulder press. It is exactly these that seem to be having the large effect I noted. As mentioned, my training has been patchy, with the improvements occurring mostly during periods of training, with little when stopped.
Considering the significantly different forces (size and direction) being experienced in the glenohumeral joint, between passive mobility exercises and weight training, it seems reasonable to think that different results might be possible. Do you think there might be a potential treatment approach here worthy of study in a formalised setting? (I’m not talking about my case, rather, other people in a small clinical trial.)
Potentially but there are a lot of layers to conducting research. Often folks say, let’s study this without a clear understanding of the implications involved in conducting a study. One of the important being, what is novel about this investigation that looks to add to the field of knowledge on a particular topic. I would not be overly inclined to looking into passive stretching vs active exercise for adhesive capsulitis, especially given the murkiness of the etiology and utility of the label.
I’m not unfamiliar with research, having both engineering and physics degrees, and married to a university lecturer with multiple research publications (though not in physiology).
If I remember the quick lit review, there were plenty of studies looking at passive stretching, vs active movement, but none looked at heavily LOADED movements.