shoulder impingement syndrome

[ivanooze]

Did a pretty long ride today (7.5 hours) and started noticing slight shoulder numbness/pain towards the end of the ride. I'm pretty sure i'm pinching some nerve in my GH joint.
-once i finished the ride, i can feel more pain than numbness, it's more of a nagging 3/10 pain rather than oh God please take me to the hospital, pain.
does anyone have any experience with this pain?
-any solutions to help remedy this situation at all?

[thoreau]

I'm old (ok middle aged) so take this with a grain of salt. I used to have shoulder and neck numbness also but admittedly have never ridden 7.5 hours (jeezus) I found that getting a bike fit that provided more balance between my contact points and weight was key.

Never like assuming that a person does not have proper fit but its always a good place to start looking. Hope you find your answers and that you are well.

[false_Aest]

I spent the last of Q1 and all of Q2 dealing with shoulder impingement issues. Most likely from trying to go up in weight on my bench routine too fast -- the goal was to hit 225 by EOY (which will not happen now).

The PT wasn't game for a cortisone shot. (I feel like my recovery time was increased significantly)

Most of the recovery process was working on small muscles in/around my back + shoulder. I've been in PT before and this one sucked the most. There's something really, really frustrating about being able to move 100-200lbs easily and then, two weeks later, having to practice a "simple" movement with a towel or 2.5lb weight -- and have it be difficult/painful.

Seems the root of my pain was that I got into the habit of lifting my left shoulder up toward my ear whenever I lifted anything heavy or braced things with my arm + body.

One of the exercises to break me of this habit involved an elastic band under my right foot, and placed just past the acromion (shoulder nubby) on my left shoulder. Then I had to "polish a table" and "paint a wall".

After dealing with this stuff I notice people scrunching their shoulders while riding (there's a lot of people that do this). Makes me wonder if it's a bad bike fit, if their muscles aren't developed enough to support the body, a combo or something else. I also wonder how much pain they're in after a ride -- there was no ignoring my pain.

[Ozz]

you should probably confirm the diagnosis first....

I have some neck issues that cause pain in my shoulders and numbness in my thumbs. PT, exercises and paying attention to position on bike keeps it at bay....

[rnhood]

Couple years ago my left shoulder started rebelling on my long swims. Went to the doctor and it was impingement. I've learned now that the moment I feel the pain, I back off and get out of the water. If I don't, then I have to stop swimming for about 4 weeks for it to subside.

[Ken Robb]

I had impingement in both shoulders. I told the orthopedist that it felt like I was being stabbed from inside the joint. He said "that's because you are." As we age some of us develop little bone spurs in our joints. Many people never notice them but those of us with tight joints sure will.

To cut to the chase: I tried PT for a while, gave up and had surgery to avoid the pain of PT and speed the process. HAH! The post-surgery PT was no better than the pre-surgery PT. A year or so later I developed impingement in the other shoulder. This time I sucked it up and stayed patient with the PT and eventually the pain was gone. But these episodes were the end of my weight-lifting exercises.

[ivanooze]

I forgot to mention that I did change my saddle.
-i had the new carbon romin, but started feeling uncomfortable around the edges, so I went back to my old romin and set it up at the same distance from nose of saddle to middle of headset cap.
-old romin has more.padding and feels much better but what i didn't notice was that the carbon Rom. Was 2 cm shorter than my current Rom. So I moved my saddle forward to compensate for the length difference (I felt super stretched out).

-feels good, but not after a long, 164 mile day time trialing. Next step is a re-fit.

[Gothard]

you should probably confirm the diagnosis first....

This. Get a shoulder specialist to examine you. He might recomment an MRI/arthro MRI. He and that and only that will tell you what you have, and allow for proper treatment.

The rest is guessing, with possible dire consequences.

