torn rotator cuff and cannabis?

sanfranciscosadhu

sanfranciscosadhu

Well-Known Member
I had rotator cuff issues that eventually required surgery. Cannabis is moderately helpful in dealing with the pain and inflammation. That said, the most important thing is finding a good physical therapist ( I had to fire three before finding one that was worth his weight in gold!). Strengthening, stretching, resting, icing. Shoulders take time. You also need a good bodyworker (not talking about regular massage) who understands the shoulders. Using a small amount of herb before getting worked on can be quite helpful. Cannabis also helps me move and exercise easier. Whatever you learn from the PT, you need to do regularly as your new hobby, even after the shoulder improves.
Good luck!
 
CarolKing

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
I have arthritis and for me it helps loosen the muscle as well that get so tight around the inflamed joint. My feet stiffen up and makes it hard to bend my feet at times. I have good days and bad.
 
MinnBobber

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
sanfranciscosadhu said:
I had rotator cuff issues that eventually required surgery. Cannabis is moderately helpful in dealing with the pain and inflammation. That said, the most important thing is finding a good physical therapist ( I had to fire three before finding one that was worth his weight in gold!). Strengthening, stretching, resting, icing. Shoulders take time. You also need a good bodyworker (not talking about regular massage) who understands the shoulders. Using a small amount of herb before getting worked on can be quite helpful. Cannabis also helps me move and exercise easier. Whatever you learn from the PT, you need to do regularly as your new hobby, even after the shoulder improves.
Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I am so bummed out about this as I've been exercising regularly/ extensively for several years and was in superb shape (strength, cardio, etc) until a string of injuries sidetracked my program. Sprained ankle, pulled groin, lower back L4-5 protruding disc piching nerve, hand/thumb soft tissue injury forced me to stop many of my exercise classes (spin, bodypump, bodystep, ripped, etc).

I'm 65 and recently became more involved in sports tournaments. My injuries were close to being healed with my daily hand and back exercises and I was close to resuming my classes. In the last 2 years my overall physical profile has slightly decreased, lost some arm strength , some cardio, etc. Deep water exercise class has been a saving grace

I was about to register for tournaments in CO, Utah, and AZ and now THIS.
See the ortho specialist later today but very nervous. It's kind of a mental thing, like oh no,can I go thru another rehab program, I'm so tired of this. I'm worried as this has the potential to change my whole lifestyle.
rant over....
 
grokit

grokit

well-worn member
I feel you @MinnBobber, I used to jog and wind sprint and lifecycle like a madman, and do lots of push and pull ups. After multiple open knee reconstructions, a lower back diskectomy, a hernia repair and a diagnosis of degenerative cervical stenosis which causes all kinds of shoulder girdle entrapment and elbow tendonitis issues, now all I can do is walk/hike without a pack and bike outdoors but not lifecycle. I'm looking into yoga/tai chi/pilates or something like that but it can be hard to habituate into these new routines.
 
momofthegoons

momofthegoons

vapor accessory addict
I have recently been making a topical salve out of mmj for pain that has shown amazing potential for relieving pain. My sister in law was here last night (who coincidentally has a torn rotator cuff) and said it helped immensely. Didn't take the pain away, but dulled it significantly. You may want to try infusing some oil with cannabis and then rub it on the affected area. It might help. :2c:
 
MinnBobber

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
thanks,
grokit--Dr doesn't really know what the future holds. Schedule physical therapy and hope shoulder comes back to normal or near normal.

mom-- salve sounds very interesting but I only have very little supply from my CO trip in Feb.
vaping helps some but salve would be interesting experiment. Maybe get some on future trip to
CO
 
MinnBobber,
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lwien

lwien

Well-Known Member
Acch..........rotator cuff injury.

25 years ago, I was doing flys on the pulleys at the gym and on one set, I didn't have my arms bent enough. Didn't feel anything go wrong, but when I went to do some overhead presses, my left shoulder hurt like a mutha fucker. Thought it was just a sprain, so I iced it for a bit and after about a month, the pain went away........totally.

Fast forward 24 years (I'm now 70). I have been running for the past decade with no issues and thought, ya know, I need to do some upper body work, so I started doing some curls and pushups and within a week, that pain returned. I didn't really feel it too much during the day, but at night, if I slept on that shoulder, it would wake me up with major pain. The pain also radiated down my arm to my biceps. Getting older is a bitch.

