...basically my doc told me it's my supraspinatus tendon; it's either pulled or injured in some form or fashion. radial arm lifting does hurt (think raising my arms to the side), and I don't seem to have a lot of strength.

Anyway, I've been taking an NSAID for the last two weeks and not using my left arm that much, and the pain has lessened, but the symptoms still persist. I'm not waking up in agony in the morning, but I still don't have full use of my arm/shoulder. It seems that, now in my older age (I'll be 35 on Saturday), it takes longer for these things to work out. The whole thing has been going on for about 6 or 7 weeks.

Anybody have similar problems? How long did it take for yours to heal? Surgery?

Physical therapy is probably gonna be the next step, but I'm waiting to go back to the doc in a couple of weeks.

2/14/2006 8:38:56 PM

are you otherwise athletic? did this come about from overuse?

2/14/2006 9:32:34 PM

Cortisone Injection

2/14/2006 9:45:40 PM

^^ worked great for me knee. but really, just prolonged a 2nd surgery

2/14/2006 9:47:56 PM

Shoulders are complicated, i messed mine up several months ago and am still waiting for an appointment with a great shoulder guy at duke med. noone else could figure out the problem, but anyone ive talked to says that rehab is overrated and youll probably have problems down the road, so get the surgery if thats what is called for.

2/14/2006 9:58:48 PM

I had a worker's comp injury on my right shoulder. It was the muscle/tendon that allows you to lift you arm out and up if it were held at your side... I don't know what it's called.

It took a few weeks to heal, but I was a dumbass and the damn thing kept getting re-injured... I doubt it'll ever be 100% but I finally have no pain (I laid off the heavy lifting and tried to keep the jerking off to less than 23 times a day.)

I have tremendous strength in it now (I mean by my body's standards) Muscles and tendons heal much better than ligaments. Especially with reasonable care and use (or physical therapy.)

BTW IMPORTANT... I've tried several anti-inflammatories. ETOLAC (sp) is the fucking shit... it doesn't get you high or anything... but after 45 min. you will forget you have an injury. At least I would (doesn't mean that you aren't injured, be careful.)

[Edited on February 14, 2006 at 10:03 PM. Reason : btw...]

2/14/2006 9:59:44 PM

Quote :

"are you otherwise athletic? did this come about from overuse?"

Athletic? Not really, but I do METRIC SHIT-TONS of manual labor.

Overuse? Yeah, and not in the smartest sense. I do soils and land mapping, which entails a LOT of walking and boring holes with a hand auger. If the ground is rocky, then the borings get TOUGH: a lot of snags, strains, and snapping loose.

I also do a lot of car work, and I can think of several instances lately that have involved me picking up really heavy objects...like bench-pressing a transmission into a car.

I haven't been doing any of that lately, though.

2/14/2006 10:02:56 PM

Sounds like an impingement. I just got done with physical therapy for one in my right shoulder. At times it felt like some one stuck a fork in the side of my arm/shoulder. I used to inlfame the impingement doing minor things like lifting a textbook up off my backseat from the driver's seat. SOme people need durgery because of a little point sticking out in their joint that catches the tendon but odds are you are fine with physical therapy. When I actually did the exercises they told me it worked wonders. A lot of times where you feel the pain isn't where the problem is because fo the way everything in the shoulder is intertwined. One time at PT I had bad shoulder pain/tightness in the usual spot on the side of my shoulder and the trainer found a huge muscle knot about 6-8 inches away by my shoulder blade. After she worked it out the pain went away. SHe also had me do some range of motion tests where I couldn't get more than 50-60% of the way there, but after she did some tugging, pushing, and stretching on my shoulder I was able to go 80-90% of the way immediately without pain.

This is where I got my PT done: http://www.dunnpt.com/
They have night hours which most don't do.

2/14/2006 10:48:50 PM

Shoulders suck ass.

I'm doubly jointed in mine and started throwing 'em out playing ultimate. Now, though, it has got to the point that I've dislocated my shoulder twice in the last few months just sleeping. I'll probably get surgery in the future but right now I'm too busy training to climb in Yosemite.

2/15/2006 1:19:40 AM

I think I re-fucked it. Hurts like a sumbitch.

3/2/2006 3:09:19 AM

Ive had some of the same problems. My shoulders would dislocate whenever they wanted. It started when i wrestled and dislocated them on seperate occasions. After that they started dislocating all the time. After they would dislocate sleeping, lifting, general using was a bitch. I went to physical therapy cause i heard the surgery sometimes really didnt do much to fix the problem and since i havent really had any problems at all.

3/2/2006 10:02:18 PM