[Chris]

I've been dealing with this in both shoulders for a couple of years and I am finally to the point where I am 90% better. So much so that I have cancelled a surgery from my right shoulder to address this. I do think mine comes from both, just aging and time on the bike with no corrective exercises. I think we do ourselves a HUGE disservice by just riding. I did it for years.

I first noticed symptoms playing fetch with my dog. I would throw the ball and my deltoid would kind of light me up. It got more aggravating and I started noticing pain if I reached in the back seat of the car or something like that. Doing push ups started to cause the same pain. Then, the pinnacle was when I started having trouble sleeping at night. I would wake up at night and literally have to pull my right arm down with my left arm because of the pain and stiffness.

I saw an orthopedist who gave me cortisone injections on two separate occasions which temporarily relieved the pain, but over time it would creep back in. I was given the rubber bands and the exercises and did them pretty consistently with minimal improvement.

June of 2017 I crash and shatter my left collarbone, broke my left shoulder blade, have surgery, etc. Afterwards, I go to PT and did more stretching and exercises, but things weren't getting anywhere fast, and this is the key for me. I talked to the surgeon who put me back together and he said that he wouldn't do more injections. I either needed to strengthen the shoulder to where I could tolerate it or get surgery where they shave off part of my collarbone and the acromium to free up some space.

I learned a lot in PT about scapular strength and the importance of rotator cuff strength. I was so weak from the injury that I could barely get through 3 to 5 good push ups. So, I started going to the gym and gave up on the rubber bands. It has changed my shoulder function dramatically. I do three to four rotator cuff exercises on the cable machine before each workout. The same in to out and out to in pulls that I did with the bands and also some overhead rotation, but something about the steady weight seems to help more. It took forever to get stronger, but as I have gotten stronger I have gained more and more relief. During this time I also did two 4-6 week series of steady anti inflammatory use to manage the inflammation. Not just as needed, but regularly scheduled doses. I think this helped dramatically as well. Beyond the RC exercises, I focused heavily on pulls (Lat pull downs and seated rows) and slow progression with push ups. I started with five slow push ups with good form and added 1 per week. I am now doing 20 pretty easily and can do way more, but I am staying disciplined.

I have the occasional twinge and I have the occasional pain at night, but there is no way I would go through surgery at this point, and I plan to continue to get better by progressing very steadily and slowly in terms of my weight training. I am by my estimate 90% better. YMMV

[sailorboy]

Just FYI, there are no nerves that "go through" the gleno-humeral joint so therefore its not a pinched nerve in your shoulder specifically. I would first rule out any neck source of entrapment, especially if you have symptoms all the way from your shoulder region down to your hand. There are a few common places where the long nerves in your arm can be impinged and cause those symptoms, and a common one to be aware of for cyclists is around a bone at the pinky side of your hand/wrist which may be mistaken for stuff originating higher up if it gets severe.

That's a quick thought, but overall tracking down intermittent nerve symptoms can be difficult even for seasoned clinicians. Go see an ortho specialist PT. Detailed physical exam before expensive tests and referrals to specialist MDs or surgeons is the optimal course imho. Your insurer may dictate otherwise, but that's what I would do given the choice.

[Gothard]

Back at it.
Personal anecdotes, while interesting, will do nothing to help diagnose your issue.
Get a positive diagnosis. Apply treatment. Medecine 101.

[saf-t]

Yep. A/C joint decompression surgery ~ 10 years ago along with the removal of a bone spur or two made my life much more pleasant- it had gotten to the point that I couldn't ride for more than 15 minutes without significant pain, despite both cortisone injections and PT.

[Hellgate]

Get it checked out.

I blew off pain in my right shoulder for six years. It got to the point that my wife could hear the creak in joint when I first woke up in the morning.

Ended up I had 1mm of clearance instead of 4mms, torn labrum, and arthritis.

When I woke up from surgery I felt so much better because the ache was gone I started crying. Now I don't remember that nor will I admit to it.

Ironically it was all torn apart 12 months later in a vehicle accident in Iraq. Go figure...