Went to the doc. Had an MRI and it showed that I had "partial-thickness articular surface tear of the supraspinatus tendon", or to put it another way, rotator cuff injury. This was that old injury that resurfaced. Doc told me that surgery could fix it, but that it's always a chance that the surgery could make it worse rather than better and because of that, it should be the last resort. He suggested physical therapy.

Never did go to the therapist, but I took some actions of my own. I noticed that pushups didn't hurt my shoulder too much so I'm still doing those, but that curls continued to hurt my shoulder and biceps so I stopped those. I'm also taking one Aleve every other day.

That seems to have done the trick. Apparently, the curls reactivated that old injury, so no more of those, and taking an anti-inflammatory every other day keeps the inflammation in check. I can now sleep on that shoulder with no pain for about 6 hours and then it starts aching a bit, but not too bad. That I can live with. Everyone once in awhile, during the day, it may begin to ache for a bit but rubbing on some Therea-Gesic does wonders.

So now, I'm a happy camper as far as my shoulder goes. Hardly bothers me now.

Doc told me that those tendon tears will never really heal without surgery (and they never did), so it's really about pain management, and I seemed to have found the formula that works for me. I was concerned a bit about taking Aleve but she told me that as long as I don't take more than one every other day, I'm good to go.

Cannabis did nothing for me in regards to this injury.

But, if this is a new injury...........ice and rest (to keep it from getting worse.)
 
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momofthegoons

momofthegoons

vapor accessory addict
MinnBobber said:
thanks,
grokit--Dr doesn't really know what the future holds. Schedule physical therapy and hope shoulder comes back to normal or near normal.

mom-- salve sounds very interesting but I only have very little supply from my CO trip in Feb.
vaping helps some but salve would be interesting experiment. Maybe get some on future trip to
CO
Click to expand...
Got any abv stored up? You can make it with that too and it's supposed to be a great anti inflammatory. The only problem with abv is a) you need more of it than fresh and b) the salve smells bad. I wonder, however, if a water cure on the abv would help with that problem...
 
momofthegoons,
grokit

grokit

well-worn member
When you say salve does that mean that you mix your oil with some beeswax?
 
grokit,
MinnBobber

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
momofthegoons said:
When I make mine, I combine olive and coconut oils with herb to infuse, then add beeswax and essential oils. For instance, wintergreen is an analgesic like aspirin.

However, you can just use the infused oil itself, without adding anything else.
Click to expand...

I assume the beeswax thickens it a little?
I have about 20% of an original size Jyarz jar ABV so not much.
 
MinnBobber,
H

Huskymom

New Member
I completely feel your pain. I've had two failed rotator cuff surgeries, one with 3 tears and the second one with a huge full thickness tear. Then shortly after the second one an anchor came loose, ripped out, and I had another cuff tear i just had my third surgery and am hopeful for recovery but worried about how it'll turn out. I'm in so much pain and can't move my arm at all. Turns out i have severe osteoporisis at 50 y.o. I've tried vaping, smoking, edibles, never had weed until recently but apparently it makes me super sick, causes severe diaharrea and makes me feel like I'm dying. I've tried the cream but i can't tell if it helps it's just expensive.
 
Huskymom,
Papa Woody

Papa Woody

"The vapor is strong with this one"-Obi Onda Woody
Just had a full thickness tear of the supraspinatus tendon repaired 6 months ago. They gave me Norco for pain and I hate that crap. Took it the first 2 days then stopped taking Norco and started hitting my log during the day and taking a 1:1 gummie 1 hour before bed. Also I would take a Diclofenac NSAID every 4-6 hours to keep inflammation down. What a great recovery from that point on. Told my surgeon what worked for me and he was very interested that I was able to control my pain with gummies rather than opioids. Told him it was more like a normal day for me...
 
Papa Woody,
M

Mookie0608

Well-Known Member
Smoking is more helpful. I have a friend who really tore hers up and smoking helped more. Completely took the pain away where vaping was still in a little pain.

I myself both smoke, and vape. Actually I usually smoke first then vape the rest of the night or lately what I been doing. If treating pain is your main concern smoking is the way to go sometime for me at least if your going to vape you gotta max it out for me I have to do 390 at least, but my magic number seems to be 410 on my mighty maxed out but if I can go higher 430.
 
Mookie0608,
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