What are some good exercises to do?

[ceetee]

Before you get all "ball and dummy" on me, let me give you a little background.

I used to shoot quite a bit; handguns, mostly. I had lessons from a couple of pretty good teachers, and got pretty good at it. I never competed in any organized fashion, I was just always trying to beat my own personal best.

Four and a half years ago, I was in an accident that shattered my right arm. (Actually, not the whole arm, just the humerous... the upper arm. Not humorous at all...) It took three surgeries, each a year apart to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Those surgeries involved cutting through the cartilage and tendons that make up the rotator cuff, working on the bone beneath, then stitching it all back up again.

I dealt with a partially frozen shoulder, severe pain, limited motion, and severly limited strength. I had physical therapy that regained much of the range-of-motion I had lost, but I'm still dealing with the pain, and loss of strength. (As an example of where I stand now, I can still do good old "chest to the floor" pushups. Four of 'em. After that, my shoulder just sorta gives out, and I fall down.)

Last year, I went to the pistol range to try out my new .40 cal CZ. After about ten shots, my accuracy went all to heck, and after the first box of 50, I had to call it a day.

Today, I was back out there. Shooting at the 15 yard line, I noticed that the first box made a nice group, COM, right around the "X" and 10 rings. The second box opened it up considerably, but all shots were still COM. Well, all but a few...

Shooting the third box made the silhouette look like I was firing a short-barrelled-shotty from thirty yards back... Not even a good pattern, y'know? And I noticed with each shot, a spike of pain up into the shoulder, causing all kinds of flinching, and what have you...

Has anybody been through anything similar? If so, what kinds of exercising did you do to try to regain the lost strength?

 

[txgho1911]

Retraining

You may need to retrain yourself with shoting the formerly weak side. Your strongside is now your weak side. Instinctively you may want to only use your right arm but in doing so you may be causing stress for yourself mentally and physicaly you may do better without.
If I ever lose my strong side I will be relearning to write with my left. If you treat yourself as though you are without your right side and exorcise as a lefty with lefty holster and do everything holding your grip in the left hand only you might surprise yourself. Given a few more years of building your streanth back should not keep you handicaped in shooting.
You could become proficient in both and carry two on your waist. One for each hand.

 

[rust collector]

Dry firing exercises daily may help. Also important to ease back into the live firing to avoid getting to the pain level. May as well try a little weak side work as well, and as time goes by you may find yourself changing. Eye dominance will be a factor, obviously, but you will gravitate naturally to whatever works best if you give it time.

Easy does it. (easy for me to say) You have a big investment in your recovery. Any kind of pain indicates possible damage, so if you go slowly you should improve, but overuse and you will associate shooting with pain.

There may be some other things you can do regarding shock. Lighter loads and use of a rest may allow you to shoot more before it starts to bother you. I would suggest working with a .22 to allow concentration on the fundamentals and make sessions more enjoyable early on.

You may also want to work on shrugs, arm raises, and other shoulder strengthening techniques to stabilize the area, and if you know a physical therapist or occupational therapist who shoots, see what they think.

Good luck. I am sure this is frustrating but then, we all face this to some degree as we age and our physical strength isn't what we'd like to think it was.

 

[Gunsnrovers]

I hurt my back pretty badly earlier this year (still doing what I can to avoid surgery). I was presecribed pilatees (spelling?) as a strengtening and flexability exercise regiem. I'm sold on it.

Best of luck.

 

[Kingcreek]

A friend of mine lost his right forearm in an accident. severed midway between the wrist and elbow. It was surgically reattached and he went thru months and months of therapy and rehab. But once he could use it a little he shot pistl everyday and reloaded every night. He shot weakhand and he shot 2 hand. He credits his formal rehab as well as his own rehab.
I went with him to the range for the first time since his injury. I knew he had been shooting and pulling the lever on his loader everyday at home but I wasn't prepared for what he showed me. He said "load 3 rounds into your 1911, chamber one, and lay it on the bench, safety on." He did the same with his. Then he picked up 2 1911s, one in each hand, and dropped six falling plates from the outside to the middle. Alternated R/L

 

[Chipperman]

Inspiring story Kingcreek.

I really have nothing to add, other than good luck, ceetee.
I think your motivation will carry you through. Be diligent about your PT, but don't push yourself too much.

 

[Brett Bellmore]

I busted my leg, both bones, right above the ankle, (Which I had first dislocated, just to be thurough.) and then like an idiot, got up and tried to walk.

Five hours on the operating table having little bits of bone pulled out, and some of the larger fragments lined up on a metal strip to grow back together, and a month of bedrest later, (Because the vascular damage had my foot swelling up the moment it got below my heart.) I was limping badly. A couple years later, I was limping worse, because I developed "traumatic arthritis" in the ankle.

Today, I can hardly tell that anything happened to it... So long as I take the right food supliments. In addition to any exercise, try out this stuff called "SAME"; It does wonders for damaged joints. Just be careful what brand you buy, some of them are cut, because it is a VERY expensive compound as food supliments go. But well worth it! After being on it a while, I could drop the anti-inflamitories the doctor had prescribed.

On the exercise front, you might try shooting a box, resting, shooting a box. You really don't want to practice shooting badly, now do you?

 

[brian roberts]

food supplements....

now, i know i'm gonna take heat on this one, but if you're interested in a supplement that will accelerate healing, pick up a copy of "Secrets Of The Soil", & pay particular attention to the chapter "Savory Soil". i've been using this for OVER 1 1/2yrs. great stuff(even if i DO get down like an ant in the grocery store ). seriously, it requires a leap of faith as well as suspension of disbelief, but if you can get past that, the stuff is great. just remember: you aren't getting the nourishment you're supposed to from the grocery store, plus, you're trying to work through not only an ongoing trauma, but the accompanying anger as well. so, if you're serious, you'll make the effort, won't you?? good recovery to you.

 

[Jason Demond]

If you can, lift weights. I have been having severe pain in my right shoulder for the last four months or so, and weights really help.

 

[cerberus]

Wrist support

From a sporting goods store a good wrap around wrist support like weight lifters use is a good idea. Then lifting say a 5 or 10 pound weight with your weak arm will give results. Anything you do with your weak arm is going to make it stronger. Goodluck

 

[ceetee]

Great suggestions, thanks everybody!

Lifting weights is really hard for me now. When I'm at rest I feel virtually no pain, but as soon as I start to stress it, BAM! I guess this had made me really lazy about it. (Part of the problem is that I feel really wuss-ish, using the "Jane Fonda" weights, and the giant rubber bands. Another cross to bear.)

I'm definintely going to check into the SAMe. I was just now reading through a double-blind test done at U.C. Irvine Medical... It looks really interesting. Especially when I see that after the test, the Celebrex group got their pain back, while the SAMe group felt improvement.

Also, I'm currently without a .22 pistol. I guess I'll just have to go out and get one. ("Honestly, honey... that new gun is part of my therapy!") Yeah...that's the ticket!

Kingcreek... I just wish I could get as profficient with my weak hand as your friend. I've tried it, and as a lefty, I sucked! Practice, practice, practice...

Thanks again, everyone.

 

[spacemanspiff]

what about swimming? not laps, but just limited movements if thats all you can do without suffering severe pain?

 

[VietVet 67-68]

CeeTree

I had my shoulder shot out in Vietnam, rotator cop and all. Was right handed and could'n use my right arm for 9 months. I had used to shoot a lot of pistol before the Army and was pissed that I couldn't anymore.

My right hand was very weak so I decided to get some strenght back in it. I took a 1 to 2 pd rock wrapped string around it, about 3ft. Put a stick through it and started to roll it up. roll it up and down up and down and it will strenthen your wrists and hands. It took about 2 months but I got the use of my right hand back and shoot good today. Just a thought!!

Keith

 

[Topgun]

..............................rifle....................................................


My thumb is so bad now that I gave my Gold Cup to my kid.

Biggest I shoot now is .38

LOTSA .22's.

9mm is OK but 45.....nope....not any more.

VERY tempted on a Ruger SA w/ 2 cyls.

But.....I gave him a jillion rounds of 45 also.

Oh well.