Was battling the wind-driven peaks at 'somewhere near porthcawl' yesterday on my unwieldy and perhaps overly-bouyant 7'6 minimal, which even my mate (who is pretty good) can't duckdive too well. I gave it all I had to try and get out there, to the point that when I got rolled by a 4 and a bit footer I decided I'd had enough. An hour later, getting out of the car thought - blimey my shoulder is a bit stiff - why only one though? By the time I went to bed, it was really hurting and today my right shoulder has no power at all, I can barely lift my arm without pain, though it is easing a little. I didn't feel anything whilst out there, so think I have either strained a muscle quite badly or worse, damaged a tendon. Anyone had anything similar and how long did it take to clear up? Hope it does soon because it is my stag do in 2 weeks and it is my drinking arm!

Could be a trapped nerve or a muscle spasm get a proper doc to have a look.

I think you may need to amputate mate. I'm considering doing my right leg below the knee today as it happens - it's in a similar state.

Well, I won't be going down that route! Tuesday it didn't hurt as much and I got a bit of movement back but no power at all, yesterday I had pretty much full movement with only a little pain and could lift things like carrier bags (and could drive for the first time since Sunday!) and today it is almost back to normal. Think it is a strain and think this is how I did it. I haven't been swimming or surfing for ages, probably about 10 months. To try and get back in shape, I have been doing press-ups every day for about 3 weeks, so I would have some muscles in my arms, and some in my shoulders, but not necessarily the ones you'd need for strong paddling. So when I exerted myself, (as it were) my arms and shoulders had enough to give in places, but at the expense of other muscles that couldn't keep up. So instead of getting tired and stopping, I was able to carry on, whilst doing damage. The moral of the story? Never let a week go by without a good swim!