Shoulder injury, any ideas?

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karenjoy
karenjoy Posts: 1,840 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was given some pole dancing classes as a Christmas present, and I went along, loved it, but it was held in a very cold place, after a couple of week I hurt my shoulder, it sort of felt like it was going to dislocate, but then it was ok, so I carried on until I finished the 6 lessons, but I was so bruised and battered that I decided not to continue. Ok its now several months later, and instead of getting better, my shoulder is now worse. I can't lay on that side at night, can't comfortably put my arm above my head and its very painful to do up my bra, the pain seems to go down my arm to my elbow at times, mainly when doing up my bra etc, but does not hurt all the time, I can carry and weight bare etc, but I know that there is something not right with my shoulder. Any thoughts?

Replies

  • RAF_Guy
    RAF_Guy Posts: 230 Member
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    I would make an appointment at the Doctors, I am surprised none of your loved ones have suggested it already Karen!
  • mtraish
    mtraish Posts: 1
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    Hi there. I am not a doctor, only a medical student but I have had a lot of experience of back and shoulder injuries as I do a lot of sport. There are a couple of things this could be. The first is not sinister, it may be you have just over worked your shoulder and it is taking a while to recover. Try taking pain killers, ibuprofen to help with swelling, all the time even though it doesn't hurt all the time, for a few days. This will help remove any pain so you can move it as normally as possible without being scared of pain, even subconsciously. Getting a full range of movement may help to loosen things up and help it improve. You can also try simple exercises to strengthen your neck and back
    - sitting on the floor with a back as straight as possible and palms of your hands on the floor by your side, then try and pull your shoulder back and down using only your back muscles.
    - standing with your nose to the wall and your arm bent at 90 degrees, palm against the wall. then try and lift your hand away from the wall again using only your shoulder blades and back muscles.
    - stretching your neck from side to side, putting a little pressure on with your hands if need be.
    - lastly trying to move your arms in all directions multiple times a day.
    - sleeping on your back with your neck and shoulders as neutral as possible may also help.

    if after couple of weeks of these exercises daily and moving it normally it has not improve i would recommend going to see someone. It may be you have a trapped nerve or have pulled something which may need a little more help to heal.

    Hope this helps
  • playgun
    playgun Posts: 163 Member
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    You need to rest it and see an orthopedic pronto! It sounds like a torn rotator.
    Oh and stop wearing those bras, they've been known to kill people!

    Sorry! Couldn't resist that one! Hope you feel better soon, keep me updated.:flowerforyou:
  • martintanz
    martintanz Posts: 280
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    You need to rest it and see an orthopedic pronto! It sounds like a torn rotator.
    Oh and stop wearing those bras, they've been known to kill people!

    Sorry! Couldn't resist that one! Hope you feel better soon, keep me updated.:flowerforyou:

    Agree, could be a torn rotator cuff. You need to see an orthopedic surgeon to know for sure. Or might just be a strain. If just a strain, perhaps physical therapy could help. Or a shot of cortisone.
  • gillleeman
    gillleeman Posts: 397 Member
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    Its sounds like initially you had a mild sprain of the shoulder joint which would take a long time healing. What is happening now is the muscles have gone into compensatory tightness. The muscles in the arm have tightened and will be pulling the arm tight into the shoulder socket which is why it impinges on the overhead arm extension and external rotation (doing up bra). I'd recommend a visit to a sports massage therapist to sort this for you. One or two treatments should see you right again.
  • martintanz
    martintanz Posts: 280
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    Its sounds like initially you had a mild sprain of the shoulder joint which would take a long time healing. What is happening now is the muscles have gone into compensatory tightness. The muscles in the arm have tightened and will be pulling the arm tight into the shoulder socket which is why it impinges on the overhead arm extension and external rotation (doing up bra). I'd recommend a visit to a sports massage therapist to sort this for you. One or two treatments should see you right again.

    Except that the injury happened months ago. I had something like this happen some years ago. I limped along (or whatever you do with an injured shoulder) from November until May, when I finally went in for an MRI. Diagnosis was partially torn rotator cuff. This year, I suffered a similar type injury to the other shoulder, but this time, I went right in to see the orthopedist,. Fortunately this time it was just a strain, though I still had to do 4 or 5 weeks of physical therapy.
  • mewaybright
    mewaybright Posts: 240 Member
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    Well Karen I am not a Dr but I suffer from shoulder pain as a result of carrying a 60 pound tool box for years... Mine is helped with 800 mg (horse pills) Motrin which have been prescribed by a Dr... they can do some x-rays and if needed an MRI of the shoulder to look at it and make a real diagnosis of the issue... So if it is not a torn mangled shoulder... ice and Motrin combined with physical therapy will help it much...
  • CoachDreesTraining
    CoachDreesTraining Posts: 223 Member
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    Its sounds like initially you had a mild sprain of the shoulder joint which would take a long time healing. What is happening now is the muscles have gone into compensatory tightness. The muscles in the arm have tightened and will be pulling the arm tight into the shoulder socket which is why it impinges on the overhead arm extension and external rotation (doing up bra). I'd recommend a visit to a sports massage therapist to sort this for you. One or two treatments should see you right again.

    I think you meant internally rotation, not external rotation.

    I agree with most of this. You most likely have a small tear in one of your rotator cuff muscles. The body guards itself when it's injured to prevent the joint/muscle from getting hurt worse. This can cause the whole capsule to tighten.

