Rehab from Torn Labrum in Shoulder: First Day.

Excited because today I get to do resistance work!!!
Going to start out conservative, going to work on scapular stability.  I should point out that I'm not just working on recovering from a torn labrum, but I'm also working with damaged rotator cuff and various back muscles.

On a related note, I've realized what I'm doing is broader than just treating a torn laburm. Through this process I've found out that I have an injured rotator cuff as well. There are a lot of people out there that might benefit from avoiding surgery to repair their rotator cuff, so I'm going to make it easier for them to find some of these videos.  A torn labrum and damaged rotator cuff go hand in hand, actually. This might be one reason why surgery repairing a labrum only might be ineffective in relieving pain, it might be only a partial repair. Plus, if you have poor mechanics you're just going to tear it again.

Anyway back to my protocol for scapular stabilization.  My rehab will go through three different phases. First is endurance, second is range of motion/strength, and the third is speed strength.  Endurance will get those stabilizers back to strength, so I will develop proper mechanics. Then I can work on strength, like bench press. And after that has been worked some then I can work on explosiveness, like in Olympic lifts and sprinting.

Here is the document describing the exercises I'm doing for phase one. I'm planning on doing only 2 sets for the first two times, and after that bump it up to three. Also, I'm doing these every other day, adding weight bit by bit. Hopefully I can move on to phase two in two to three weeks, depending on how I'm feeling.

Ear Problem Solved??!!?!?!

Since High school, I’ve experienced discomfort with my left ear.  Not the outside, actual ear, but inside, like my eardrum.  I’ve always felt like there’s too much pressure in that ear.  In Ms. Sutton’s pre-calculus I was stretching my neck, trying to release the tension that I was feeling.  I pulled my head toward my right shoulder a little and I hear a “crack”, and felt some immediate relief.  That was the beginning of a 17 year habit of cracking my neck.  I always experienced a sensation of whatever muscle that was too tight in my ear relaxing.  I would also try swallowing, trying to get my left ear to decompress, it was a very subtle, but very constant nuisance. 

Today, instinctively I started pinching my neck, the part right under the jawbone, kind of near the glands Drs feel to see if you’re sick. I felt some asymmetry, some kind of lump on the left side. Pressed on it thinking it was a knot of muscle that needed to be released. I did not get a release I got something... different.  With a loud “crunch” I felt something give.  It felt like I put something back into place, or absolutely destroyed something.  I freaked out a little because of the severity of the crunch and its proximity to my voicebox. It was like I had destroyed a thin, airy wafer in my neck and I was worried I had hurt myself.

I said something and sounded fine, so I calmed down and realized that  whatever it was that was bothering me had disappeared. I felt the left side of my sinuses clear up a little. I feel my left ear open up a little (it itches some now as I type this), and when I swallow both sides feel the same, the same blessed feeling of normalcy.

This is awesome.  Besides the pain in my shoulder this discomfort in the ear was a major factor I decided to get the treatment. I don’t know if this was just a temporary fix, but it feels way better than it has in over a decade and it’s lasted for about an hour as I type this, much longer than any other treatment I’ve had. Perhaps this will be permanent, that would be amazing.