Health/exercise

When I visited adrian_turtle a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned my intermittent but recurring shoulder problem, which I'd not had looked at because I didn't want to deal with possible surgery. She recommended that I see my doctor, to see if physical therapy would do me any good.

I have seen the doctor. She asked me to describe the problem, and then moved my arm in a variety of ways. Her conclusion is that I have a good enough "range of motion" that physical therapy wouldn't help. I am to take ibuprofen for the next week, and see if that helps. Yes, I pointed out that this is an intermittent problem, and thus that it's hard to know whether it's gotten better.

She also asked me whether I exercise, and when I said yes, asked for details. The result:she wants me to do a week of doing the bicep and tricep exercises with no weight at all, and then I can go back to half the weight I was using, and (though she seemed unhappy about this) back up to the full amount gradually. Once I go back to using weights, I'm supposed to stretch before doing them, and ice my right shoulder afterwards. (Yes, an hour or two later is okay, it doesn't have to be immediate/at the gym.) If I can't find a good stretch, I can use the exercise with no weight as a warmup.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to ask about the lateral raises, which are specifically a shoulder exercise, while I was at the doctor. (I'm thinking not that this doesn't apply to them, but that re-adding weight may be iffier there.) She did not say "all upper body exercises," however, but specifically mentioned biceps and triceps.

One thing I'm considering is doing the bicep and tricep motion-without-weights at home, on the days alternate from gym days, rather than at the gym.

Health/exercise

When I visited adrian_turtle a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned my intermittent but recurring shoulder problem, which I'd not had looked at because I didn't want to deal with possible surgery. She recommended that I see my doctor, to see if physical therapy would do me any good.

I have seen the doctor. She asked me to describe the problem, and then moved my arm in a variety of ways. Her conclusion is that I have a good enough "range of motion" that physical therapy wouldn't help. I am to take ibuprofen for the next week, and see if that helps. Yes, I pointed out that this is an intermittent problem, and thus that it's hard to know whether it's gotten better.

She also asked me whether I exercise, and when I said yes, asked for details. The result:she wants me to do a week of doing the bicep and tricep exercises with no weight at all, and then I can go back to half the weight I was using, and (though she seemed unhappy about this) back up to the full amount gradually. Once I go back to using weights, I'm supposed to stretch before doing them, and ice my right shoulder afterwards. (Yes, an hour or two later is okay, it doesn't have to be immediate/at the gym.) If I can't find a good stretch, I can use the exercise with no weight as a warmup.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to ask about the lateral raises, which are specifically a shoulder exercise, while I was at the doctor. (I'm thinking not that this doesn't apply to them, but that re-adding weight may be iffier there.) She did not say "all upper body exercises," however, but specifically mentioned biceps and triceps.

One thing I'm considering is doing the bicep and tricep motion-without-weights at home, on the days alternate from gym days, rather than at the gym.