Anybody done their Rotor Cuff ligament?

All the best ET. Your patience is admirable.
Injuries suck

great to hear! Absolutely second knuckling down into the rehab! It's everything!

EEEEEkkkkkkkk

Sounds terrible. Good luck getting it sorted.

ET.

I had this same thing last year. Going shopping while keeping my arm up above my head like a child asking teacher to go to the toilet was pretty embarrassing. It was very painful indeed - absolutely excruciating. I had a couple of weeks with not more than about 3 hrs sleep each night, and the docs had me on heavy doses of opiate painkillers which pretty quickly started to send me downhill physically. You are lucky to have had a GP who identified the problem correctly. I wasn't, so suffered for a long time. The arm above the head thing is almost diagnostic of this condition - there are few other conditions that could lead to a pattern of symptoms like this.

So I do sympathise. I also had strange sensations in my fingers, and an area of skin on the outside of my arm/shoulder just above the biceps (where a military badge indicating rank might be if you were in the army) which lacked any sensation.

Anyway, I had no treatment, basically, because by the time I saw a medic who actually knew what it was, I was on the mend anyway, and not in the mood for listening to doctors anymore. I had been told it was a rotator cuff problem and kinda suggested that I was exaggerating the pain, and the doctor didn't believe the business about relief of symptoms with lifting arm over the head... It was only when I ended up chatting to a friend of a friend who was a neurologist that he pretty instantly spotted what it was.

I found that I needed to experiment with neck positioning to get relief. Try lying down on a bed and using pillows around the neck area - VERY gently - to elongate your neck in various positions. I eventually found a couple of positions that which when I did it the symptoms got instantly better, and I got a pretty nasty-sounding click in my neck and things started slowly to get better. I still have a pretty awful crunching sound sometimes when I turn my head around, but the pain has gone.

The main problem for me was finding medical help from anyone who even remotely knew what was going on. It was only by luck that I did. I was pretty much besides myself with pain, and the painkillers only took the edge off rather than solved the problem, and they brought problems of their own, like constipation etc. It was a good lesson for me in how one simple little injury can lead to a quick downward spiral. After 3 weeks of pain I finally went to work - more out of boredom and desperation than anything - and the look on the faces of my colleagues when they saw me was quite shocking. They could see how debilitated I had become in a very short time, and I had lost a lot of fitness through sheer inactivity and not wanting to eat, and extraordinary sleep deprivation - which really messes with your mind (so do the opiate painkillers).

Anyway, I hope you fare better than I did. In my case it was something to do with C5 I think. I can't say how the treatments might help because I didn't get any. But I think that I started to get on the mend through very careful neck stretching like I described above. And it would have helped a lot to have heard from other people who had this condition because at the time it see seemed to me that it was never going to improve, and it was hugely frustrating to be told it was a rotator cuff problem when it was obvious to me it wasn't.

Good luck mate!

PS: if you have a high tolerance for medical jargon, here's an article that may help.

www.aafp.org/afp/2010/0101/p33.html

But basically what it says is that it's all jolly complex and there are few treatments that have been proved to work. My advice, above all else, is to try to stay as active as you can - without of course exacerbating the symptoms. You might feel like a dummy walking around with your arm in the air, but it's better than sitting around being miserable with your whole body withering away through lack of activity. Be VERY gentle with your neck, but mobilising it might help - you'll know when you are doing the right thing because the pain will decrease pretty immediately. But I'm just a sufferer not a doctor, so if this conflicts with the medical advice you've been given then of course go with what the professionals say instead.

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smiitty said...
Hi Area 10,
Only week 1 for me, not looking forward to 2 more.
Had the CT on C2 area, all clear.
Had the ultra sound on shoulder, a few old tears nothing new.
Going for Xray on monday and possible needle to numb it.
Cheers CarterSUPhysio for quick reply.
I'm taking 75mg Lyrica. ( Its heavy **** man)!!!

Good luck mate. Was about 6-8 weeks for me with no treatment (except prescription painkillers) before I could even drive more than about 2 miles. Sounds like you are faring much better.

Also sounds like you are getting loads better medical attention. The UK National Health Service needs more of your doctors!

Just read this about Lyrica: "You may have thoughts about suicide while taking Lyrica. Your doctor will need to check you at regular visits. Do not miss any scheduled appointments." Heavy sh£t indeed.

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Area10 said..

smiitty said...
Hi Area 10,
Only week 1 for me, not looking forward to 2 more.
Had the CT on C2 area, all clear.
Had the ultra sound on shoulder, a few old tears nothing new.
Going for Xray on monday and possible needle to numb it.
Cheers CarterSUPhysio for quick reply.
I'm taking 75mg Lyrica. ( Its heavy **** man)!!!

