having just wandering into this room from gen dis, it's fairly clear lots of peeps here know what they are talking about
so here's the problem

after several dislocations of my shoulders (both of them) and having recovered from a fairly shattering car accident (most of the bones on the right hand side of my body were broken from shoulder blade to heel as well as my back in 2 places) it's ben a bit difficult for me to get "fit"

my main problem tends to be in the shoulder area, i just can't lift heavy without loads of pain
in fact, it's a problem trying to undo nuts and stuff because even though i can probably exert enough force to do the job, the shoulders are the limiting factor

i can't lift huge amounts because of my back and have tried doing chins up, but they don't tend to help as i get aches in the actual shoulder joints, not the mucsles the bones themselves tend to hurt and sting after a while and then it takes a few days for them to quieten down ebfore i can do any more, so obviously i can't keep to a routine

so, what do i do?

is it a lost cause?
do i stick with just doing cadiovascular stuff (i can't run for long distances because both my knees are in a similar way to my shoulders) and get that lean toned look or is there a way to get bulked up so that the bones don't cause as many problems?

help please

 

you could try working your shoulders with very small weights to begin with
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/animalpak36.htm try some of these with small weights

 

 

a friend of mine suffered a dislocated shoulder and he's very much into body building. To get back into it he took up pilates (i think thats what its called) its basically a big rubber band and you use it as resistance training. Worth a google.

 

the problems have really got worse since i started using one of these

http://www.totalgymdirect.com/

is the extra effort causing the problems do you think?

 

I think its probaly best if you stick with your cardio and come down to very light weight on your shoulders and go from there. It may be that you'll never be able to train without pain after such a big accident. Did you go through physio?

 

i was a vegetable for 10 or 11 days in charing cross
they were going to turn the machine off after the first day (fractured my skull in about 27 places and had brain fluid leaking out apparently, thats why i wear a hat all the time because me heads deformed )
came out of the coma but they kept me under so i oculd heal up properly
3 months later they took me out
was in a body cast for around 6 months and wheelchair bound for about a year because i couldn't feel below my waist
all in all it took about 15 months from accident to coming out of hospital, transfered to west mid after i was mobile, and then about 3 months to be able to walk properly after that
lots of pyhsico, normally involving lots of hot water and fingers being poked into the flesh
lost loads of flexibility , obviously, in my back (can't touch my toes now but i was very flexiable when i was younger, used to do full contact kick boxing until the accident) and i can't touch my fingers behind my back if my right arm is above my head, but i can do it if my left shoulder is above my head.
and my knees tend to click and sometimes i can't straighten my legs after i've been sitting down for a while

other than that, i'm fine

i used to do a lot of shrugs with about 10 kgs either side just so i could get a bit of movement into the shoulders, but now i find that if i do that i can feel little clicks in the shoulders so i stopped

the only reason i bought the total gym was that i could do lots of reps but without struggling with lots of wieghts
the problem is that the total gym wieghs a lot more than i was expecting and it's a bit of contorting to get it out and set up, and everything involves lifting bits of it at semi full reach, which i just can't do any more

cheers for the replies though, it gives me a bit more confidence to try out new ways to get more mobiity

 

ouch. Well seen as you pulled through that lot you know the deal. I'll take hellish amounts of time to see any improvement from a once injured part of the body. Seen as you pretty much injured your whole body then your going to have to be very patient. As mobilty seems to be an issue then some of the things suggested above will be a great idea,such as pilates and yoga,yeah i know that stuff may sound a bit girly but its proven to work.
Swimming is seen to be a good way of excercising and even works well with people who have existing problems.
Keep at it,you'll get the results you want eventually

 

girly excersing it is then