Serious Fucking Deltoid Pain

OmegaBravo7

Well-known member
Trusted Member
My left deltoid is very painful. The medial/posterior deltoid. I’ve been out of the gym for almost 2 weeks and the pain has decreased but is still there when I lift my kids.

It started when I was doing dumbell incline presses. When the soreness came about I ignored it thinking it’s just muscle soreness and it’ll go away. Then the pain hit and I still tried to finish 3 more sets. Didn’t finish shit and been home ever since.

Should I rest it more or lift light? I hate being out of the gym especially in the middle of a cycle.

Meds: 1600mg ibuprofen first week, 1200mg thereafter daily
 
My left deltoid is very painful. The medial/posterior deltoid. I’ve been out of the gym for almost 2 weeks and the pain has decreased but is still there when I lift my kids.

It started when I was doing dumbell incline presses. When the soreness came about I ignored it thinking it’s just muscle soreness and it’ll go away. Then the pain hit and I still tried to finish 3 more sets. Didn’t finish shit and been home ever since.

Should I rest it more or lift light? I hate being out of the gym especially in the middle of a cycle.

Meds: 1600mg ibuprofen first week, 1200mg thereafter daily

I have no idea what is going on with your delts because mine act up all the time when I throw too many hooks onto the Mook. I usually go light when this happens and after a couple of weeks I can start to increase my load. There are other guys that can comment with far more knowledge than I can. Hopefully they will chime in.
I can comment on your meds however. 1200 mg daily is the limit you should go without seeing a doc. Good call on that. When you get into prescription doses you can go up to 3200 mg daily for a brief period of time. Not recommended due to GI problems and long term use is terrible for your kidneys. All NSAID's are crappy for your heart as well.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2596162/
 
Get it looked at. If you can't tell what the cause is you need to get in front of someone who can. Posting in this section is a great start but IMO shoulders especially can be tricky and some hands on analysis will likely save you a shit ton of time. If you need some imaging done everyday you wait to get into the queue could add who knows how much time to the potential eventual journey through specialists, surgeons, treatment and recovery.
I'd stay off it until you have it checked out but even that could be wasting some valuable time.

Best of Luck.
 
I've had a torn rotator cuff, shoulder impingement etc...

If it's a very new injury definitely rest it. Getting it looked at can never hurt. None of us are doctors. They can tell you exactly what it is.

After that I agree with @Bagua Lift lighter. Lift smarter. I find something always hurts. You can train smart to ease the strain on the shoulder and getting some quality reps in. Change in philosophy? It's going to take longer than you think to build back up the strength. But not so long that you shouldn't test yourself once a month or so. Obviously avoid exercises that aggravate it and find workarounds. There's always a way, even if you have to be unconventional.

So get some physio. They will help with some exercises you can do at home to strengthen the shoulder for lifting.
 
There are excellent posts here already, so there's not much for me to add as I do my rounds tonight.

1. Agreed, 1600mg daily is high, but okay for a short-course and pay close attention for any stomach pain or upset. When you move to 1200 daily, this is still ALOT if used for a long time. If things are not getting better by this point anyway, you need assessment, not more pain killers. Add someTylenol into the mix, it won't hurt (ofc unless you have liver problems or are doing a high dose oral cycle). Mild muscle relaxants will likely be of little-no benefit (Like methocarbamol in robaxacet), but maybe an option to trial. It won't diffuse well, especially if you have large shoulders, but topical NSAID cream (Diclofenac - Voltaren) is also a low risk strategy.

2. The rotator cuff is packed of muscles and I'd have to examine you to tell you what you hurt (Delt vs Supraspinatus vs Infraspinatus vs Tere's Minor vs Subscapularis vs Labrum or Mixed), however you feeling pain and pushing through anyways is highly suggestive of a rotator-cuff tear.. This will heal but takes more time than most things. Like most things, take a couple days off and then start light rehab (always recommend PT here!) and let your body guide how much is too much.

3. Any questions, always free to PM me. Otherwise I'll follow this thread if you have any additional questions/concerns
 
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... It won't diffuse well, especially if you have large shoulders, but topical NSAID cream (Diclofenac - Voltaren) is also a low risk strategy.

....

Still on topic I think,

I'm currently banged up (nothing too surprising if you know me) I've been using 20%Voltaren (compounded script) on my elbows for a while and so I started to use it on my latest shoulder injury too. (Rotator? LHBT? Labral tear? Injured multiple times , can't tell what's what right now, waiting on imaging)

Any precautions on extended use? other than not hurting it worse while I'm using it of course
 
My standard prescription is 10% in PLO or a Versapro base. I may add in 5% Cyclobenzeprine depending on the site and complaint.

So 20% is pretty high, but skin irritation is really the only concern here. The systemic absorption will be low enough I wouldnt worry about it unless your bathing in the stuff.

Hope you get things sorted, sounds like you already have some investigations lined up!
 
