Musculoskeletal Issues Began At 74

Still doing assisted pullups at 74, and pushups with feet elevated, but left shoulder made a "rubbing" sound like a taut rubber band rubbing against a piece of wood. MRI showed torn labrum and three of the four rotator cuff tendons torn. At age 75, right elbow xray showed bone-on-contact ulna and humerus, as well as radius and humerus. Arthritic right wrist too. At age 76, right shoulder exhibited same issues as left.

Just have myself to blame given 40+ years of weight lifting with many mistakes such as behind-the-neck overhead presses and over stretching tendons to get that "full range of motion," not to mention using an ax with a dull blade to split firewood.

At any rate, I need both shoulders and the right elbow replaced. I'd undergo these procedures in a heartbeat but have no support structure. So the only way to cope is OTC and prescrip pain meds, which incidentally, are next to worthless.

Looking around to hire someone to mow the fields in 2021.

Curiously, the lower extremities are fine: hips, ankles, knees.

 

I'll be 73 in June of this year. Have had two rotator cuff surgeries, one on each shoulder and a hip replacement. In the late 80's, had ankle surgery, due to a motorcycle accident. Two screws and a plastic plate.

For a few years now, taking both 50mg Tramadol and 800 mg Ibuprofen. Don't take the Tramadol everyday, but when I do, I take the Ibuprofen with it. Taking both really, really gets rid of my aggravating shoulder pain almost all day. Both medications are for osteoarthritis that set into both rotator cuffs, since surgery. Both the Tramadol and Ibuprofen are prescriptions from my VA doctor. Also, bought and use, CBD Rub on both shoulders.

Northern Colorado winters can sometimes be a little brutal on the shoulder pain, but we love the area. No weight-lifting, but did swing a rope in rodeo for a number of years. Spent a lot of time in-the-saddle during the summer months. Horses and rodeo are gone now, but still attend a number of them here.

 

Best of luck but a caution on using pain killer they give fast pain removal but also some limit your body on fixing the problem.
Feel good medicine. There is some topical pain relievers that have less side effects. I personally like DMSO it is used on million dollar horses and I figure if it is good enough for them I can use it.

 

Welcome to the group and sorry about your health issues. It's just my opinion but I suspect your problems stem from your over doing it with work outs in years past and not because of your aging

 

Found someone. So far; so good.

 

As a 71+ year old with a passion for building muscle mass, I do not know how I could have missed this thread. Clean weight lifters have a higher rate of breakdowns than clean bodybuilders but any breakdown at all will put everything to a stop no matter which side of the coin one enjoys.
I tore both bicep tendons at the elbow about 6 or so months ago and they’re still not up to par. The sad thing is that I didn’t do it lifting weights per se but lifting 40# sheets of drywall of all things. That said, the tears cost me dearly and my progress slowed considerably.

So far as bad habits go, such as the behind the neck lifting and lat bar, those are gone. I generally train at 45% and one day a week I throw on the straps for Blood Flow Resistance training for bi’s and tri’s and lift at 30% with double or triple reps.
My ego is always parked at the door when i walk in and my mind is set on building a good brain to muscle connection so I can build.

All that said, so far as weight lifters go, I’m not sure if cuff replacement will put you back in the seat but I do know a couple of guys who have had some surgery done and they’re still building muscle but lack strength.
If for whatever reason a lifter can’t get the slow twitch and 2 categories of fast twitch fibers going then lifting for endurance is pretty much out.

Just a suggestion, have you tried working with the cables? Less impact and better range “comfortable” motion and you can train without a lot of focus on the joints. Or.....swimming perhaps?

 

I worked in more cables in my late 60s.

It's not just the rotator cuffs but also torn labrums, in addition to bone-on-bone in the right elbow, and, forgot to mention in the OP, a torn left bicep tendon, the outer tendon.

I'm shot. It takes 15 minutes to pull on a t-shirt, pair of sweats, and jacket. Eating, prepping food, showering, driving .... everything is a chore.

Legs work great. Do 300-400 minutes a week on steppers and ellipticals -- low intensity, high resistance.

 

Gotta be painful bro.
Has an ortho suggested a shot of gel for that bone on bone?
I’m taking it that the bicep tendon you’re talking about is in the shoulder section since that’s where the labrum is located also. Dunno but it’s a guess.
Mine tears were at the elbow but I found a lot of relief when I bought a TENS machine. @Ken Anderson didn’t have much success with the one he bought but Ken’s an unusual guy anyway. Maybe the Chinese directions threw him. Me, I just put the pads on and started hitting switches until I got a good pulse going and went from there. Most of us guys don’t need no stinking directions!
That said, I just about fried the nerves once when the pain was really bad but overall a great unit to have on hand. It really sucked when I found out that turning the steering wheel on the truck was a no-no. I’d much rather have a lot of ache than a little pain and my attempts were indeed painful.
@Patsy Faye suggested that I buy the pen version which I did and now I keep it in my gym bag. There have been times when I knew that I was training an area too hard and the pen helped calm things down and kill pain so I can proceed with a little more caution.

 

Biceps is two-headed. With me the tendon for the outer head (left) is torn and retracted. The labrum has a separate problem, a longitudinal tear.

All MDs say both shoulders require reversion replacement. No shortcuts or arthroscopy. Some suggest elbow replacement also but one said that elbow replacement is rarely effective.