Shoulder Impingement

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KAT

May 13, 2008
92
0
Marc,

What do you think of impingement, what has been your experience? Do girls recover without surgery? My daughter was dx on thursday with impingement syndrome in both shoulders....we are just wondering. She starts rehab on tuesday and goes twice a week.
 
Jun 22, 2008
3,731
113
I would watch it closely to see how rehab is going. If it works, is always a better choice than surgery.

That being said, my daughter was diagnosed with impingement in her throwing shoulder. After several months of rehab and continued trouble, an MRI was finally ordered and it was discovered she had a posterior tear of her labrum, a cyst in the joint and a partial thickness tear of the rotator cuff. She is currently 2 weeks post surgery and we are hopeful for a full recovery, although statistics show only about 55% of athletes return to play at the same level as pre injury.

Like I said, keep an eye on it and see if rehab helps out or not. My daughters surgeon warned that ignoring impingement can eventually lead to a torn rotator cuff, so if rehab doesnt seem to be helping, surgery may be the only choice to correct the issue.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
Oh, shoot. A shoulder impingement ended my DD's pitching career when she was 16.

The nurse practioner at the orthopedist's office told us that he could give her a cortisone shot in the shoulder and get her through her junior and senior year. When the MD read that in the notes he said "Not in my office, you won't. You are done pitching."

She did go to rehab and was pain free when not pitching, but could not throw underhand w/o pain. Plus, she could feel the impingement.

She went to a kinesiologist to check her posture and form, but insurance didn't cover that sort of thing, so she was through.

I am a coach and I tried to get her to pitch from the slingshot, but she refused.

She played 1st base and OF and was happy.

She pitched a year later, when unfortunately our pitcher was killed in an automobile accident. She was throwing 54 mph, but still had pain.

DD is 20, now. Is done with softball and doesn't mention any shoulder pain.
 

KAT

May 13, 2008
92
0
thank you for your responses. I don't know if we should just try the rehab or try to convince the regular doctor to send to orthopedist and order an MRI to see the extent of the problem... The weird thing is this started bothering her from batting...and then got worse during pitching, spiking (volleyball)
 
Nov 2, 2008
1
0
My 12 year old also has a shoulder impingement. Her physical therapist claims it is due to bad posture and over use (softball and volleyball). The orthopedic physican claimed two to four weeks for recovery with physical therapy while the therapist said no throwing until after the first of the year. She has been going to physical therapy for a couple of weeks with some minor improvements in pain free range of motion.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
Well, I would think that she would have to have an MRI to really have a diagnosis.

She could actually have a frozen shoulder, if you haven't been to the ortho doc to find out for sure.

Does she have pain in her shoulders when she sneezes or shakes hands or jars her shoulder when jumping?

Good luck. Pains in the shoulder are right up there with childbirth.
 

FastpitchFan

Softball fan
Feb 28, 2008
465
0
Montreal, Canada
Shoulder impingement is very common. It is one of the most common injury in general. The shoulder is a fragile joint.

That's why all the stuff baseball pitchers do to stabilize their shoulders and prevent injuries is so important. You must prevent these injuries.

This is a sneaky injury and it takes a bit of time to heal. Just like any overuse injuries.

Yes, most of the time you can heal it without surgery. Shoulder impingement is like a tendonitis - inflammation. Just have to pay patient and do stuff that are pain-free. if there is pain slow down.

Most importantly - keep doing the therapy and do the rehab exercises at home!

Good Luck!

Marc
 

KAT

May 13, 2008
92
0
Re-visiting shoulder impingement after 3 months

Just to let you know how things are going. My DD has been going to PT since I first posted this. She has very shallow shoulder joints, and apparently her shoulder has been subluxing for some time. She went to PT every week without missing for these last months. About 3 weeks ago, the PT was happy, he could rotate and work her shoulders without subluxing them. She no longer feels like she has someone pulling her arms down, she would always describe it as feeling like she was carrying a heavy backpack on her shoulder and it pushing it down. She knows she will always have to do work to keep the shoulder area strong. And not heavy weights just concentrated band type weights. She had little to no problems during the basketball season and she had a breakout season so she was working hard. She did lay off batting for all this time. She went back to batting last weekend, and she had a little soreness but not bad. Went to PT the day after she batted and still no subluxing. We plan to continue her going to PT as long as the insurance will allow us. I believe we will be able to get to June before insurance runs out on her for the year. I think at that time our PT might just keep letting us pay the 25.00 payment and she will keep going, its worth it to keep her happy and healthy. Tryouts for school team start on monday. I will let you know how things progress during this season on her shoulder impingement.
 

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