Shoulder report
I finally got in to see the specialist yesterday. Several people posted comments or PMs to my post regarding this topic, so I thought I would give some follow up.
I am happy to report that there seems to be no tear in the cuff, but there may be a small bone spur that is causing pain. Additionally I have a loose joint (not a Cheech and Chong reference). Apparently, my training has not included enough upper body work, and the muscles that stabilize the shoulder joint are doing a sub-standard job.
I have been given a prescription for some sort of anti-inflamatory (said to be much stronger than Ibuprofen), and a battery of exercises. I worked up some pretty good soreness yesterday doing these things. This muscle soreness demonstrates 2 things to me: The exercises are strengthening the muscles, and I have weak-ass shoulders (un-weighted exercises induce soreness).
I also added a range of motion exercise of my own (actually it is not *mine*, but I decided to add it to my therapy). This looks really neat, but was surprisingly easy for me to do. I say easy because I could actually do it, doing it more than a few times while maintaining balance and form is challenging.
Hopefully, all will be well in 4-6 weeks unless the spur is worse than the images show. If they are, my doctor suggests injections. I am praying that it does not come to that!
Good news
That's as good a report as you can hope to get. I do think we (cyclists) don't focus enough on upper body exercises. Steve Kaspar is always telling me to do more dips, pull-ups, push-ups, etc. Anything that tones and conditions the upper body will make you stronger in the later stages of a race or any harder effort on the bike.
I'm doing upper body stuff several times a week. My right shoulder is still a little behind, but it's coming around.
Good luck.
Thanks!
I need to start practicing that. That's a pretty intense move. I'm in a little different postition than you roadies in that I take constant hard abuse to my upper body on the trails. Not saying that upper body strength isn't as important for you, but it's super important for me, especially when it comes to the 6 hour off road races. I've been doing consitant push ups for about 6 months, and recently installed a pull up bar on my bedroom door. It's helping, no doubt...