If it is just “very slight pain,” then
I would go ahead and paddle, just taking it a bit easy while sorting out what makes a difference. I have often kayaked and canoed with “very slight pain” in one or the other shoulder, and my experience has been that healing can still proceed. It is activities that either give you an immediate jolt of strong pain, or that leave you very stiff and sore the next day, that should be avoided.
I injured my left rotator cuff a year ago, but I found that paddling motions caused only minor twinges, for example during cross-strokes, and that paddling did not worsen the motion limitations (lifting straight up, for example) I experienced off the water. I did not bother with PT. I worked with PTs in research for years, and I find they are quite variable in their ability to diagnose a problem and treat it. I did take a modest dose of 2 to 3 Aleve a day throughout.
Now my left shoulder is working normally in all motions except scratching my upper back. I had been warned that the rotator cuff has a mediocre blood supply and does not heal without surgery, but that now seems not to be the case.
So, again, I say go ahead and paddle. Back off if the minor pain accelerates, but otherwise just take ibuprofen or naproxen regularly, and do what you want.
**Physical Therapist ***
Look around for a physical therapist who specializes in shoulder injuries.
My doctor was useless regarding a shoulder injury.
Nobody here can guess what the problem is until you have it carefully examined and the different range of motions without and with pain noted. An expert can decide if you have serious damage and if not what exercises will stretch or strengthen what you need to adjust to stop the pain. Continuing to do something while it hurts is usually a bad sign. Physical therapy can usually take care of problems without cortisone injections.
Not to hyjack, but would using a GP
help the OP (and me) lessen the risk of shoulder injury? I have been using a large face Cannon paddle on my SOTs and sit in’s and while great for speed, after a 10 miler, my shoulder gets a little tender. I’m a sit up straight up or vertical paddler (paddle close to side) and wonder if this style will increase problems?
Greenland Paddle
My 59 year old joints are much happier now that I’ve switched to a Greenland stick. However, I would definitely see a good physical therapist. They have a better understanding of the musculoskeletal system than many MDs, and can often quickly figure out what’s going on. I’ve had a number of shoulder (rotator cuff) problems over the years, and PT has kept me in the game. At this point, I have a well-designed home exercise program, and it’s kept me from getting new injuries.
Thanks
to all for sharing your experiences. It seems that pacience, rest and PT will be better meds than cortizone. I’ll hold the shot and ask my doc for physiotherapy instead.
Thanks again & happy paddling,
Emilio
shoulder
I’m 54 and developed a “frozen shoulder” a couple of years ago, for reasons unsure. I probably injured my shoulder lifting weights at the Y, but the problem didn’t show up until a couple of weeks later. My shoulders became very stiff and hard to move, and it was very painful if I made quick or jerky movements. After several months of putting up with the pain, I went to a physical therapist for about 6 weeks until I spent all of the money in my health savings account. The therapy seemed to help for a while but then my shoulders got worse. Then I went to a doctor and got a cortisone shot, which helped a little but was no magic cure.
After that, I quit getting treatments. I continued doing stretches that the therapist had showed me, however, and my shoulder gradually got better. I wasn’t paddling during the time this happened. Last spring I started paddling, and my initial fear was that paddling might make my shoulder injury recur. I have been careful to use proper paddling techniques – that is, torso rotation and keeping my arms low – and paddling hasn’t seemed to bother my shoulders so far. I paddled twice weekly all summer long, and my frozen shoulder problems didn’t recur. I did notice that my shoulders were sore after a few weekends when I did a lot of paddling, but I was careful to stretch whenever I noticed that. I’m keeping my fingers crossed because I sure like paddling.
Cortisone was useless for me
I posted some long msgs about my bouts of injuries within the last year+.
To answer your question briefly, the cortisone shot that a shoulder specialist gave me did basically nothing. The physical therapy and home exercises, OTOH, were very helpful. Good enough for me to resume paddling after I had regained some strength and mobility. I am still leaning toward having surgery to make a full recovery, though–or at least as good as can be attained. The joint still has a slight “catch” in it sometimes.
You should see a doctor to start with, and go to a shoulder doctor if your regular doc doesn’t offer any solid advice (mine did not). Most likely the shoulder doc will recommend PT, though he might give you a cortisone shot also.
“shoulder” covers a lot of ground
Professional diagnosis will be very helpful to figure out exactly what is wrong. The rotator cuff, for example, consists of four distinct muscles. Which one is it, or is it the RC at all? Could be something else.
Your insurance situation may have a bearing. Your medical professional is likely to want a CAT scan or MRI and neither of those is cheap. But without proper diagnosis, you’ll have no idea whether you end up aggravating your injury, and you can significantly worsen your prospect of recovery. If paddling is important to you, spend the money.
Some RC injuries are best treated with surgery, but if you have a choice try PT first.
Just amateur advice–take it for what it’s worth.
~~Chip
My HMO required me to get 6 weeks of
PT before they would authorize an MRI. This seemed tremendously stupid, because a PT is more likely to do good work if s/he knows something objective about the nature of the injury. The hangup seems to be not the cost of the MRI itself, but the amount charged by some “expert” to read and interpret it.
I was told to do PT before getting MRI
I don’t know if it was an insurance requirement; it was my shoulder doc’s recommendation based on his physical examination of the injury (I still had reasonable strength).
