Anyone else injured their shoulder carrying a rucksack? I've only just in the last few weeks been pain free in my right shoulder since finishing the Pennine Way last July. The last few days of walking I had a pain just below my shoulder at the top of my back, the worst time being after stopping for lunch and putting the rucksack back on, that was agony. After we stopped walking it was ok for a few days and then the pain came back but more at the top of the arm than the shoulder.
Sometime in mid September when it hadn't gone away I thought I ought to go to the doctors. Since then I've been seeing an NHS physio every few weeks, they diagnosed tendinopathy of the rotator cuff. It's mainly been exercises, gradually getting harder, but they have worked. They seem pretty sure that it was caused by carrying the rucksack for so long (19 days). I wasn't even carrying everything, we had baggage transfers. It was lucky I was recovering over the winter. But now it's just got better, Offa's Dyke is coming up and am carrying a rucksack again! So as well as building up the miles I'm building up the rucksack! I started with my small one, have just progressed to the middle one and after this weekend will start using my LDP one (Berghaus Freeflow 25 litre).
I also have general muscle and bone pain and weakness for which the doctors can't find a reason, they have so far only come up with very low vit d levels. It's no fun getting old! Just hoping that the injury doesn't come back again, with any luck as we are only walking for 12 days this time I will be ok. I'm still doing the exercises to keep the shoulder strong.