Depending on which province your in, your doctor may or may not order a MRI. X-rays don’t show soft tissue injuries. Everyone is different but I’ve learned due to age - good pain and bad pain - and when I feel that bad pain I stop immediately. It sucks when your making gains but beats a chronic sore shoulder.
I visit my doctor just to start the process so physio is covered. Off to physio and I still exercise but as odd as it seems - I stretch a lot and will do my routine with 2lbs dumbbells - if that doesn’t hurt then after two workouts I go to 5, and 10 and so on. It takes a few weeks to get back to a reasonable weight and obviously I do this at home. I’m still dealing with a knee injury and a left pec strain.
I’m not a rehab specialist but I’ve hurt myself more times than I can remember and this works well (for me) and I feel like I’m doing something. Exception - I had a serious neck and back Injury and I did absolutely zip for over a year unless approved by the surgeon.
I’m taking BPC157 twice a day 250 mg, and TB500 2 mg every three days, collagen, vitamin c, msm/chondroiten/glucosamine combo. Ostarine did absolutely nothing.

I’m a fan of topical voltaren - high dose NSAIDS are not good for the kidneys. My doctor won’t recommend for more than a month. Too many people who have been on NSAIDS for years coming back with reduced kidney function.

Good luck and sorry your injured - I think we have been all be there.
 
Just saw these replies. The pain is still there but not nearly as pronounced as it was in the beginning. I had abruptly stopped my cycle and minimized use of the arm entirely (except when my kids nag me to pick them up and carry them) for 4 weeks. I now take ibuprofen 2-3x a week 800-1200mg.

I recently started to cycle and lift again, if you can even call it that, every other day. Very limited with my motions and options, and keep the weight very light. I also can't really max out on the light weight either. But I have to admit, even keeping the weight super light my pumps are insane :LOL:. (This is by far the best anavar I've taken. It just proves my point that all labs are not created equal.) Can't do anything remotely close to lifting/pressing in an upwards motion. The worst would be incline bench. Oddly, for some reason incline dumbell presses are more painful (the worst) for my delt than any shoulder exercise including shoulder presses.
 
All great replies here btw, much thanks.

I have a question regarding the meds if anyone is informed. If I'm able to have a better workout by taking a naproxen just before the workout, is this making matters worse for me? Am I simply masking the pain and lifting atop of an injury? Or does ability to lift over the injury mean the naproxen or any other med for that matter mean it's healing my injury?

I applied voltaren over the deltoid and took a naproxen prior to workout. I was actually able to have a decent workout and lift moderate weight. Imediately afterwards I popped an aleeve. THe entire day I felt fine. I tried this 2 or 3 times but stopped in fear of 1) my body building a tolerance to the meds and 2) I may be making this worse if the meds is only masking the pain as opposed to working on healing
 
Not only is that fine, I'd even recommend it.
Naproxen/Aleive is NOT an opiate and thus will not be masking any pain. If your doing more than you should be, it will hurt and you'll know it either way. And you will not build tolerance.
 
I injured my shoulder last year. 4 months physio did nothing, so I started injecting a tb500/bcp combo into my delt 2x a day. After 3 weeks the pain was gone. I stopped using it and it returned a week later. I did another run for 4 weeks and my shoulder completely healed.

Who knows maybe it healed because it was 6 months later. I did feel the peptides helped with the inflammation at least.
 
Not only is that fine, I'd even recommend it.
Naproxen/Aleive is NOT an opiate and thus will not be masking any pain. If your doing more than you should be, it will hurt and you'll know it either way. And you will not build tolerance.
Is there long term conquences for taking Alieve every day for let’s say 6 months?
 
Could be Sorby. As with all meds there are idiosyncratic reactions with everyone and although Naproxen is one of the more well tolerated NSAID's it can damage your gut and kidneys. It also ain't so good for your cardiovascular system.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3158445/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/pain-relief-taking-nsaids-safely
Thx, I still have that nerve pinch which is easily relieved by even a small dose of Advil.
It’s almost gone but taking weeks and very aggravating. Just wears you down.
I use ruba535 with arnica and it works, actually better than voltaren but I didn’t know if it was safe to slather myself with that every 3 hours, lol.
 
I use 75mg Diclofenac in lieu of ibprofen 400. I find it gives me much better results with way less GI issues / heart burn.
Unless one of the more experienced guys can chime in and say why Diclofenac would be worse, then I would highly recommend it. You could greatly reduce your ibprofen dose.
Only con is you need a script for it, but a pharmacist can write you a diclofenac script.
 
Taking drugs is fine and all... but you need to seriously have it look at by a professional. Masking the pain and trying to tough it out will only prolong your agony. If it's been over a month and you can't even lift light.. you need professional help.

My rule of thumb is drugs is a last resort, not the only resort.

Get some physio, perhaps you need surgery. But whatever it is get a professional that deals in sports injuries.
 
I use 75mg Diclofenac in lieu of ibprofen 400. I find it gives me much better results with way less GI issues / heart burn.
Unless one of the more experienced guys can chime in and say why Diclofenac would be worse, then I would highly recommend it. You could greatly reduce your ibprofen dose.
Only con is you need a script for it, but a pharmacist can write you a diclofenac script.

Diclofenac is the worst NSAID for kidneys, heart and cardiovascular damage. There is chart floating around on the net somewhere or in my docs that list them from worse to best. I will eventually find it and post it. Your dose of 75 mg is fairly low, which is a good thing considering the use of these meds should be at the lowest effective dose possible for the shortest duration.
There is a spiel about Diclofenac in this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3338361/ and this article: https://www.emedexpert.com/compare/nsaids.shtml

I forgot about ketorolac which is a brutal kidney cruncher, but most docs won't prescribe it for more than ten days.

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safe...ng-non-aspirin-nonsteroidal-anti-inflammatory
 
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