About a year and a half ago I tore my rotator cuff doing a bind in yoga. About three months later I started battling crippling arthritis in my back that prevented me from standing up straight (no running at all) for close to a year. I am running again but have found that lifting weights (unless they are extremely light) doesn't do my back any favors. I can curl a little with the ez curl bar but that's about it. Not only does benching hurt my back but my shoulder still isn't 100%. I did not have rotator cuff surgery. I don't have insurance and even if I did, I'm not sure that I would want to have surgery anyway. My shoulder is probably 90% maybe even 95% now. I found that I'm too weak right now to do real pushups with good form and even they tighten up my back a little. In addition, I would also like to go easy on my shoulder to start with. The other night I just did three sets of 15 girl pushups. It's totally embarrassing but I figured I had to start somewhere. My questions are these:
Are there any kind of pushup "workouts" I can do? For instance, how varied should my grips be? Should I do five sets of 15 to start with all different close and wide grips?
Also, how often can I do the pushups? Right now it doesn't seem like I can do them every day. What I mean is that, I'm physically capable of doing them but I'm still sore from the other night. Should I wait until the soreness subsides or should I do them sooner than that? I just want to do whatever I can do maximize and small strength gains that I may see from this.
I know this is pathetic but I don't want to mess up my back and be bedridden again. Any help is appreciated. Thank you