Hi all. Been lurking here for a while and watching all of Scotts YouTube videos! Thanks Scott for all the great info!

I have an issue, though. One that seems common on the forum. I was recently in PT for an issue I had with the IT band/bursa in my left leg. Doing a lot of core workouts. One of them was planks to pushups. Usually 5 sets of 8 a couple times a week. I finished PT about 3 weeks ago and continue to do my exercises to keep my core strong and legs loose. About 2 weeks ago I went to push myself up from the plank position with just my left arm and felt a sharp pain in my shoulder/bicep/tricep/wrist. I took a few minutes off and the pain went away. I noticed a couple days later when boxing that my shoulder felt a little odd. Not painful, though.

So I took 4 days off. During those 4 days my shoulder started to ache and something like driving my car and holding the bottom of the steering wheel with my left hand made my shoulder ache more (nothing sharp, just ache). Regardless it was a pretty constant ache. I took my ibuprofen and iced a few times a day. Didn't get all that much relief.

Last week I went boxing on wednesday and started to get a small sharp pain in my shoulder when I was throwing hooks (so arms are pretty much parallel with shoulders). I stopped. Since then the dull pain continues. Mostly on my deltoid. Also a pain thats been there for a while is the area between my deltoid and tricep on the back of my arm. My bicep is tight. My shoulder likes to crack and pop quite often. Especially in the morning. If you look at the picture below, I marked dull pain/aching with a green X and tightness with a blue X.

Any idea as to what could be going on here guys? Thanks for an advice. Perhaps I'll be heading right back to PT for a different issue.

Sounds like PT is not helping you a lot. I m not saying that PTs are all bad, but you have to find someone who understands basic biomechanics ( ironic right?). I cant really be sure about your situation since I cant see you or examine you, but it sounds like you ve got some rounding of the shoulders going on and its probably related to your IT band situation as well. Maybe you have a posterior or anterior pelvic tilt which affects your hips and shoulders/neck area. If you could take some pictures from the side and from the back it would be great. Standing still but relatively relaxed.

From what I read here, you do "pushups", "planks", "driving", "punching". Notice the key words. Everything here is pushing or pressing and internally rotates the shoulder. So any muscle in front of the shoulder will be tight ( biceps + front delts + chest + forerm flexors) and might be in pain. Not a burning pain. It might just feel tight. On the opposite side your rear delts, rhomboids, serratus anterior will be weak and will be in pain. Usually a burning sensation or a dull ache. So I will conclude that your rotator cuff is weak and probably injured which leads to some kind of impingement in the shoulder and thats why you originally got some pain down your bicep/tricep/wrist area. Nerves must be getting irritated.

Get those whole body pictures ( including your lower back/pelvis) and we ll help you some more.

Kostas

Thanks for the help, Kostas. I can get some pictures up tonight or tomorrow. How close up do you need the pictures?

As close as possible without cutting part of your spine/pelvis.

In the meantime, do you suggect a visit to the doctor or continued ice and ibuprofen? Been icing a little while already with minimal results. I was leaning towards another doctors visit.

Ice and ibuprofen wont do much here. Anti-inflammatories work when you have an acute injury, like falling down or tearing a muscle. You have a chronic situation so they wont work. They might make you feel better for 30 minutes, and then the situation will return to its original status.

If you feel like you dont understand what your problem is, and after searching for answers, you still dont got a good answer, definitely vist a doctor, preferably a good PT or sports therapist. At the end of the day, no doctor is going to spend the necesary time to teach you how to solve the issue without having to spend a TON of money. You are probably going to have to do some investigating like you do here on the site.

Kostas

Ended up going to the doctor. Couldn't get to my PCP but the RN I saw is a personal trainer as well. It sounded to her like tendonitis in my arm and not a issue with my rotator cuff because I don't get pain when turning my arm back and forth. She said its pretty common. This was most likely caused by the constant plank to pushups I was doing in PT for my IT band. Aka overuse injury.

Her suggestion was try to avoid pushing movements, take aleve twice a day, ice for 20 minutes after my workouts, and then heat other times of the day. She said it could take a couple months to fully heal.

Any other advice? Has anyone else experienced this issue before?

I will try to get those pictures for you too.