Shoulder and arm pain

[nuttycyclist]

I am not asking for real medical advice, I am fully aware where my Dr is located and will go there when 'teh plague' is over.

Long standing members may remember that way back in 2004 I stupidly used a cycle path and ended up with a grade three ACL separation.  At the time I thought I'd broken my collar bone, but after cycling to A&E they diagnosed it to be just ligaments (although to the severe extent that everybody got called in to look at me as a textbook case).  Consultant I saw after a few days gave me the option of cutting me open to put a wire in to winch the collar bone down to make me look symmetrical (ignoring the scars) and I declined this in favour of physio.

By 2017 I'd forgotten all about it, but then fell over while skiing.  I've had ongoing niggling pain and lack of movement ever since.  e.g. laying in bed reading starts to cause aches and I need to readjust the shoulder.  About a year ago it got worse and I joked with a friend that if I needed to scratch the back of my head with my left hand I needed to use my right hand to pull the left elbow back.

Last few months it is getting even worse.  The pain goes from neck, through the shoulder, down the arm between bicep and tricep (i.e. neither of those muscles) and then continues to the wrist.  If I throw a stick for a friend's dog with my right arm, the left side of my body seizes, cramps and pains.  I climbed a tree at the weekend, for no reason, and nearly got stuck as my arm stopped working.  Yesterday whilst driving I rolled my shoulders to ease them and could feel the whole left arm shouting pain at me.

I think that physio will be of use, and if I go to the Drs they will refer me to physio who will go online and print me some exercise sheets.    I have had the same sheets from different people in the past, so want to go to source myself and save NHS time to focus on others who need it.  I haven't however been able to find them.


So the question is, what help or advice can the panel here offer for me to consider.

[morbihan]

Ive had a shoulder operated on several times. Wear and tear from contact sports and latterly a bike race fall.
I had similar issues to what you describe. Namely impingement going down the arm.
The last surgery pretty much sorted it. The end of the collar bone was shaved down and the bicep tendon was somehow redirected. I have no idea how but have a scar under my arm pit.
I found lifting weights etc tended to aggravate it, and avoiding poor posture, hunching and the like seemed to help too.
I work as a painter (artist) and it was my painting shoulder so went to great lengths to resolve the issue.
IFYP.

[benborp]

After a mismanaged collar bone injury I ended up (after a considerable passage of time) having the broken portion excised and my shoulder reconstructed without an ACJ.

Years of physiotherapy prior and post reconstruction to keep things functioning depending on how various muscle groups adapted to the instability, but it was always a battle against direct and referred pain. About five years after the reconstruction everything had settled into an equilibrium so I was able to maintain shoulder function with a standard programme of exercises. However, pain and function problems across arm, neck and back continued to interfere with day to day life. There was a period of eighteen months to two years of physio first aid chasing these secondary issues in circles (I also had those weird episodes where my upper body would be effectively paralysed).

The breakthrough for me was some advice from a T'ai chi master. The upshot is that I now combine conventional physiotherapy exercises with some breath and relaxation methods from T'ai chi and some specific advice on posture that went against much of what all of my physios had me try to achieve. This means that I can engage and coordinate muscle groups as exercise but I'm not chasing a western ideal of posture that doesn't work for me anymore.

I still occasionally get specific advice from a local physio when I notice a mechanical glitch developing and we will run through which exercises to download - googling "scapular stabilization PDF" will get me every exercise I've ever done - but I treat physio as a specific tool rather than general treatment.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I strained something in my shoulder joint, swimming. Thought it was a rotator cuff injury. 6 months later, it hasn't improved, but aggravating range of movement has altered.

I've tried complete rest, gentle rubber band exercises; still doesn't improve.

'Chicken wing' movements are the ones that aggravate it. Just a tiny weight is too much.

Very frustrating. 18months ago I would hit up the gym and manage 150lb in the machine, 5 reps. Now a bucket of water gives me trouble.

[nuttycyclist]

Thanks for the replies thus far.

I was laying in bed last night and it was aching again.  I remembered I have a tens machine I bought years ago.  This is supposed to have pain relief, but I couldn't remember where to stick the pads (across the muscle, in length of the muscle, etc).

Is it worth my while researching the instructions?  Has anybody else had success with these?    (I recall a physio some years ago used one on my legs)

[joy of essex]

Given the original injury it sound like you may have a cervical  disc bulge: probably c5 or c6.  Which is what I have.

The pain  down your arm is caused by the cervical  disc bulging into the nerve and irritating it. That's the nerve that goes from there down  through your shoulder and arm to the hand.  Hence the pain there.

Treatment.

RICE- but place the cold pack on the neck as that's where the inflammation is.
Ibuprofen - or it it's unbearable see  if your  GP can prescribe Naproxen . In my time I ve been on amitryptilene, co codamol,  and other goodies.  Worth taking at the  time but not long term

Physio, try Bob and Brad- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SLairHEutE

This is , probably, not  going  to go away  . Relief comes from  exercise , knowing what irritates it,  and taking meds when you need to.  Sitting at desk and using a keyboard invariably sets mine off, indeed  writing this is setting off twinges down my arm , so I try and always use a standing desk .

[nuttycyclist]

Thank you.

I also often stand instead of sit (much to the disgust of Mrs Nutty who cannot understand how work cannot be achieved without a silent office/desk/chair).  Sitting yesterday I noticed the pain much worse.  Laying in bed reading is one that is also guaranteed to cause pain.    Strangely, a day with a hedge trimmer and sitting in a tree caused the symptoms to go away - I did that on purpose as it was exercise (hence my thought of cheating with the tens machine) whilst laying in bed reading).

I have a huge box of ibuprofen, so might try that.  I didn't like Naproxen when I was proscribed it for my back - it turned me into a zombie (not good during a long weekend in Paris).

I'll watch that youtube video later as this latest software install is about to finish.