Ow! Ow! Ow!

[gja1000]

WHEW! My arm HURTS!!! I have had upper arm pain for a year now. I went to the doctor last year and was diagnosed with rotator cuff impingement. This means the rotator cuff was rubbing when I raised my arm, but not torn, so no surgery needed.

I did physical therapy which made it worse. Then I got an injection of cortisone which did not help. Then I went on vacation and it got better, go figure! :rolleyes:

Anyway, it has hurt off and on the past few months. I didn't go back to the doctor. A while back someone at work said she went to a chiropractor for the same problem and that it had really helped her. I thought, well maybe I should go too! I put off making the appointment, but finally went today.

The doctor said my shoulder is pretty bad. It was much more painful than I realized. When she put it through the normal range of motion, I had lots of pain and some limited range. I didn't realize it, I guess I just wasn't doing those things. I really didn't think it was bad at all!! :( I knew it hurt when I did certain things, but didn't realize how bad it was.

I'll be working mostly with the massage therapist for stretching exercises, massage and trigger point therapy. It is VERY PAINFUL, but necessary to get my range of motion back. I have some contracted muscles and ligaments. I knew it wouldn't be pleasant, but when she extended my arm back and held it for 20 seconds, I thought I was going to DIE - and I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I wanted to scream - but I didn't :D

I have to go in 3 times a week, and she said the therapy would get more intense - oh joy :(

[Dobie]

I'm so sorry that you are going through this - I've had several should surgeries so I can really empathize with the pain of therapy. I'll keep sending you good thoughts

[gja1000]

I'm sorry you had to have several surgeries - did you have an injury? I knew the therapy would be painful - but WOW! And I know it will get worse - double WOW!

[Dobie]

I'm sorry you had to have several surgeries - did you have an injury? I knew the therapy would be painful - but WOW! And I know it will get worse - double WOW!


I played a lot of basketball in highschool and college - add skiing to that - and I pretty much blew out my knees and shoulders.

[gja1000]

Oh Dear! I blew out my ACL playing basketball in HS!!! It was so long ago that they just removed it and the torn cartilage - they didn't graft them at that time. So....I don't have an ACL in my left knee. It is very unstable, but I can live with it. I've been told I should have it grafted now, but I figure I'll get arthritis in that knee (not yet, knock on wood) and have to have a knee replacement, so why have it grafted now??? Anyway, that's my standard answer.

[2tiredmom]

Hope it feels better soon. I know pain isn't always what we like but then I guess you have to have pain before it gets better. Hope it works out. ;)

[Janet]

Oh my gosh Gayle...that does have to be painful. Will this new type therapy work even though the last one didn't? I'm always doing something I just don't think I could handle shoulder pain very well...here I say that and I've been complaining on here about knee pain for over a year. I'm like you, I don't think it's that bad...some times it's so bad I want to crawl in a hole, other times, no pain at all. Guess you're setting a good example and maybe I should make an appointment too. ....always something isn't it? LOL

[Ponyup]

I have that as well. My chiropactor said I injured my shoulder at some time & never got it fixed. I get massages every 2 weeks. The reason it felt better on vacation is you relaxed. The pain in my shoulder gets way worse the more stressed I am. Those muscles tighten & cause even more motion restrictions. Once you get it losened up you will probably have to do some actual physical therapy to strengthen the area. My therapist recommended band exercises. I don't know if you're chiropractor has it, but min has this stuff called biofreeze. It's awesome stuff. I wouldn't use it unless they said it's okay, but it's good stuff.

[DianaB]

I had problems with my rotator cuff years ago too. I kept going to the chiropractor and I would get temporary relief but wasn't getting better. Then we had a sports injury doctor come to our hospital and I got an appointment with her. It was one of the best things that I've ever done for myself. She did some simple tests and an x-ray and came up with what my problem was. Basically I was drawing up my shoulders and had been doing it long enough to cause muscle and rotator cuff problems. I took some therapy for a few weeks but the best part was was that in two days the pain went away! I still pull out my stretches and exercises when I feel like I'm having problems. I hope that you find relief from your pain as easily as I did and get to feeling better soon, Gayle.