He did agree to let me get an MRI after the first 3 or 4 weeks of PT, more for my peace of mind than anything else. He didn’t think there was a full tear of the rotator cuff (which the MRI confirmed). Originally I had wanted an MRI before doing PT because I was afraid of doing further damage. However, I not only had rotator cuff impingement but was “unfreezing” a frozen shoulder (which happened in the aftermath of a rib/chest injury). The shoulder doc said that whenever there is frozen shoulder, PT has to be completed before surgery can do any good.
Get professional advice.
I agree with what others have said here. You need to find out specifically what the problem is. That might involve getting an MRI.
I injured my shoulder trying to pitch fastballs to my Son’s little league team for batting practice. Guess I forgot that I’m too old for that sort of thing anymore. I went to my doctor and he said that the tendens in my shoulder had been pulled (he didn’t think that I had torn my rotator cuff, so no MRI prescribed), and it would take approx 6 months to heal. It’s been 4 months, and I still have pain. However I can tell it is healing as the pain is dimishing over time. The only advice given to me was to start lifting weights in order to stengthen my shoulder. Anyway, this is just one example of how long it might take for your shoulder to heal.
In any case, I wish you the best of luck and hope you heal up soon.
Shoulder woes
among paddlers (and other athletes) are pretty common, so if you live in a large community, you should be able to find a PT with lots of experience in this area. I go to a sports PT with whom I’ve cultivated a good relationship over the years and I trust her clinical diagnostic skills.
Find a good PT and keep him/her, because if you are athletic you will need to go back when other body parts break down!
I like PT’s because they cannot drug you or cut you.
One recommendation based on my own shoulder saga: tai chi is an excellent maintenance tool for the shoulder. The slow, circular movements maintain your range of motion and provide good self-diagnosis: you get to know every pop, click, and twinge in your joints and muscles. After a long paddle, particularly on a multi-day trip, I set aside time for tai chi. Great results so far.
shoulder problems
Wow how I can relate to that. Tore my rotor cuff and lost it because i did not get medical treatment just kept going. Finnally having so much pain I went to a very good orthopedic surgeon and found out my rotator cuff disinergrated and had to be replaced with a muscle graft also they had to replace the joint which was severely worn out. Yes the surgery worked but the pain is worse than before. But after numerous xrays show evertything is great. What to do?? Definatly get a really reputeable surgeon. Do all the therapy’s but get a good therapist found out mine rushed the therapy and messed up something ill let you know what after next friday how it turns out.
Even though, I still paddle too stuburn to give it up.
Different conditions
for each individual. Some of these sound like more serious injuries. But, I used to skim plaster and stucco and developed a really bad elbow problem. It was my first real joint injury and I thought it would heal in a week or two. Right? Think again. I really over worked it and it took about five years for it to heal back to maybe 90%. I could never skim like that again but over 5 years it kept healing. It used to flair up when I gave it a week or two work out but now it’s not bad.
My doctor was very conservitive and told me it can take that long.
I also injured my big toe when I was running and slammed it into a board that was sticking up out of the sand. It felt like it broke my toe and I really wanted surgery on that because it effected the my stride. Now, sevareal years later it keeps improving.
My shoulder is also starting to hurt “a little” from all this dirt I moved. 18 yards. So, now I’m making sure to give it time to heal. Even when I kayak I try not to push it for the next several months. You have to be real careful, because you don’t want to pass the point of no return for that joint, where it takes years to recover.
Lots of good advice above about supliments, exercise , and pillows! That’s funny, because I attributed some little shoulder pain from laying down.
Anyway, be careful when loading your kayak or anything else and try not to strain you injured shoulder.
Surgery worked for mine
Chronic annoying pain in my right shoulder. Paddling a few miles didn’t bother it. Did tylenol. Massage. Electric Muscle Stimulation. cold packs. Diathermy. They all helped for a bit. Finally got an MRI. Bone spurs in the joint. Got 'em whacked. Not back top paddling yet, but I only got whached two weeks ago.
Whacking was done arthrscopically. Not too bad on pain, swelling, etc. But everything that used to hurt has quit hurting.
Somowas, you convinced me to keep
my appointment.My shoulder sounds just like yours and I’m tired of it waking me up at night, not to mention ruining my overhand throw.
…
Extending the arm “out of the Box” = Bad technique!..give it rest, then start slowly but focus more on technique…then you can build up the power…but you really shouldn’t have to…
$.99
I heard bone spurs
are easily removed with minor surgery but there are a lot of other joint problems or injuries that dont’ have a quick fix. A good doctor will evaluate the exact injury and offer their best advice. You should try to be as honest as possible about the extent of the injury and the amount of pain. It’s nice to compare battle scars but go to a specialist.
I just hate to see someone learn the hard way when they could have fully rested their minor injury and made a full recovery. If it hurts stop let it heal.
There are a host of other injuries so best to see a specialist.
Unsure how to explain
2004 I discovered several tendons were torn in the left shoulder.
After reviewing the pros and cons of rotator cuff surgery I opted not to.
I had several qualified and seasoned paddlers look at my paddling style (kayak) and all noticed far to much reliance on the arms/shoulders to propell myself.
I went over to using far more torso twist and less of the pulling with the arms alone.
It’s worked (along with the hanging arm drawing circles style limbering exercise).I will NOT be leading the pack or keeping up with the fast crowd but I got the 27 miles around Grand Island here in the upper niagara last season and regularly did 15 mile workout paddles thruout the past season with no shoulder pains.
This is an area,imho,where deadening the pain medically could mask furthur stress and injury.
My doic is one of the best Ortho in
town and a jock.He says the bone spur and the bursa repair are simple surgery.Although I can paddle,I pay for it in the wee hours and I would like to be able to throw toys for the dawgs.