Q: I can’t remember if you said that you have had a rotator cuff tear or ac joint separation. If you have had either, did you have surgery for either? How long did it take you to recover from the injury/s and what was most helpful in that recovery process? Thanks : )
A: It was never MRI-ed or anything like that. It was just a complete immobility of the shoulder/arm, and two specialists, without further evaluation, determined it was all symptomatic of rotator cuff.
Being a weirdo, I did not buy into the standard complications, but kept my mind open about therapy options.
My friend had a tear, and I followed his physical therapy of moving my arm up assisted by the other arm using a yard stick.
Surprising how heavy a person’s arm can be when you’re not used to lifting nearly “dead” weight.
I did not want the socket freezing up, so I did this, I think three times a day. I did almost all of his exercises religiously, and have always done any/all physical therapy for every issue I’ve had that could respond to it (such as herniated disc).
There is no doubt in my mind that it is very helpful.
Then, and here’s where the “weirdo” part comes in, I mega-dosed with glutamine, about 20 grams a day, for almost a week.
Recovery came pretty quickly.
I dropped my poundages way down for my shoulder exercises after that, and slowed my movements way down in the execution of those exercises.
And suffered only minimal to no loss of size and strength.
For the front raises, I always keep my shoulders back as well, almost in an exaggerated fashion.
But for the lateral side raises it has always felt best not to do so, and thanks to that juice as well, I’m almost completely back to the same poundages I was using, but I remain careful, always and only doing it when I have the strength and energy to avoid injury, and I’m good.
Glutamine: It’s an amazing muscle building compliment to any protein supplement, I use a specific whey as you probably know (I promote it often). But I would also only use it medicinally briefly at those dosages, even tho apparently many people use it long-term at similar dosages for gut maintenance (or professional bodybuilding, etc). It can, for some people, cause brain fog or depression/anxiety because of the way it can react in the brain. Lots of controversy on that, and most people do fine with it, but research that part if you’re concerned, and I just wanted to mention it. When I used it for my injury, I experienced only positive results. When I used it again in the past few months at a 5 gram dose, for the first time in over a year, I was foggy for hours afterwards. I really felt it. BUT…my diet has also been extremely clean, cleaner than ever lately. I believe that is what caused the reaction.
Hope that helps…a little long-winded but certain things I just had to convey. Let me know how things turn out…………….T