bbgonnabe’s BodyBlog

Well, two weeks ago I over did it accidentally and now have a setback. As part of my rehab exercises, I do front delt raises with really low weight for 15-20 reps. I had reached a whopping 3lb so it was time to move up to 4lb. The 4lb-ers were missing at my gym so I went up to 5lb and started at 15 reps. Anyway, that set my shoulder off. I switched to 3lb again. However, my shoulder bothered me into last week and finally I could not do ANY of my rehab exercises (around 8 different ones).

I saw the orthopaedic surgeon today. He told me to start anti-inflammatories and not resume rehab exercises until next week. Fortunately, it’s just an inflammatory issue. Nothing is torn.

He did confirm my worst suspicions though. It’s going to take months to regain strength, particulary in my bicep. He said muscles that are immobilized for just a few days atrophy a great deal. To give you an idea of how much strength I’ve lost, I’m only able to do 7.5 or 10lb (on the Life Fitness cable machine) per arm on straight arm pushdowns, tricep pushdowns and cable curls. That’s after two months of physical therapy.

On another front, I discussed a medication change with one of my specialists. One of the medications for my chronic, disabling condition causes weight gain and slows one’s metabolism by up to 15%. When I was started on it, I gained 40lb in two months. Doc feels it is too risky to make a change right now but will review it in a couple of months. There is only one other medication left that I can try.  It is weight-gain neutral!  Then the only issues will be whether it works and how bad the side effects, if any, are.