Tuesday, April 12, 2011

NEW PHYSICAL THERAPY INTAKE AND NEW DOCTOR

Well, in your face, Dr. Cold-Cutter, because I just got back from my physical therapy intake, and it turns out that my shoulder is displaced and frozen and that is why I cannot lift my arm.

I can tell by looking in the mirror that it is in the wrong position (it looks like I am shrugging and pushing my shoulder forward), but Dr. Cold-Cutter did not bother to actually look at my shoulder, preferring to ponificate on the absoluteness of the MRI.

Yes, the MRI does not show that I cannot lift my shoulder. It took pictures of my shoulder in the down position. Duh.

Here is another problem: My PT says that when I fell, it traumatized my rotator cuff tendons and they clamped down. That is why, within a few days of falling, I could no longer put my hand behind my back and other positions.  So my shoulder joint is frozen.

One last thing: I now have adhesions between my muscles and skin from my shoulder all the way to my elbow. Just trying to "pinch an inch" of skin on my upper arm is very painful. So I got to have 15-20 minutes of massage that breaks adhesions that felt like a hot poker being rubbed over my skin.

Here is the plan - First, all the adhesions in my arm have to be broken down by message and ultrasound. Then the "posterior capsular tightness" (frozen shoulder) has to be loosened. Then the "scapular dyskinesis" (displaced shoulder) has to be PT-ed back to where it belongs.

This will no doubt be a process that takes a few months.

My PT gave me the name of a ortho doc that she trusts, and I have an appointment with him on Friday.

So, not great news, but anything that is not surgery is good.

4 comments:

  1. Absolutely. Non surgery options are always the best. Take care.

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  2. Thanks so much! The recovery will be long, but it would be much longer with surgery!

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  3. Those adhesions will hurt while they are working on them, but it really did help with my back when the massage therapist was working those out. Still a much better option than a surgery. Rotator cuff surgery takes a long time to heal from.

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  4. I'm sorry you had to go through that massage, Stephanie! It is no fun. I just keep saying to myself, "This will make me better. This will make me better."

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