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I've been going to Six Physio for almost two months. 300 pounds later and my shoulders still uncomfortable.

Is that normal for shoulders? If not, can you recommend someone else in London? I figure they've either misdiagnosed or I'm not doing the exercises properly (in which case my diligence and discipline are possibly hurting me and the instructions haven't been clear enough).

UncleverName saidI've been going to Six Physio for almost two months. 300 pounds later and my shoulders still uncomfortable.

Is that normal for shoulders? If not, can you recommend someone else in London? I figure they've either misdiagnosed or I'm not doing the exercises properly (in which case my diligence and discipline are possibly hurting me and the instructions haven't been clear enough).

Sounds like they have the same fcn as a physical therapist here in the states. Clearly I do not know your full story; however, if you have yet to see some improvement with your physiotherapist over "x" amount of time...then it is time for you to go see an orthopaedic surgeon (I'm biased, but it's the best specialty on earth...lol) or a physician well versed in sports medicine (or your equivalent across the pond) .

Only problem is I'm not sure how your healthcare system works.

Few questions for ya:
1. Initial reason for going to phsyiotherapist?
2. Did he/she give you a timeline as to when you should expect recovery?
3. Have YOU been following their instructions (i.e. NOT working out if told to take it easy)?
4. Any previous injuries to that shoulder?

best of luck to ya!

orthojock wrote:Few questions for ya:
1. Initial reason for going to phsyiotherapist?
2. Did he/she give you a timeline as to when you should expect recovery?
3. Have YOU been following their instructions (i.e. NOT working out if told to take it easy)?
4. Any previous injuries to that shoulder?

Thanks for the reply!

1) Initial reason for Physio: I've had shoulder problems in the past, so I was trying to strengthen my rotator cuff. While trying to up the weight from 5kg to 6 on a weight stack, doing external rotation on my right side, my right shoulder hurt, a lot, and wouldn't allow me to do that exercise, with any weight, any more. I probably can now, but not that day and unlikely with more weight.

2) No timeline mentioned. I've been told to be patient and that it will take time to correct my movement patterns, which caused the problems, but I think they think that the pain shouldn't be there. Now I have inflammation along my shoulder blades on my back, random numbness down my right arm, and aching in my right arm when I wake up sometimes, or when I'm going to sleep.

3) I've been doing my best to follow their instructions. Only exercise I've been doing is cycling to work, on a flat road, for 20 minutes. Well, that and the physio exercises. I believe I'm doing the physio exercises correctly, once a day, every day, but am not sure about the correctness.

4) My shoulder has given me problems in one form or another for years. My pec minor muscles are too strong / tight, and round my shoulders forward. No amount of stretching has corrected this yet, and massage / active release hasn't seemed to help things much either. I think this causes / caused my rhomboids to get tired and tight and not do their job properly. Which I think has led to other muscles getting recruited just to hold me up.

I don't really know what an orthopaedic surgeon does. If they are mostly just for surgery, then that's an option, but I don't know if I'm ready for that. I'd like to get an MRI first and figure out what the underlying problem is. I'm also concerned that the underlying problem is related to hip problems I have, or the tightness in my chest, meaning surgery won't help too much after the initial pain is dealt with.

Thanks again for the reply. I will do some research on Orthopaedic surgeons here, and/or doctors well versed in sports medicine.

I'm not a doctor, so I won't try and diagnose your problem for you, but I will tell you about my experience with shoulder problems:

About 8 years ago, I injured my rotator cuff and couldn't workout for three years! I went to a physiotherapist, a sports medicine doctor and physical therapist. I even sought relief with massage and accupressure. Nothing worked. But this trainer at my gym told me he could help me and since he had already helped me with my back after doctors couldn't, I let him. He immediately put me back to doing pretty much the standard shoulder workouts, except he had me using 3 pound dumbbells! It was humiliating but I stuck with it. I was doing very high 15 reps. Week by week I was able to increase the weight in small increments. It only took a couple of months before my shoulder was back to (almost) normal. After that kind of layoff, I became very hypersensitive to anything that might possibly injure my shoulder again and I remain that way today. The reason he started me on 3 pound dumbbells is because that was the only weight I could lift without feeling pain.