MIN 

Background:
I was a car accident last June where I rear ended another car. I was fine (I thought), save for mild whiplash. Recently (coinciding with my training ramp-up) my shoulder is becoming inflammed, tight and painful. I suspect it is from the seat belt restraining my left shoulder during the impact. I've been living with mild tightness for a year now but it was never alarming. Recently, my 15-hour/week set me over the edge. Sunday, I ran 12-miles on a hilly trail and that sealed the deal as far as pain.

I saw a doctor about it and she prescribed a mild muscle relaxant and 800mg x 2/day of Ibuprofen. Still, the pain is become worse. I don't think my 3.5" saddle to bar drop helps either.

It seems the car accident was the catalyst, despite the fact that it was 11 months ago. I can't imagine what else it might be since I have not been in a physically traumatic incident like that since.

I've decided to take this entire week off from biking so see how I respond to the ibuprofen and rest.

Question:
Anyone with similar history and symptoms? How has this affected your training?
What is your experience with physical therapy? I was referred to PT and a chiropractor.

Caveat - I'm not looking for your diagnosis. I've already seen a doctor and I am starting PT this week. I just want the cyclist's perspective since my doctor doesn't train, etc.

VegaVixen

FWIW, I'd see a doc who understands what cycling requires of your shoulders in terms of stresses and strength. Maybe a sports orthopaedist?

Both my mother and my late husband had, at different times, "frozen" shoulder resulting from bursitis. They were given very specific exercises to break up the adhesions. Don't think either could have ridden a bike at that time, and running would have been far too jolting.

Good luck with it!

MIN 

Thanks for you input. I had to look up bursitis - but that seems like a reasonable description of what I'm experiencing.

https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bur...032/DSECTION=1

curiouskid55

I have bad shoulders from motorcylce and bicycle crashes. I find pain is less when I make sure and do my stretches and upper body weight training. Drugs are pretty much worthless and carry some scary side effects(liver failure). Trainig related effects -- a lot more pain when training. I just decided I'd rather be in pain on a bike than a couch. Your bar position may need to be less severe at least until you acquire the strength and flexibillity to handle it. Pay attention in PT , do what they tell you to do, then keep doing it when you quit going to PT. Also a jacuzzi is basic bike toll for me.

VegaVixen

You said you already had a diagnosis. Is this what your doc diagnosed?

MIN 

She said that she didn't know enough about muscle-skeletal issues. She deferred to her PT and chiropractor referral. HMOs for the loss.

Yoshi

I dislocated my shoulder twice and noticed a loss of strength in that shoulder, as well as an ache whenever I would carry something heavy or bike for long distances. I started doing push-ups every morning just for general fitness, and have noticed that my shoulder rarely bothers me nowadays. YMMV, but strengthening up your shoulder may help.

Markedoc

I have had bursitis in the past - at one point quite painful - that was when I was doing too much bench press and chest exercise and not enough back exercise at the gym, so the tight muscules were pulling my shoulders "forward" a little and causing some friction. Solution was PT (stretching the muscles) and doing more exercise for the back muscles.

I do find that a lot of bike time, especially the trainer where you tend to stay in one position longer, aggravates the shoulder issues since you can tend to have your shoulders forward for long periods. Again, stretching the muscles there and doing back/shoulder exercise seems to help.

skooter

I've been dealing with shoulder pain for about three years now. The thing that aggravates mine most is sleeping on it. I find that sleeping on my back for three nights corrects the damage I do by sleeping on my shoulder for just one. RE: strengthening, pull-ups and pull-overs work best for me, but the general rule is any excercise that doesn't aggravate it is a good one. I was told to be especially careful when pressing weight overhead and it's probably best to do more reps vs. doing increased weight.

Strengthening your core (back and abs) also couldn't hurt. While on the bike, try to focus on using your abs to support you and take some of the strain off the shoulder joint.

slowandsteady

You might want to slide your saddle back a bit more to take the pressure off of your upper body. There really shouldn't be much pressure at all on your shoulders.

MIN 

I agree - it may simply be the case where my arms are absorbing jolts and shocks from the pavement, however.

MIN 

Do you know if massages relieve inflammation at all? I don't know if my PT involves massage theraphy but seems like an avenue to explore.

slowandsteady

You can't be absorbing any more than I am on my lousy Jersey roads. What isn't tar and chipped is just one pothole after another. If my seat is adjusted properly I have a good 80% of my weight on my legs, core and rear end with the balance on my arms. I can pretty much let go of the handlebars and not fall forward. You may be bracing yourself too much. I rode with an injured shoulder(fell onto it from a horseback riding accident) for months with no pain whatsoever.

cyclezen

my POR based on a serious mishap 2 yrs ago which mostly destroyed my upper left side (but amazingly not my arm nor spine) from the rib cage up, but no injuries of note further south.

massage is a great thing, but I don't believe it has any *direct* benefit on connective tissue or the actual joint. massage helps relax and increase circulation within the musculature it works on. That, in turn, increase general circulation in the area. And once into the phase where improved circulation increases healing, it must aid that whole process.
It took a bit more than 4 months of 'recovery' for me to get to a point where I could even straddle the bike and support myself. Another 2 weeks of tooling around the neighborhood to get in 5-10 miles per ride.
Since then, I've tried to get a massage every 2 wks. Its a big bite out of my disposable, but well worth it.
Muscles will compensate for structural out-of-balance issues, but they eventually pay up with spasms, strains and such. Massage helps mine get a good break and allows me to 'exercise' them beyond just their supportive role, which meant, and still means, quicker 'recovery'.
2 years later I still feel very much lopsided, but much stronger and able to deal with the now inherent imbalance into which I healed.
As far as I'm concerned the work massage therapists have done for and on me has been AS or MORE important in my healing as anything done for me since the moment I was wheeled back out of ICU !

Will it help your situation? You'll only know if you give it a try. Massage therapy, a la swedish, is hardly a painful experience and a couple of sessions should clarify if it'll work for your condition. It certainly will promote general well-being and certainly does great things for the riding and legs.
best of healing

VegaVixen

Be sure to keep your elbows slightly bent when you ride, especially on rough road. This helps absorb road shock that would otherwise go straight to the shoulder joints.

2Tired2Shift

I am currently rehabbing a frozen shoulder from a crash I had last summer. Flexiril (a muscle relaxer) does almost nothing because the problem is that the shoulder case gets hardened and inflexible; it's not a muscle problem. The whole key with a frozen shoulder is to use it enough to start to break the scar tissue loose. It hurt pretty bad the first couple of weeks but is mush better now. It typically takes 12 - 18 months to totally rehab a frozen shoulder.