Good luck mate. Was about 6-8 weeks for me with no treatment (except prescription painkillers) before I could even drive more than about 2 miles. Sounds like you are faring much better.

Also sounds like you are getting loads better medical attention. The UK National Health Service needs more of your doctors!

Just read this about Lyrica: "You may have thoughts about suicide while taking Lyrica. Your doctor will need to check you at regular visits. Do not miss any scheduled appointments." Heavy sh£t indeed.

Lyrica is now being use fairly regularly for nerve pain - does have the side effects that sound horrible but no one ever has the stats next to it (e.g 0.001% of users get suicidal ideation etc.... that's not a correct number but for example purposes)Doctors in Aus are pretty good at prescribing the lowest dose required for a change (which is basically just good medical practice) but it can be a great help for nerve pain - but as a side treatment to physio etc etc!

Well today was the day.

Saw my Physio on Thursday and he gave me the OK to have a "light paddle on flat water".

so I took my SurfSUP and did just that. A wonderful 1 1/4 hour paddle in the Noosa River and bays. Nothing fancy but it was great to get on the water again After an operation and 4 1/2 months of recovery.

No soreness or pain, yet anyway.

So now I take it steady for a while and look forward to graduating to the surf and back on my glide.

ET.

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E T said..
Well today was the day.

Saw my Physio on Thursday and he gave me the OK to have a "light paddle on flat water".

so I took my SurfSUP and did just that. A wonderful 1 1/4 hour paddle in the Noosa River and bays. Nothing fancy but it was great to get on the water again After an operation and 4 1/2 months of recovery.

No soreness or pain, yet anyway.

So now I take it steady for a while and look forward to graduating to the surf and back on my glide.

ET.

Fantastic news ET must be a good feeling being back,take it easy.

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yt04 said..
I need some advice re dodgy shoulders. I'm 43, 172cm tall and overweight at 93kgs. My shoulders have had a fair workout their life by surfing prone from age 13 to mid 30's where I just couldn't do it anymore as it hurt too much. Also Being a plasterer throwing gyprock from age 17 to 24 to when I got out of it. Also both shoulders have had a good injury to each separately with the right the worse about 6 years ago when my arm got twisted back over my head while being straight and me screaming to stop. I had physio for it but it's never been the same since. Any rotation just hurts now and aches for a few days after. I can't lie on my side on that shoulder trying to sleep as it starts to burn and throb and after about 5 mins becomes unbearable. Sup'ing isn't that bad for it as its more a forward and backward motion but after a good session I feel it for a few days. I do have full movement in both, just pain when I rotate or use it a lot or lie on the right side. I don't have any private medical insurance or anything but would appreciate any advice as to what to do to stop the pain. Cheers Whitey

so as always - trying to diagnose over the internet is risky (although telehealth is a big up and comer)... so disclaimer and all that - but i'll give you some thoughts that might be able to guide your research about some possible things going on!


1) You don't think it came out when you went into that overhead and back position??? - at age 43, with being active and also having a job where you were lifting overhead all day everyday for a many years, i'd have no hesitation in saying that if you got imaging on your shoulders, you'd have some rotator cuff tears. If you've read any of my other posts before, you'll know that I'm a big fan of, just because you have xyz on a picture doesn't mean that it's xyz causing the pain.. "treat the person, not the picture"
but there is a possibility you have a supraspinatus +/- the rest of the rotator cuff tear in there which could account your symptoms, but I think it's less likely.2) it's possible you've got a torn labrum (degenerative rather than acute) - do you have any excessive clicking, catching locking or feeling of instability (more than the other side?)? - look up shoulder labral tear and see if any of that fits...3) it sounds most likely a sub acromial bursitis, which you are impinging upon in certain movements, particular rotatation or direct shoulder pressure (lying on that side)look up sub acromial bursitis - everyone has bursa's (bursae) they are supposed to be as thin as a piece of paper - think of a grape skin squashed together but thinner. Their job is to minimise friction between soft tissues (tendon, ligaments, muscles) against hard tissues (usually bone or cartillage) they can get inflamed - henche the ITIS on the end of the word. When they are inflammed, they take up more room around your shoulder joint and if it's taking up more room, it means there is less space, which means it's easier to impinge the bursa and inflame it and so on - you see how that cycle ends up. Look up those three things, you'll find many symptoms cross over, but some things might stand out or be more relateable. then report back!

Currently 7 weeks into nursing a partial tear of my supraspinatus tendon, bursitis and bicep tendinitis, it's made me realise how addicted to getting on the water I am. Taking it easy and resting is killing me as I have been paddling 4/5 times a week for the last two years. Well at least it is winter!