Tendonitis in the shoulder??????
Hi,
I do martial arts, which involve constantly landing on my left shoulder. I have done judo for more than 17 years, several times a week.
Over the years I have experienced pain in my shoulder when I lift my arm out to the side, but I soon learnt that if i rested it and tried not to move the arm at all in that direction, in a day or two at the most it would be gone.
This has happened several times and has always cleared up.
But about a year ago, it started up and I have been unable to shake it. I was trying to do press ups daily and had to stop.
Then a couple of weeks ago it got much worse. I am now in constant pain, although taking Anti-inflamortarys and am struggling with day to day things.
I have rested it, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference.
I looked up on here and it seems to be inflamation of the supraspinatus tendon.
And the information says that it will be ok if looked after, and can cause serious problems if not.
But I have had this episode now for over a year and am worried that it is now damaged beyond repair.
I am seeing a physio next week, but am worried what the outcome will be.
Does anybody have similar experiences, or able to offer an oppinion as to the future?
I rested from training, due to another injury for over 4 months, but that didn’t help!
Any thoughts on the subject would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Sarah.
3 comments
sarah_g91
Hi,
Thanks to both Mike and Fox for replying to my post.
I saw my Physio, and she thinks it’s a seperation of the AC joint.
I have now done some searching on this, and yes, where the pain is does seem to indicate this. It’s not at the top of my Humerus bone it’s on the bone that sticks up at the end of my collor bone. (Right where my bra strap sits! Which is painful!!! I did spend a few days with my strap off my shoulder!) She says she can see that the bone has risen a little. (Although I need to look very closely to see anything!)
I am going back tomorrow, and can ask more questions, as I don’t understand how if I use the muscles to life my arm to the side it hurts, but if I grab it with the other hand I can move it more or less anywhere with no pain. Surely if it’s a bone, any movement would hurt it, where as if it’s tendon you would need to use the muscles.
Maybe it’s another muscle and tendon that’s attached to my collor bone that is pulling on it on when used. I don’t know, but will ask this tomorrow.
I am not sure if that’s better or worse than tendonitis!!! My initial feelings are better, but that’s probably because I have suffered tendonitis in my wrists for about 8 years, so it worries me! I suppose time will tell. But I am a little less worried now.
My Physio thinks it will have cleared up in about 3 weeks (unfortunatly I continued training for 2 weeks, as I didn’t realise how bad it would get ’till it did!)
And she has given me exercises to bring my shoulders back as they are rounded, and I also need to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles as the joint is lax. Hopefully this will help stop it reacuring, or at least as often or as bad.
Again, thanks.
Sarah.
fox
Hi sarah,
mike is right, it could be a number of things, the bugger about shoulders is that they are tricky to get back to normal and have a tendancy for recurring problems (complex joint with lots of muscles attaching!) The physio will be able to tell you whats wrong, if it is tendonitis, there is lots you can do to reduce the inflammation, hot/cold, ultrasound, interferential current seems to work well, as does stretching. worst case scenario would be a cortisone shot, but leave that until nothing else has worked. Its a tricky thing to get rid of, but wont last forever, and the physio should be able to give you some recommendations on how to keep it from comming back!
good luck!! post what the physio has to say
mikew
Hi,
It could be a number of things with the shoulder. Wait to see what your phsio says first.
Remember that you cannot stay injured forever. Even if it does require surgery in the end you should still be able to recover.