[judy]

I'm sorry you're in pain! Does your chiropractor do massage therapy too?
If so, that's great. It will go away, but you have to go through the pain first.
I hope it goes quickly.

I just had to find a new chiropractor because I moved. My old chiro was a magician! I went to her several years ago in agony, and she helped me in 3 visits! There is some fusion between the vertebrae in my neck. I have scoliosis,
which is probably from aging. My neck was beginning to get really painful about 2 weeks ago because my old chiro kept it in check. I went once a month. I found a pretty good new one up here, and a wonderful massage therapist. Just yesterday it began to feel better.

[gja1000]

Thanks so much for all the encouragement and suggestions!

Diana, that is exactly what the doc has me doing , stretching exercises. I did go to PT for the problem with a sports med doc, but I don't think the exercises PT had me do were the correct exercises for this problem.

Yes, the chiro has a massage theraptist and in fact she worked on me yesterday and my next two appts are with the massage therapist, not the chiro.

They said it will be a process of stretching out the contracted muscles, strenghtening the correct muscles so that the problem doens't come back. Part of the problem is staying "hunched over" the computer!!! :( I'm not sure how I'm going to "stop" that!!!

[DianaB]

I was just going to say that my problem was holding my shoulders hunched up. It made the other muscles work differently than they were suppose to and that's what caused my problem. I hurt clear up into the base of my head. I kept asking the chiropractor if he couldn't adjust it way up there but he couldn't. I had pains in my shoulders too. Keep me posted on how it's going and if you need me to I'll hunt up my stretches and send them to you to try. They were just very simple stretches and nothing that hurt to do. Just learning to relax your shoulders when you're doing stuff will help the most but you also need to strengthen those muscles too. Good luck!

[gja1000]

Yes, I'd love for you to describe your stretches. Right now, I've started with the pectoralis stretch - holding on to a door jam and leaning forward (or stepping forward) till I have a stretch on the pectoral muscles in the front of my shoulder. My problem in hunching my shoulders forward so the pec muscles in the front of my shoulder have shortened and are pulling the rotator cuff in an odd way so that it is being impinged at the socket.

[Gina]

Gayle all I can add is that I hope whatever exercises you do as you go along you feel much better. Pain is such a horrible thing to live with. Feel better soon.

[Janet]

I sure hope besides the exercises you're doing that Diana will have some good ones for you to try also. She'll get you to be pain free in no time!! Go Doctor Di!!!!

[DianaB]

Yes, I'd love for you to describe your stretches. Right now, I've started with the pectoralis stretch - holding on to a door jam and leaning forward (or stepping forward) till I have a stretch on the pectoral muscles in the front of my shoulder. My problem in hunching my shoulders forward so the pec muscles in the front of my shoulder have shortened and are pulling the rotator cuff in an odd way so that it is being impinged at the socket.

That pretty much sounds like the exercise that I did except I did it against a wall.

I also had to take a broom stick and put it behind my back with one hand holding the stick near my lower back and the other holding the stick near my neck. Then I would pull the stick up, pulling the lower hand as far up as it would go, stretching the muscles in my shoulders. I did 3 sets of 10 reps. Then you reverse hands. I was suppose to do this several times a day with only 10 reps each time. Make sure that your shoulders aren't hunched up but relaxed.

I also did a push up from the wall. Get about 15" from a wall, legs and feet together. Place hands on wall at shoulder height and do 3 sets of 10 reps of push ups, keeping your feet flat on the floor. Make sure that your arms are relaxed and not hunched up when you do this. Nothing should hurt on these stretches.

The most important part is to remember NOT to hunch your shoulders because that's what you're trying to correct. It's hard but you'll get it. Sometimes you have to make a concious effort to relax your shoulders and in the next minute you'll have to do it again.

I don't know how bad my problem was and it's been years and years ago since I had it. I do remember that once I started the stretching exercises I could tell a BIG difference in how I felt. I hope that you find some relief in the exercises.

[gja1000]

Went back to the doctor today - actually only saw the massage therapist for DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE. YOWSER!!!!! :eek: It hurt like he!!, but the arm has much better range of motion with less pain now.

Why is it they have to make pain, to get rid of pain!!!

[Marilyn]

Gayle, so hope your pain ends very, very soon!!! Chronic pain can be so draining.