    I would try a massage first, or go see a qualified personal trainer that might be skill in muscle release techniques. If that doesn't help, it's time to see Mr. Doctor.
  • BigJ1966
    BigJ1966 Posts: 7
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    Almost certain a rotator cuff injury. Happened to me a couple of months ago just leaning down to pick something up off the floor would you believe!

    Rest, pain killers and anti inflamatories initially then some gentle movement to help recovery. Still struggle to raise my arm some days when getting dressed for instance but I'm back in the gym working hard. Just adapted my routine and pushed on with it as it could take a good few months to heal properly and I don't want to lose momentum. In very severe cases surgery may be required but most are dealt with as above.

    Good luck.
  • crandos
    crandos Posts: 377 Member
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    Yea see physio after docs in case you need get MRI for it I had a rotator cuff injury and physio gave me some excercises now I'm all good.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
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    I was given some pole dancing classes as a Christmas present, and I went along, loved it, but it was held in a very cold place, after a couple of week I hurt my shoulder, it sort of felt like it was going to dislocate, but then it was ok, so I carried on until I finished the 6 lessons, but I was so bruised and battered that I decided not to continue. Ok its now several months later, and instead of getting better, my shoulder is now worse. I can't lay on that side at night, can't comfortably put my arm above my head and its very painful to do up my bra, the pain seems to go down my arm to my elbow at times, mainly when doing up my bra etc, but does not hurt all the time, I can carry and weight bare etc, but I know that there is something not right with my shoulder. Any thoughts?

    I did something similar during moving home one day, it must have been lifting heavy furniture because, I, like you, was unable to put my arm above my shoulder, at all! It stayed that way for a solid year and only went when I found a video on Callinetics.

    The exercises were gentle but, no word of a lie, within one week, I was suddenly able to lift my arm three quarters of the way above my head and after the second week, all the way.

    Definitely go see your doctor though, you don't want to do more damage, I hope you get it sorted.
  • karenjoy
    karenjoy Posts: 1,840 Member
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    Thank you all so much for the great suggestions, my feelings are I think this needs Dr but I am a bit rubbish and hate to go unless there is something really wrong, going to see my Dr and saying my arms hurts when I do this...makes me think of the old joke

    But I had been thinking rotator cuff injury, and this sort of makes me realise that I need someone to actually look at it. Also my lovely man had made me promise to go now


    :flowerforyou:
  • gonesewing
    gonesewing Posts: 63 Member
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    Yeah, again, I am not a doctor but it does sound like a rotator cuff tear or strain. I have tendinosis and 1 small and 1 medium tear in mine (ultrasound dx). My doctor said surgery was not needed at this point (yay!) but he did put me on naproxen for 30 days and I am doing physio. It takes a very long time to heal. Doctor told me 6 months to a year so for me, no quick fix. I still work out a lot but just modify to accommodate my injury.

    Definitely see a doctor and get a proper dx, it is no fun when your shoulder hurts :(.
  • Sharonks
    Sharonks Posts: 884 Member
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    Go se a dr. It does sound like rotator cuff and it is horrible. After about 6 months of screaming pain I went to a dr. I didn't have insurance so had put it off. They did an MRI and found it was seriously degenerated and gave me some pt exercises and ibuprofen 800s. I pretty much have my range of motion back but it will never be 100%. I often wonder if earlier pt would have had a better outcome.
  • MarLou1027
    MarLou1027 Posts: 2
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    Go to the doctor because this will not get better. I had the same problem some years ago and what you are discribing is a tear in the rotator cuff. They will most likely do a MRI on it to confirm the tear and see if it is in a place were it might heal itself. If not you will need surgery. Good Luck.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
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    Go se a dr. It does sound like rotator cuff and it is horrible. After about 6 months of screaming pain I went to a dr. I didn't have insurance so had put it off. They did an MRI and found it was seriously degenerated and gave me some pt exercises and ibuprofen 800s. I pretty much have my range of motion back but it will never be 100%. I often wonder if earlier pt would have had a better outcome.

    Ouch :(

    How long did it take to heal in the end?
  • jsiricos
    jsiricos Posts: 338 Member
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    Sounds like all the signs and symptoms I had when I tore my rotator cuff, except I was doing a superwoman dive thru the back door in a race with Phoenix, my German Shepherd.

    One thing they had me do.. lean against the wall with the other arm, and let your injured arm hand down like a pendulum, make small circles both ways - do this to keep your shoulder loose, as they told me a frozen shoulder would hurt worse!
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    Sounds like all the signs and symptoms I had when I tore my rotator cuff, except I was doing a superwoman dive thru the back door in a race with Phoenix, my German Shepherd.

    One thing they had me do.. lean against the wall with the other arm, and let your injured arm hand down like a pendulum, make small circles both ways - do this to keep your shoulder loose, as they told me a frozen shoulder would hurt worse!

    Yeah--frozen shoulder is awful. They have to take you into the operating room, put you to sleep and then move it. (My husband had it--no picnic.) You must keep moving it so that it doesn't freeze up on you. Herbal inflammation fighters are good--much kinder to the stomach. Turmeric (a spice) and bromelain (a pineapple extract) are two of the best and with bromelain, you get the added benefit of a reduction in scarring (anytime there is an injury to a joint, there is a bit of scarring that forms). One of the problems we have is that our muscles on the front of our body are usually much stronger than the muscles on the back of our body. Doing pushups and pullups are good for strengthening the upper back and stabilizing the shoulder. I wouldn't do them if your shoulder hurts when you try them. But my husband found that they felt good (after the initial problem had subsided) and he hasn't had a problem with either shoulder since.

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