grumpy shoulder

[rmd]

so, before i went to VA, I had some kind of annoying "golfball under my shoulder blade" kind of muscle issue going on. by the time i got back, i had pulled and strained things enough that i was having trouble finding a comfortable position for sleeping. i've been taking lots of vitamin I, and i got a massage night before last that unlocked a whole lot of tensed up muscle. it's still painful, and if i hold my arm in the wrong way, i get a bit of numbness in my hand, so i assume there's some swelling going on in there.

it feels like this is just something that's fine when in a good position and not moving around a lot (i had no problem when i woke up this morning, until i started using my arm...), but i wish it would heal faster. HEAL, SHOULDER, HEAL.

Comments

[muffyjo]

Also, you might check out a Chiropractor? I don't know if you have one you like or not, but it sounds like it's worth looking into.

[cutieperson]

:empathy:

[lioritgioret.livejournal.com]

Shoulders are so fussy, and it's so hard to find a good position for them when they are wrong -- that darn gravity, for one thing. I hope yours feels better soon and does not require further intervention.

[tb]

I totally get the wishing it would heal faster part. I hope it does.

If you're getting numbness, it's likely that something's impinging on a nerve. If it doesn't clear up quickly, I'd say get it looked at sooner rather than later, either by a doctor or (reputable) chiro. Admittedly, my perspective is skewed here because I recently put off dealing with some minor med issues and now things are arguably worse. I'd rather not have that happen to you.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah. the numbness is positional, so i'm just staying out of that position. if the range of position that creates numbness increases, i'll definitely head to get it looked at. in the mean time, i'll give it a few days of as much rest as i can manage and some NSAIDs and see how it is.

[loopback.livejournal.com]

I had exactly this happen to me about 2 months ago or so. It started with the giant golfball of doom, and after a couple weeks of that, my arm started doing the full-surface light numbness.

My doctor prescribed: weekly massage, take 2 aleve twice a day or 3 ibupro 3x a day, and heat heat heat the area.

The knot took about 4-5 days of that to get taken care of (ish) and my arm kept having positional numbness for another month, though it got lighter & lighter and eventually was fine again.

I feel for yah, Regis. That shit sucks.

Since then I've started a fairly lightweight but consistent exercise regiment that is going to work me up to full pushups/pullups (never been able to do a pullup, so that's exciting). The book I picked up has a hideous name, but is a good workout progression guidebook for getting to that kind of stuff, and it's all bodyweight calisthentics, so no weights or Stuff needed.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

ugh.

is there anything that can be done as far as splinting or slings? if so, i may seek something out. if it's just a matter of time, then i'll just wait until i have a regular dr's appt scheduled in a couple of weeks to check in with progress unless my arm falls off or something.

[loopback.livejournal.com]

well I am not a doctor and I'm not even ON tv, but I switched my desk around a bit to change how I was sitting at work, and am currently sitting on one of those goofy-ass exercise balls to keep me sitting up straight instead of slouching like a thing what slouches a lot. Other than that, I pretty much just kept heat on it all the time (those disposable stick-on self-heating pads are a godsend at work) and took lots of breaks from my desk, walked around, moved my shoulder, etc, etc.

If your shoulder is up to it, try doing some vertical pushups (stand up about 2' or so away from a wall, stick your arms straight out with your palms on the wall, and then do slow pushup style motions, going towards the wall until your nose touches, hold for a second, then push back up to the starting position). Also horizontal pullups: Grab a doorframe and lean all the way back until you feel it stretching your back muscles a bit, and then do a pull-up motion to pull yourself towards the edge of the doorframe. But if you're still in giant-ball-of-knot shoulderville and in pain, i wouldn't do any of that yet.

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

Sleeping with a pillow under your arm (so that you're keeping the shoulder more neutral rather than inching it forwards/backwards/towards your ear and so that you're minimizing the nerve compression can help a bit.

*hugs*

Do you have or need Robax? JB just brought some back from Canada and that often helps me a bit faster than aleve or ibu

*hugs*

[laurenpburka.livejournal.com]

I had something like that. It didn't get better until I got cortisone shots in it. Then all the massage and exercize started helping.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

This may sound like a dufus thing to say, but why would you expect it to heal? It may resolve on its own, but that's not the same thing as healing.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

it feels like the sort of muscle strain that has healed in the past. so i'm being optimistic.