T/I shoulder pain

[shawnstarr 0]

I'm a full time TI having incessant right shoulder pain. I'm only 28 but I've done over 5000 tandems I think it's my rotator cuff. I took a couple weeks off and it helped a little.
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I'd like to hear from any other TI's out there that have had this issue? Did any thing help (I.e. a brace while working or Exercises). I'm not really able to take more time off.

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'I refuse to tiptoe quitely through life
only to arrive safely at death' Anon

[Rover 9]

Considerably older and feel the pain. I take the supplement glocosamine and have done regularly for the last 2 years. It has helped me out no end.

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

[AggieDave 6]

Check with an ortho. It could just be inflamed or it could be damaged. If it is just inflamed then a cortisone pack or shot and a few days rest will really help!

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[skydiveoc 0]

Ever since I stopped doing bench press my shoulders feel better. I try and minimize toggle input till the very end!

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

You need a real diagnosis to determine treatment. I'm dealing with rotator cuff issues myself. Fortunately, the Doc says there doesn't seem to be any tearing, so I'm able to get by with being careful how I use it and doing the exercises. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid surgery. So far so good.

If there is tearing, however, what I am doing would make it worse. Different treatments, including surgery, would have to be considered.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[riggerrob 558]

Agreed!
Ask a professional sports-medicine doctor to inspect your shoulder and recommend treatment.

Three years ago, I dis-located my right shoulder during a plane crash. The worst injury was a stretched achromium-clavicular ligament, which never grew back to its original size. My right shoulder still has a "dip" where my humerus does not align with my clavicle.
I needed two different physical-therapy regimes and five months before I could return to solo skydiving. Many days I was exhausted from lifting a two-pound barbell!
It was eight months before I resumed tandems and a year before I could walk without pain.

The psychological scars forced me to retire from professional skydiving.

[koppel 3]

I have had a couple of issues over the lat 7 years. One was R-cuff. That took some suitable exercises to sort out and has been good most of the time since.

I have had a couple of whiplash injuries from hard opening tandems. One was a year ago and one was a couple of months ago. No treatment the first time around but this time regular physio and suitable exercises has meant that I feel slightly better than I did all last year. Im hoping another couple of months of this treatment will leave me doing better yet though there is the possibility that the general discomfort may never go away if it turns out it was bad enough. :(

ge the right help and be diligent in whatever treatment regime they present to you

I like my canopy...


...it lets me down.

[richwilk 2]

I had an interesting experience with shoulder pain doing tandems-8000+ and still working in the game. It got to the point that I seriously believed I would have to stop, get surgery and change my approach to working in the industry. I do have a slightly bulged disc between my shoulder blades and have muscle spasms working from time to time across under my shoulder blades. With this knowledge getting massage and chiropractor adjustments seemed to help but the problem was getting worse. The greatest problem appeared under canopy flaring and turning to the left. I got cortirzone to alleviate the pain in the shoulders as the pain was manifest in the left shoulder at the front. I eventually saw a sporys physio and apparently I had a weak small muscle up under my shoulder blade on the left side. I was given exercises and eventually after a couple of months still working and exercising, the pain disappered. In conjunction with this I worked out that the way I was sitting in the harness and flaring and turing was exascerbating the problem. As I was giving input to the canopy, I was standing up on the harness, causing pressure against my front shoulder/tendon/harness and causing what I believe was scar tissue to develop. I now sit lower in the harness and it has become a habit to give canopy input with out pressure against the harness and my shoulder. What I am saying amongst many things is seek some alternative advice through sports medicine, surgeons mean well, and surgery isn't always the best way to go. Good luck.

[VTmotoMike08 0]

nCould be a rotator cuff, or worse- labrum tear. lay on your back and roll over onto your bad shoulder. Does this hurt? Pinching? Any catching feeling during over hand motion? If the answer to any of this is yes, it could be a SLAP tear (google it). Bad news is that a labrum tear can never heal on its on due to low blood supply in the shoulder and how fast it sets down scar tissue. anyone who tells you otherwise didnt really have a slap tear or had only a small one and just built up the surrounding muscles to compensate.

Slap tear surgery recovery is 4 to 6 weeks in a sling, 3 months to decent strength, 6 months until very good strength and a full year to full recovery. Expect about 10 degress in loss of range, even with a great surgeon and excellent pt. Worse if you dont do the pt.

Im not a doctor, just a TI in month 4 of slap tear surgery recovery. pm me for more info. The reason I suspect the slap is that I also got mine from flaring tandems, athough mine was acute injury with one fat pax, and yours seems to be progressive over time. Good luck, and I hope im wrong.

[ianflips 0]

i was a springboard diver for about 13 years and now i am a USA diving coach, college diving coach, TI, and AFF. my shoulders are shot. but with daily rehab i am able to keep playing pretty hard. i am only 29 but if i don't do these very simple warm ups i would very likely have more pains of my own.

another thing to think of is you do repetitive motion only one way. you need to keep both way strong.

http://www.orthoncforms.com/forms/physical_therapy/homeex/Shoulder_Theraband.pdf

i hope this helps

[skyshimas 0]

I am close to your age 27 and had pain in my right shoulder. I found out that it was caused by me doing handy cam and spiraling down to the right all the time just to get that fun shot on a video. I stopped doing that and it helped a great deal. However I still feel my right shoulder is not the same as my left when I work out at the gym but I don't have a constant pain no more. Pay attention to what you do and hopefully your pain can subside and there is no further damage.

[captain1976 0]

Since my right shoulder was dislocated in a skydiving accident some years ago, I have suffered continuous pain to the point where reaching to change the radio station in my car hurt like hell.

I went to a chiropractor who told me to do repetitions with a 5 pound weight once a day. That seemed to reduce the pain but the movement when pulling my hacky was still painful.

I changed to a left-handed pull out and since then, I haven't had any issues.

I understand that most, or all tandem rigs give you the option to pull right or left.

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime