Shoulder injury after two months of lifting: five weeks of pain without diagnosis

Five weeks of shoulder pain and still no diagnosis

How long does it take for a shoulder that clicks, pinches, and feels unstable to heal? The honest answer, based on discussions in consumer forums, is that nobody knows. A man starts weightlifting, injures his right shoulder due to poor posture, endures pain for a week, returns to training, and has suffered from sharp pains for over a month since. His symptoms—pain at the shoulder-pectoral junction when extending the arm against resistance, and central shoulder pain when lifting with an extended arm—match several injuries but none specifically. That is the problem.

The first response in the thread is also the most sensible: see a doctor. From there, diagnosis becomes a guessing game where each participant offers their theory: tendinopathy, pectoralis major tendinitis, supraspinatus injury, subluxation, or subacromial syndrome. A festival, as someone who went through the same experience puts it. The only shared certainty is that five weeks of rest without improvement is not normal and continuing to train blindly is the fastest way to make the problem chronic.

What injury is it and why can't anyone know without tests?

The initial account describes a specific mechanism: poor posture under load, a feeling of dislocation, acute pain that subsides in days and returns upon resuming exercise. This pattern could point to a small tear with associated tendinitis, according to one circulating hypothesis, but ruling out a sprain or instability requires imaging tests that have not yet been performed.

There is consensus on one thing: ultrasound and MRI are the only ways to determine what is torn. Orthopedic shoulder tests—such as Jobe’s test for the supraspinatus, among others—provide guidance but do not replace imaging. Meanwhile, the repeated recommendation is to stop training, and stop completely: at least three weeks, then isometric exercises and slow pogre.

The contradiction arises when the affected person has been resting for five weeks and still has pain. Rest alone does not cure tendinopathy. What works is active rehabilitation, which requires knowing first what was injured.

The healthcare maze: waiting months or paying €100 per session

Here the issue stops being clinical and becomes economic. The patient rules out public healthcare due to wait times and opts for a private physiotherapist. The price mentioned: €100 per session. The public alternative, according to several testimonials, is an appointment with an orthopedist six months away and anti-inflammatories prescribed by the GP in the meantime.

Six months for tendinitis, summarizes sarcastically someone who already went through it. The problem is that poorly treated tendinitis becomes chronic, and chronic tendinitis is not cured: it is managed. Some suffer from it for years and have seen their load capacity reduced by half.

The decision to pay for private care has its own trap. Without a clear diagnosis, treatment is blind, and sessions accumulate without the pain disappearing. The patient states it plainly: he has had weeks of physiotherapy, undergone ultrasound, shown inflamed supraspinatus muscles in both shoulders, received electrical waves, dry needling, and been advised to take turmeric. He still has pain.

Dry needling, turmeric, and other trends: what does the evidence say?

Skepticism runs through the thread when star techniques appear. Dry needling is labeled a trend advertised as a panacea but not suitable for everything. Turmeric as a natural anti-inflammatory raises doubts: not because of its effect, but because a physiotherapist recommends it instead of standard ibuprofen.

Against trendy treatments, the recurring recommendation remains the same: manual therapy and rehabilitation exercises. Mobilizations and active work, with consistency and patience. Shoulders take time, especially when the problem has been ignored for months.

Another current emerges claiming the origin is not muscular but nervous system programming, suggesting muscle activation techniques as the solution. This is a minority and debated position, defended vehemently by someone claiming to be a sector professional, but without data backing it up in available material.

What others' experiences clearly show

Accumulated personal cases draw a pattern. One participant waited a year hoping for improvement and every attempt to return to training brought back the pain. Only when he saw a professional and got an ultrasound did he start a treatment that returned him to the gym.

Another suffers from chronic tendinitis due to work and found that the key was not any miraculous treatment, but reducing the load below the inflammation threshold: moving twenty-kilo boxes individually rather than all at once. Improvement came when he stopped stressing the shoulder.

The inevitable conclusion, undisputed by anyone, is that self-medication and passive rest do not fix a shoulder injury. Diagnosis, active treatment, and time are needed. And the cost of not doing so may be ending up with a shoulder that cannot lift fifteen kilos.

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It remains uncertain whether the patient will end up with a closed diagnosis or a folder of paid sessions at €100. Meanwhile, turmeric has not worked miracles.