Shoulder impingement? Any help?

[LeontineFrance]

At present I am suffering with shoulder impingement and it really hurts a lot of the time. Gained through too much sport. Has anyone else had this and how did they get over it? Hate having to swallow endless paracetamol and find it hard to sleep because of pain. Any help, please? Thanks.

Physio is your friend.

Physio, bespoke exercises, possibly steroids & potentially scan to check for calcium deposit build up ( causes irritation but can be removed)
It's so painful 😖

Physio. I went private a few years ago because the GP wouldn't refer me but you can self refer for it here now. With manipulation and exercises it healed fairly quickly.

Physio and acupuncture

Physio.

In a nutshell...(in the words of my county council HR physio)...

Stick your tits out.

That was it.

Pull shoulders back and down. Find a way to sleep with a pillow that means the shoulders aren't pulled forwards and hunched.

I also bought a shoulder brace thing from Amazon that helped.

Take ibuprofen instead of or as well as paracetamol , it worked much better for me . I had mine operated on and huge lumps chopped off ( both shoulders) as I basically had very limited movement but I don’t think they do it anymore on the NHS .

I suffered with this for 5 years along with calcific tendonitis.
I had months of physio, followed by two rounds of steroid injections, and barbotage for the calcium which was unsuccessful. I just had subacromial decompression surgery a couple weeks ago. I have to follow up with a few months of physio but the surgery itself was a success and I already have more movement than before surgery.
The first step is physio.

Physio and guided steroid injection

I have been seeing an osteopath privately for about 6 weeks for shoulder and upper arm pain. Very painful and cannot raise my arm above half way. She says I have an impingement. Gave me excercise to stop it going into frozen shoulder. Last week she said I needed to see GP as no improvement. He sent me for MRI. I’m awaiting results. I can self refer to musculoskeletal clinic. I have found 10% ibruprofen gel to be a little helpful. 3 times a day.

Worked for me, especially overhead press & cat wave exercise.

The MRI was to see if there is a bone spur.

Brilliant. Thank you so much everyone.

Physio & cortisone injections not successful so had subacromial decompression 4 years ago and been pain free ever since, I’ve actually got better range in that shoulder than the problem free one 😁

Just wondering if you’ve had any relief yet OP? Anything that’s helped so far?
Ive just had this diagnosed (awaiting physio referral) & the pain is so bad. Shooting pains down into my elbow & wrist too.

I had shoulder impingement and early degeneration of the joint (arthritis), had to stop swimming and did physio exercises at home which worked but took quite a while. I then started strength training with dumbbells & it's much better. I never returned to swimming as I think the repetitive movement could possibly just set it off but if I keep building the strength I might try again.

There is a guy on Instagram called Tom Morrison who does something called the Simplistic Mobility Method. He is well worth a follow. But you defo need physio and ibuprofen gel. Then Reformer Pilates. I still can’t get my arm right up my back but it’s still improving bit by bit.

Don't suppose you happen to have a link to some exercises?

@Myteasgonecoldiknow sorry it was a few years ago and I can't seem to find it. I'll try describing them, they're pretty basic...standing in front of a wall you slide your are up and down slowly and repeat. The second one was sitting at a right angle to a table/desk resting your elbow on the table, you lift your hand/forearm up and down in a pivot movement, yo can add a light weight when able. Not sure that's the best description but these were the 2 the physio gave me to do at home. They're very gentle and as I said after a few months, i started doing strength training (via you tube) with light weights and it's gradually improved (e.g. shoulder press, etc). I had a scan which detected the degeneration and early arthritis and the consultant agreed that long term strength training would be beneficial but to start gently.

Many thanks! Good to know they helped x