Shoulder Injuries Are No Joke

It’s been a couple years since I’ve injured myself. That seems to be my trend. Couple years ago it was my back. As you can see from previous posts I ended up having back surgery and it still hurt after that so I have a lot of physical therapy and I finally got better. This time it’s my left shoulder.

My trend seems to be that anytime I go to the gym and start feeling great about myself, and I’m getting healthy… A month later…I’m injured. The bad thing is that I can’t really tell you how I hurt myself so bad. I do know what I did to cause some of the injuries but not all of them. It all started around August 2017, we were moving from our house and I had to pack all the boxes and move things around on my own. My husband helped, but not as much. We had just started a new business so he was busy doing that. By the time moving day came my shoulder was hurting. I tried icing it. I try to rest but nothing was working. Around this time it was just a burning feeling around my shoulder. There were no sharp pains, just constant burning.

September 1st came around and we had to actually move. My husband and I decided not to get a mover and do it all ourselves. The two of us moved our house into a couple storage units because the apartment was not ready. Then a few days later we had to move again from the storage units to the apartment. By now, the burning in my shower turned into sharp pains and it felt like my arm is on fire. Trying to push past the pain I continued going to the gym. This was probably not my smartest decision.

I decided to go and see my Ortho to make sure I didn’t break anything. He did an x-ray and didn’t find any breaks. I explained where my pain was and we came to the conclusion that I separated my shoulder at my AC joint. He gave me a steroid injection into my AC joint and sent me home. He also sent me home with a script for physical therapy. Within a week, the swelling in my shoulder went down (sadly I didn’t even realize how swollen my shoulder was until I got the injection). Now I was able to see the lump on top of my shoulder. I went to physical therapy for a few weeks and it seem to be going OK. But just OK. Not better not worse, OK. A few more weeks go by with more physical therapy, but again my changes are minimal but my pain level is increasing.

Then in November I took my kids to the park. I was holding my daughters legs while she was on the monkey bars and she slipped off. It wasn’t a hard fall but her feet and weight landed in my bad arm. I caught her and it was as only for a second but it was enough to hurt. Ibuprofen and Tylenol were no longer working. The pain is causing migraines and I’m having a problem sleeping. I can’t lay on my shoulder at all and laying on my back hurts. And now…on my very painful days, I had to rely on half of a Percocet to get me through the day. I went back to my Ortho and he said that I probably need an MRI. It takes forever to get my MRI but when I finally do (January 2018)….the results were not good.

I don’t understand what I did to get a stress fracture. There was no accident, no fall, and no real reason for a break. Yes I caught my daughter but it wasn’t a heavy fall. She was only about 6 inches from my arm. But none the less….it’s fractured. My Ortho gives me another steroid shot into the bursa of my shoulder (by the rotator cuff) and prescribes more physical therapy. A month later….no relief. My ROM (range of motion) has improved on some movements and gotten worse on others. Bending my arm hurts worse at this point. I can’t hold more than 3 lbs with that arm. I am in pain daily. I am pretty good at blocking out the pain. I have a high pain tolerance and I have kids. My kids are my priority. Sadly they come before my health. So I do what I have to do to get through the day (pain or no pain).

I went back to my Ortho and explained all of this…thinking his next step would be surgery. Boy was I wrong. His suggestion was that I didn’t let my fracture heal properly and now I have to wear a sling for 2 to 4 weeks. After that if…I have surgery at all… It would only to be to remove the scar tissue in my shoulder. Nothing will be done to my rotator cuff.

So now I have a dilemma….do I get a second opinion?

My Ortho is non-surgical so I know he is doing surgery as a last resort. But after seeing my MRI and knowing how much pain I am in everyday….I have a feeling surgery is in my near future.

What should I do?

OMT and Dry Needling – awesome!

These last few years have been very hard for me. I’ve gone through a lot medically. I’ve seen a multitude of doctors and no one could ever figure out what my problem was. I should’ve known to take the naturopath way. I probably could have gotten my issue solved a long time ago. Anyone who reads my blog knows what I’ve been going through over the last couple of years. But for those of you that don’t read my blog, I’ll give you a quick rundown. Over the last couple of years I have had:

• back surgery
• sciatic pain
• foot drop
• migraines
• dizziness
• neurogenic bladder

I have just been in pain 24/7.

Well I am very happy to report that most of that is done. I was having migraines weekly and haven’t had a migraine in two months. I had orthostatic hypotension (dizzy every time I stood up)…and I haven’t been dizzy in months. My foot drop has gone away and foot function is back to normal. I no longer have muscle atrophy in my left leg.  I’m able to bend over without crying. I’m able to play with my kids. I’m able to pee without taking a pill. I WILL NOT have daily catheters in my near future. So…..Right now I am a happy, happy girl.

Over the last couple of years I’ve been to an urologist for my bladder, three neurologist for my foot drop and leg pain. I have seen an orthopedic surgeon for my back pain. I finally went to my last neurologist who happened to be a DO and she said I don’t need any more testing. I don’t need any more imaging. I just needed to get some massages and some OMT adjustments from another DO and hope that this will help. The goal was to give my body a break. She sent me to an orthopedic DO. I began the OMT (osteopathic manipulative therapy). Basically it’s chiropractic care but by a certified doctor. And it’s a little more in depth than just getting an adjustment from a chiropractor. And I have to say I loved it. On my first visit he adjusted me from head to toe and I already felt a difference. Then he sent me to physical therapy. It took two tries with two different physical therapy facilities…but I finally found one that I liked and that is helping too.

The physical therapist I’m seeing does dry needling. I always heard bad things about dry needling but the way he does it isnt so bad. The old way is where they jab the needle in you and then take it out and jab it in again and take it out and jab it in again. Painful. This one…it’s not like that. He puts the needle in til he hits the muscle, twists a little and then put the tens unit attached to it so that the muscle jumps and stretches and releases. This process was way better than being tortured by needles. And I have to say it’s great. The procedure lasts for about 15 minutes but the relief that I feel after is amazing. My back doesn’t hurt, my butt doesn’t hurt, I’m able to stretch, and able to move. I’m able to do my exercises without hurting myself. Granted there are a few times where I had a little too much to drink and stretched a little too far or did a little too much ballet. But then all I had to get adjusted with OMT and get a little dry needling and I felt 100% better. I have to say… With how I felt two years ago compared to how I feel now… It’s amazing… It’s at least 90% better than how I felt before and I’m ecstatic.