Physio says squats and bench are out

[ktd77]

Coach,

I went into surgery three weeks ago and had the following procedures conducted on my shoulder, subcromial decompression (bone spur removal) and resection anthroplasty (partial shaving of the clavicle) as well as fixing a slap lesion. The doctor did not know about the slap lesion until he opened me up and this involved the insertion of two anchoring screws as well has sutures.

Anyway I am stuck in a sling for another three weeks ( six in total) with very little movement allowed and having beengoing to physical therapy. The Therapist is supposedly one of the best in shoulders in my area if not the state (NSW Australia) however he is indicated once I am fully recovered benchpress will be out as well as low bar squatting due to the angle and force put on my shoulder. Obviously this news is very disturbing for me and if I knew this prior I would have given the surgery some serious thought.

Now my question is, do you or anyone have any experience with these sorts of injuries and any knowledge if there is any merit in what my therapist is saying. He has also indicated that instead of bench pressing I can do flys instead........ not interested in that at all.

I am also interested in what you say in your interview with Mr Welbourn in regards to your rotator cuff surgery and being out of a sling and pressing within eight days. Did your surgery involved any sutures and if so were you not worried that these may fail.

I hate it that I am a slave to what these so-called experts are telling me but I know no different.

Cheers

[Mark Rippetoe]

All surgery has suture, and mine had anchors in the bone similar to your labrum repair. I'd say that if your surgeon is no more confident in his repair than that, you hired the wrong surgeon. And he thinks that flyes, an isolation movement, are safer for the shoulder than presses and benches, which spread the stress of the movement over the entire shoulder musculature.

Australia must a be a primitive country. Was he wearing a loincloth during the consult?

[TTT]

Australia must a be a primitive country

not true.
we've got electricity now and 3 cars.
soon we'll have paved roads.

[Hawkpeter]

We're not quite THAT backward down here, some professionals do ride kangaroos to work and conduct consultations wearing full brim hats with pieces of cork hanging from them though. But we encounter just as many examples of silly bullshit as anywhere else, and no number of out-loud sighs and uncomfortable eye rolls seems to make any impact on it.

This site could crash the whole internet with a thread titled something like... 'Things I can do now that my Surgeon/GP/PT/Chiroquacktor said that I'd never be able to do again.' So I wouldn't lose hope on the basis of one therapists opinion.

ktd77, was it Dr Harper, Dr Herald or Dr Sherlock? I've encountered their work before in aged care rehab and in the gym I currently run and you'd be surprised what can be achieved. 3 by 5 and milk can get geriatrics walking again to the amazement of the same people who tell the family not to expect grandpa to get up out of the chair ever again. Has the super duper therapist ever benched before? What does he/she know about how to bench? He/She may not know anything and so is completely out of their depth making any recommendation on the subject.

[Chris Goodrich]

I had pretty much the same surgery on my right shoulder in September, with the exception that my labral tear was not a full blown SLAP tear and only required one anchor. After that surgery, my biceps tendon in the same arm ruptured, requiring a second surgery to attach it to my humerus in November. After some PT I returned to a linear progression and have been squatting and bench pressing since February. My worksets have reached 325 and 230 respectively at a body-weight of 205. This is still below my pre-surgery strength levels, but I continue to make progress. While there is some lingering stiffness in my shoulder, I am mostly pain free.

It took me a while to regain sufficient ROM for squats. I invested in a safety squat bar and started squatting with it a couple weeks after my surgery in November. After a lot of physical therapy I started to transition to a normal low bar squat in February. The shoulder position was extremely painful, and I initially started using a straight bar for my first few warm up sets, then transitioning to the SSB for worksets. I also did a lot of shoulder stretches trying to reestablish enough ROM to use a straight bar for all sets. My shoulder improved for a little while but then progress stalled.

Finally I had to bite the bullet and start using a straight bar for everything. I had to drop a lot of weight on my work sets and endure a lot of shoulder pain initially. After a few weeks of this my shoulder had loosened up nicely and no longer hurt, and I was able to resume a normal linear progression.

This is a rambling way of saying I think your PT is full of shit. Perhaps in some future workout my shoulder will explode and I will be proven wrong, but so far my experience shows that you can bench and squat after this kind of shoulder surgery.

[ktd77]

It's interesting to see your replies because it's basically what I thought however when I am instructed by these so-called experts that these pressing movements are out, whom am I to question this.

Like I said the PT from every account I have heard is the best shoulder guy around. He supposedly is actually in the USA currently doing lectures in regards to shoulders (not that it really means much). It is weird that he would prescribe movements that would seem to put extra stress on the shoulder and recommend discontinuing squats and bench.

It is encouraging to hear that my PT may be just basing his recommendations purely on theory from what you all are saying in regards to the real world.

Thanks for your replies and by the way Mr Rippetoe my doctor even wore a tie and drives a BMW so he must be serious

[Ian Kovtunovich]

[QUOTE=ChrisG;120209]After that surgery, my biceps tendon in the same arm ruptured, requiring a second surgery to attach it to my humerus in November.QUOTE]

Damn. What did you do to rupture it? I had a SLAP tear repaired, and was scared as hell that would happen. Shit was very painful for a long time. As I recall, my ortho's recommendation against overdoing it with that arm too soon was predicated on the possibility of re-rupture. Surgery again did not sound appealing to me.

[Mark Rippetoe]

It's interesting to see your replies because it's basically what I thought however when I am instructed by these so-called experts that these pressing movements are out, whom am I to question this.

You are the client. He is the consultant you hired. Your responsibility is to evaluate his work using your intelligence, your ability to check what he says, and your judgement. Use the SEARCH FUNCTION, because -- believe it or not -- we have discussed this before. There is a chapter about it in MOMG.

[ColoWayno]

You are the client. He is the consultant you hired.

I shudder to think about how this is changing because that is the way it should be.
I'm not sure that sentence makes sense in certain parts of the world and will probably not make sense in the US either in 20 or 30 years when the government is our parent and the doctors work for them.

[Pistol Pete]

Keep in mind that many health care professionals like to cover their ass so they can continue working as dr's and driving their beamers. The last thing he needs is you to blow up your shoulder doing a squat after he said it was fine (potential lawsuit). But hey, I'm no doctor and maybe he truly believes his advice, I'm just looking at it from another perspective. and rips statement is entirely accurate the government wont assign a surgeon to you that you have to use, you chose to use him.