A
Aerolift
New Member
- Apr 1, 2024
- 3
- 1
Hey everyone, first post and really desperate for some help.
I'll try to be as succinct as possible since so much has happened and I want to respect everyone's time. I know being a newb and coming in expecting a lot is a tall order, but you'd really be helping me out if you can.
I've been living a nightmare for pretty much the past three years. I used to lift heavy for well over a decade; at my best, I've barbell rowed 405 for reps, 600 on the dead for a single, incline dumbbell press 130s for 6, etc. I've undoubtedly trained hard, but never reckless. At my biggest I was 280 at 6'3. I'm not young, but not quite old, either.
One day back in 2021 I was doing some very light warm-ups on the Hoist machine bench and felt the ever-slightest pinch on the posterior side of my left delt. I ignored it, as you do, but in time it became too much so I went to the doctor, a decision that might just end up being the biggest mistake of my life.
Long story short, I've had two shoulder surgeries---the first was a rotator cuff repair of the supraspinatus and the subscapularis, along with a biceps tenodesis. This yielded zero results in the pain relief department and left me with nothing but a weird looking bicep. The second doctor performed a SLAP repair and it also did nothing to fix the pain; it hurt in the same place it always had and in the same way. But immediately after this second operation my neck started absolutely killing me. I thought it was the sling, and it would get better once I was out of it, but I was very much mistaken.
I ended up going to the shoulder surgeon with the best reputation in my state and he says the problem is coming from my neck, and he wouldn't have operated on me in the first place. So I start going to neck specialists who tell me that my neck is normal for a man my age and for as much as I've lifted it actually looks really good. I'm completely lost because I'm now in pain management and worse than ever with neck pain that might drive me to the end---it gets so bad I can't see straight sometimes and my career, which is a pretty serious profession, is over unless I can get help. I've had basically every image: MRIs, X-rays of my entire spine and left shoulder.
In my travels I've learned there are basically two (well three) types of surgeons: orthopedic shoulder surgeons who focus on the rotator cuff, and neurosurgeons (orthopedics can specialize here as well) who work the spine. The problem is I think I might have torn something obscure: a rhomboid, trapezius, levator scapulae, etc. This is pretty much a medical black hole, and I can find nothing about doctors or really anyone who does repairs or even how to get some imaging to get a diagnosis. All I know is something is undoubtedly very wrong. I'm not a hypochondriac or the victim of a Munchausen's by proxy mother, so it isn't in my head. In the last couple months, I've started slowly losing sensation in the left side of my body; it's terrifying and getting anyone to give a damn is getting very difficult. I have no symptoms consistent with a brain tumor, so that's likely not it.
My question: Have any of you ever torn a back or neck muscle and been able to find someone to do something about it? If so, do you have the name for a doctor? What about specialized imaging? Were they able to see your problem and get you a diagnosis? What kind of doctor do you think can help, and where? Nobody here really knows about weightlifters and how we push ourselves, somebody who understands that we can get injured in atypical ways is going to be a must. I'll travel just about anywhere.
Thank you.
I'll try to be as succinct as possible since so much has happened and I want to respect everyone's time. I know being a newb and coming in expecting a lot is a tall order, but you'd really be helping me out if you can.
I've been living a nightmare for pretty much the past three years. I used to lift heavy for well over a decade; at my best, I've barbell rowed 405 for reps, 600 on the dead for a single, incline dumbbell press 130s for 6, etc. I've undoubtedly trained hard, but never reckless. At my biggest I was 280 at 6'3. I'm not young, but not quite old, either.
One day back in 2021 I was doing some very light warm-ups on the Hoist machine bench and felt the ever-slightest pinch on the posterior side of my left delt. I ignored it, as you do, but in time it became too much so I went to the doctor, a decision that might just end up being the biggest mistake of my life.
Long story short, I've had two shoulder surgeries---the first was a rotator cuff repair of the supraspinatus and the subscapularis, along with a biceps tenodesis. This yielded zero results in the pain relief department and left me with nothing but a weird looking bicep. The second doctor performed a SLAP repair and it also did nothing to fix the pain; it hurt in the same place it always had and in the same way. But immediately after this second operation my neck started absolutely killing me. I thought it was the sling, and it would get better once I was out of it, but I was very much mistaken.
I ended up going to the shoulder surgeon with the best reputation in my state and he says the problem is coming from my neck, and he wouldn't have operated on me in the first place. So I start going to neck specialists who tell me that my neck is normal for a man my age and for as much as I've lifted it actually looks really good. I'm completely lost because I'm now in pain management and worse than ever with neck pain that might drive me to the end---it gets so bad I can't see straight sometimes and my career, which is a pretty serious profession, is over unless I can get help. I've had basically every image: MRIs, X-rays of my entire spine and left shoulder.
In my travels I've learned there are basically two (well three) types of surgeons: orthopedic shoulder surgeons who focus on the rotator cuff, and neurosurgeons (orthopedics can specialize here as well) who work the spine. The problem is I think I might have torn something obscure: a rhomboid, trapezius, levator scapulae, etc. This is pretty much a medical black hole, and I can find nothing about doctors or really anyone who does repairs or even how to get some imaging to get a diagnosis. All I know is something is undoubtedly very wrong. I'm not a hypochondriac or the victim of a Munchausen's by proxy mother, so it isn't in my head. In the last couple months, I've started slowly losing sensation in the left side of my body; it's terrifying and getting anyone to give a damn is getting very difficult. I have no symptoms consistent with a brain tumor, so that's likely not it.
My question: Have any of you ever torn a back or neck muscle and been able to find someone to do something about it? If so, do you have the name for a doctor? What about specialized imaging? Were they able to see your problem and get you a diagnosis? What kind of doctor do you think can help, and where? Nobody here really knows about weightlifters and how we push ourselves, somebody who understands that we can get injured in atypical ways is going to be a must. I'll travel just about anywhere.
Thank you.
