Unexplained shoulder/back/arm pain

I hurt my right shoulder at work on 12/22/10. At first I was told it was a shoulder strain and sent out the door with ibuprofen 800s and light duty (no lifting over 15 lbs and no reaching above shoulder level). Within the first month I had complained of back pain, pain in between my shoulder blade and spine , pain down my arm, and neck pain and my restrictions went from 15 lbs to 10 lbs.

My collar bone was swollen and there were days I would almost cry just touching it, had a high temperature, and was sweating in 40 degree weather in pants and a tshirt. Also I have pain right on the side of my bone it feels like, almost similar to shin splints. I got fed up with their Dr (since it's workers comp) so I went to see my own doctor 1/2 way through January. He wanted me to see a specialist and put me off work for 2.5 weeks. During that time the insurance company wouldn't approve it, so I was put off work for another month. During all of my time off I kept within my restrictions and didn't do much. Finally I went back to work at the end of February. I had to go see their Dr again and complained of pain in my left shoulder. She finally wanted me to get an mri and to start physical therapy.. it showed a possible start to a ligament tear and mild tendonitis. I was having trouble sleeping and was prescribed T3 for night time. I was sent to a specialist to get steroid injections.

I had already tried about 12 sessions of physical therapy and started going to more. One day at physical therapy I was laying on my back and pushing up (like a bench press) a 5 lb bar and I noticed tingling/numbness in my thumbs. This symptom pretty much went away and the emg I had came back normal. The Dr also noted my muscles especially in my neck won't relax.

Then one day I was talking to someone at work and laughed...all of a sudden I had a sharp pain deep in my left shoulder shooting down my arm. It was constant for over an hour so when I showed up to physical therapy they laid me down and put heat on it which somewhat helped. I was prescribed Ultram, which made me sick the whole next day so I went back and they gave me T3 again for day time.

Finally the specialist said he couldn't do anything more for me and didn't know why I'm still in pain so he referred me to a pain clinic. They immediately referred me to another clinic and told me that my problem is fixable. This is the Dr that I am currently at and he wants to refer me to another specialist.

2 days ago the numbness/tingling showed back up in both of my arms. Today I was driving home from work and went to look to my right and noticed my neck is getting stiff. My back pain is getting worse and I can only sit/stand/walk for short periods of time, it feels like my spine itself hurts.

Just looking for some answers.

[Dr Sharma]

Dear Activechick, welcome to the medhelp forum. I can understand your predicament well and empathize with you. Did you get an MRI spine particularly cervical spine? There could be a prolapsed cervical intervertebral disc causing these symptoms. Consult a neurologist for a clinical evaluation and correlation with MRI spine findings. Management would depend on the cause. You could be prescribed analgesics like NSAIDs, epidural injection of steroids, acupressure. If the pain is, excruciating and symptoms of nerve compression persist despite the above measures.
You are most welcome with any further clarifications.
Wish you all the very best.

[activechick322]

I have not. Actually on 11/12/11 I ended up going into the emergency room. I could barely move my neck from side to side and was in terrible pain. The MRI that I had was of my right shoulder (which the ER Dr explained that it showed my back).. but that wouldn't necessarily include my spine would it? I am currently on Ibu 600's and Valium. As far as I know they have not done anything to actually look at my spine itself. I have only been told that the x-rays and mri show my back as well. The Dr in the emergency room said that nothing else could be done, gave me the Ibu 600's, Valium, and some sort of a shot before sending me out the door.

[Dr Sharma]

Hello dear, I completely empathize with what you are going through. Tendonitis and rotator cuff tear could cause pain and difficulty in raising arm above head. The tingling and numbness is felt in both the arms, you have neck stiffness, sharp shooting pain down your left arm and severe neck stiffness and cannot be justified by shoulder injury alone. Did the steroid injections in the shoulder joint help? The x-rays and MRI of shoulder would not show the spine so you need a separate MRI spine to check.

[activechick322]

The steroid injections seemed to ease things for about 2 weeks, after that no effect. I didn't think they would, but no Doctor has bothered looking at my spine even though I've complained about it. I am still waiting for my Jan 9th appointment, or if I happened to get scheduled somewhere else earlier. They seem to just dismiss the back pain as overcompensation. I will have to try to put more emphasis on it at my next appointment.