shoulder tendinitis!

[wiscodevil]

Thought I'd try the OT boards for some medical advice.

I've been experiencing some pretty bad shoulder pain for the last 6 months or so. If I sleep on it wrong, move it the wrong way, etc. Doing even a single push up causes a searing pain down my arm.

History
I got an initial MRI that I was told showed mild tendinitis. Got a cortisone shot and did a month of PT. That helped just a little to alleviate the pain, but not much. Went to get a 2nd opinion and was told the same, got another shot. I don't think the 2nd Dr. even looked at the film, just parroted the report he was given. I finally had someone else look at the MRi and it showed "severe" tendinitis.

I'm thinking of trying massage, acupuncture, even some other more recent things i have heard of:
http://www.tenexhealth.com/understan...atment-options
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00648

anyone have any knowledge or experience with either of these treatment options?

thanks in advance!!

[DukeandMdFan]

I don't have experience with the treatments you listed. I do have experience with physical therapy for my shoulder and I found it to be very helpful. At physical therapy, they will probably treat you with more than just exercises. (Obviously, learning the proper exercises doesn 't help much unless you spend the time doing those exercises...)

Good luck!

[cspan37421]

sent you a PM

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Over the years I've had cortisone shots in both shoulders and one hip. Fortunately they work for me. But as a side sleeper, I roll over every couple of hours to rotate which shoulder I'm sleeping on and which is down, in "military style" attention style down my "up" side to relieve the pain in that shoulder from having slept
on it. It's a nightly battle.

[Alison]

Oh man, cortisone is a bad idea! That stuff masks the pain so you don't notice the problem while your situation gets worse. Think about all those ball players who get shot with cortisone to keep them in the game only to be toast from a permanent injury later on. If your doc or therapist is recommending cortisone say no!

Get yourself a decent shoulder ice pack - you can find a bunch of reviews at shouldericepacks.com. That will help with the pain and swelling without setting you up for reinjury.

I get tendonitis in my shoulder from time to time because of how I sleep, I think. Looks like I'm not the only one! I got this BFST thing that seems like it's a glorified heating pad but it works okay.