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Shoulder Injury 5-6month's no relief
Originally hurt my shoulder at work almost 6 month's ago when was thrown off a piece of equipment (Think holding onto a vertical rail with right arm only, then thrown backwards from an abrupt stop). Initial pain wasn't debilitating (a little sore) but got worse daily from overhead lifting/pulling/pushing; to the point I had to bring it up to the employeers attention again to get treatment several weeks later.
Was sent for standard tests; X-rays which showed nothing, non-contrast MRI 2 month's later that showed no problems (going by what I'm told from Doctor). He ordered 4 weeks of PT which didn't help at all (if anything, slighty worse), gave me 2 cort shots (month+ apart, 1 into muscle in office; other via xray into joint? i think). Neither relieved any of the pain (nor did the NSAID's he prescribed from start). He recently prescribed Lortabs for pain (turned them down initially, because I drove equipment with employeer, and they don't allow them), which I've been taking since I'm not driving anymore; but they don't help the pain (relieves those typical aches+pains, but doesn't help the shoulder at all).
The pain is mostly on the back side of shoulder (just below acroniom i think? end of the boney part of top shoulder), and seems to throb back below shoulder blade. Lifting arm more than about 35-45degrees has intense pain that gets worse as arm is raised further (shrugging shoulder in any direction also causes a lot of pain regardless of arm rotation), with sharp pain going down bicep (only time top of bicep hurts is when lifting arm, all other times its across the back to tip of that bone).
Currently work has moved me to writing on boxes with a crayon with the hurt shoulder, even though its 'very light strain' it still hurts incredibly (to the point can only work 3-4.5 days straight before leaving early). There's no opportunity to rest the shoulder while at work (other than breaks...), and even though I've told work this work makes my shoulder hurt worse; they continue placing me there. Some of the PT stretches greatly help the throbbing pain (raising hurt arm with good arm repeatedly is one that helps a little; and moving it in the shower is way less pain).
My next App with Doctor is on Tuesday (4-9), is there anything I should be asking the doctor? To much longer of this and I'll likely not have a job nor the ability to get this treated without legal intervention.
Was sent for standard tests; X-rays which showed nothing, non-contrast MRI 2 month's later that showed no problems (going by what I'm told from Doctor). He ordered 4 weeks of PT which didn't help at all (if anything, slighty worse), gave me 2 cort shots (month+ apart, 1 into muscle in office; other via xray into joint? i think). Neither relieved any of the pain (nor did the NSAID's he prescribed from start). He recently prescribed Lortabs for pain (turned them down initially, because I drove equipment with employeer, and they don't allow them), which I've been taking since I'm not driving anymore; but they don't help the pain (relieves those typical aches+pains, but doesn't help the shoulder at all).
The pain is mostly on the back side of shoulder (just below acroniom i think? end of the boney part of top shoulder), and seems to throb back below shoulder blade. Lifting arm more than about 35-45degrees has intense pain that gets worse as arm is raised further (shrugging shoulder in any direction also causes a lot of pain regardless of arm rotation), with sharp pain going down bicep (only time top of bicep hurts is when lifting arm, all other times its across the back to tip of that bone).
Currently work has moved me to writing on boxes with a crayon with the hurt shoulder, even though its 'very light strain' it still hurts incredibly (to the point can only work 3-4.5 days straight before leaving early). There's no opportunity to rest the shoulder while at work (other than breaks...), and even though I've told work this work makes my shoulder hurt worse; they continue placing me there. Some of the PT stretches greatly help the throbbing pain (raising hurt arm with good arm repeatedly is one that helps a little; and moving it in the shower is way less pain).
My next App with Doctor is on Tuesday (4-9), is there anything I should be asking the doctor? To much longer of this and I'll likely not have a job nor the ability to get this treated without legal intervention.
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Turned out to be a severe Labral tear that didn't show up on MRI, finally starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.
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Well, without a clinical evaluation it would be difficult to determine the cause of your shoulder pain. Possible causes of the symptoms, that may need to be considered include inflammations, degenerations, capsulitis, bursitis, tendonitis, injuries/ tears, arthritis, spinal/ neuro-muscular causes, muscle/ ligament/ tendon tears/ injuries, fractures, growths/ masses, ischemia, micronutrient deficiencies etc. While most of these would be ruled out on a normal MRI, with the described symptoms inflammation/ injury does seem likely. At this point I would advise following the management plan suggested by the treating doctor and if the symptoms do not seem to improve over the next few weeks a repeat MRI or exploratory arthroscopy may be considered. I would suggest discussing the situation and the suggested management plan in detail with your treating doctor.
Hope this is helpful.
Take care!