Overuse / Inflammation of shoulder & bicep?

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About 4 weeks ago, after weightlifting my shoulder stiffened up. After a few days it went, and I thought nothing of it. A few days after that I went again, but afterwards my arm became a bit red and swollen, and my shoulder was stiff (really tight feeling when raised out to side).

I've rested it for 3 weeks now. Had two sports massages, one physio (ultrasound and electric) and one chiropractor appointment. All of which have helped a little and improved, but problems havent gone away.

Today, the front part of my shoulder feels inflammed and has a 'niggling' sort of pain (bicep tendon area).
On medial head of deltoid, towards the back, I have a dull ache, and when raising my arm to side, it is still slightly stiff a little further down.
My right upper back is often tight, including my neck. A bit more noticable than normal. This has been the case for a while, but is still present.
Since the injury, I've had a bit of a weird feeling in the underside of the forearm and into my middle finger. Like it is a little tight or numb, and feels very slightly weaker.
Also just felt a bit off today, bit of a headache in back of head / neck.

Chiropractor said that upper back on right side feels tight, and loosened it a bit (including where he pushes into parts by the spine).
I've had other back and pelvis problems, which has been due to leg length and over pronation. I have inner soles arriving next week. But it is pulling my body about, and my left leg is slightly shorter, so Im pulling over to the left slightly. Worth mentioning incase its affecting upper back.

Sports massage therapist said orignnaly that the area was a bit tight, puffy and 'grisley', but no other problems.
Physio believes it is overuse injury and said that if things dont improve after 1st appintment, I should go back. So Im phoning them tomorrow.

Ice and ibuofen / asprin has helped before and has a bit today. Done some light stretching. Also do soft tissue work (foam roller / tennis ball) every day.

Theres so many things I've read into regarding injuries. When the front of the shoulder / upper arm becomes inflammed, other symptoms I mentioned show. Also seems a bit weird with the slight little twitches / niggles through the area.

Its been like this today because I think I aggrevated it last night by playing on a Wii console, but it was not like I'd call it strenuous. But I have had these problems the last few days anyway.

Any extra help would be appricated, want to try and get things sorted. Thanks in advance

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Also note, that soft tissue release (roller and tennis ball) on the areas provide relief for a a short while. Similar with stretching, but even shorter time.

Physio and massage therapist also done range of movement and pain tests for RC (i.e. resistance without moving), all of which where fine.

[Heidi]

Hi,

I think you need to stick to one type of therapy (I would recommend Physio) for a few weeks to see what happens. Its a good sign if it eased it slightly after the first appointment, just stick with it.

The strange sensations down your arms and into your fingers are caused by nerve compression. Whatever the problem in the shoulder may be (i'm inclined to go with the Physio and say some form of overuse injury - Did they check your posture?) it is obviously putting some pressure on the nerves.

Continue to stretch and do the other things you find helpful and return to the physio. Make sure they have looked carefully at your posture, as given your problems with the lower back this may well be contributing to this problem too.

Good luck!

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Hi Heidi, thank you for the reply.

My posture is fairly good, I started 'shoulders back and down' early this year. And now days It tends to be something I do all the time - when studying, on PC or sitting.

I have physio booked again for next Monday. She advised me to stretch and do RC exercises - like external rotations. So Im going to try the RC exercises later this week (as didnt want to do them whilst my back is so tight), starting with 1-2kg. And go from there.

I think my pelvis being down on one side slightly might be why my right shoulder took more of the force and lead to this. My inner soles arrive next week (specially built ones by specialist), so hopefully this should sort out a lot of problems I've had as well.

Just had a sports massage, the girl who does it for me deals with a lot of problems and is quite knowledgable. Should help, as she said although back and shoulders where tight, it has loosened up well. Again, she recommended rotations and stretching.

Thanks again for the help. Hopefully things should pick up.

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Im doing stretching and foam roller every day at the moment, and have had two sports massages for my rhomboid area, to get rid of the tightness and knots (probably didnt help my shoulder).

Doing overhead pressing movement (no weights), causes my shoulder to tighten. So I believe it is a supraspinatus impingement. Physio said I should do external rotations and upper back work, which I plan to start tomorrow (as I wanted to get rid of most of the tightness first).

Is there anything else I can do to help? Also, by any chance can anyone explain how doing external rotations will help this problem - as external rotations mainly work infraspinatus?

Thanks
Lewis