Shoulder problems

I have had this for some time now!

SCCues said:
It gets worse after I play some long sessions (5 to 6 hours) of 9 ball with one of my good friends and the next morning my shoulder is pretty sore. I found a product called Bio freeze gel that has helped more than anything i've tried yet and I was hoping that someone on this forum might have some good ideas or suggestions to help with my problem.
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I have finally found a excellent chiropractor that has helped me greatly, if you take this path be carefull though there are a lot of them out there that will claim to be the best and many of them suck ! I have had 3 good ones out of about 11 over the years! The Doctor I am using now I have had for 7 years now. I was told I would need surgery 8 years ago and now I am feeling wonderful :) I see him once every 4-6 weeks now and am in my best shape in years !

P.S. stay away from surgery unless nothing else works ! One of my ex coworkers did it and 4 months after the surgery was declared (by the doctors) a success ! He had to have a second surgery with 2 disc fused and is on permanent disability !
 
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mnsneakypete said:
There can be several causes for your pain. I'm not sure how old you are, but in most cases, the shoulder pain is a simple "impingement syndrome" due to the rotator cuff muscles being pinched under the bone (acromion) when you lift your arm to shoulder level or higher. In some individuals, bone spurs may be tightening the bony canal even more (typically in those age > 40). Conservative treatment will solve most of these problems (with the exception of the spurs). You have tried an injection, which is a start, but you also need physical therapy aimed at strengthing the rotator cuff muscles. Without that, I doubt you will see long-lasting relief. I would not consider any surgery (acromioplasty) until you have undergone several months of therapy without relief. Get a prescription from your doc. You may have to change you body mechanics or reduce the number of hours you are playing because that can definitely exacerbate your symptoms. Good luck.
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I had this problem too. It makes it really hard to build cues when you cannot lift your arm. I went to an orthopaedic surgeon that works on the Nebraska Cornhusker football team and he did a "decompression" as explained above. It took almost two years to fully recover.....then I torn my ACL playing softball. Checkers anyone?
 
Any of you experts out there know the easiest ways to reset a seperated/dislocated shoulder? My back becomes so twisted up after my shoulder is out for a while that it's hard to line it all up and get it back in.

Anyone there with shoulder problems should know it's quite possible to have your shoulder badly out of place without realizing it for a very long time. It will cause bad neck and back problems, but may not hurt in the arm, or not all the time. If it's out of place, it's not going to matter much what is done for it, until it goes back in.

unknownpro
 
Nagging pain ....

That can be extremely discomforting. I was in a car accident 16 years ago, and went head first through the windshield of my '85 RX-7 head first.

Afterwards, I suffered a lot of back pain, shoulder and wing muscle pain.
I ended up going to a chiropractor, and finally after 2 years of treatment, he got me straightened out. But, in the meantime, I lost 70 percent of the strength in my left arm, had rotator cup problems, my wing muscle felt like someone had turned it into plaid, and my left shoulder blade underneath about drove me nuts.

It took a combination of treatments over an extended period of time, but it was successful, and I would recommend trying a good chiropractor.
 
I popped my sterno-clavicular joint back in today and reset my shoulder (with some help) so I wanted to let anyone know that's having shoulder problems that the collar bone connects in the middle of the chest at the sterno-clavicular joint which can become displaced and cause all kinds of problems, some of them very dangerous. It's one reason my shoulder is so unstable. I didn't know that joint existed until a friend injured his in a rafting accident.

unknownpro
 
What a crazy place to come and ask for medical information, being a physiotherapist myself I can safely say that the it is absolutely impossible to diagnose your shoulder problems from the information that you have given.

I assume that you have been to a professional which is how you ended up having a cortico injection, if however this professional didn't have a good understanding of how the shoulder works (Few doctors do, remember the body is vast and there is no way anyone can know about all of it) then reliving the swelling from a cortico injection may only work for a short period of time. The cause of the swelling must be addressed as well. Some earlier posts have suggested shoulder impingement may be the problem which, many years ago, would have purely been treated with rotator cuff strengthening but now a days physio has moved on and we need to know what is causing the impingement. It could be a problem with pretty much any of the muscles surrounding the shoulder complex of which there are many.

Or it could be a boney problem which would be a job for a surgeon, this is not my area of expertise and if I was treating and it became apparent that the problem was not something I could help with I would refer back to the general practitioner with a recomendation of refering on to a shoulder surgeon for an assessment, if the surgeon felt they could not help then the patient would normally go down the line of alternative therapies. In short I would go back to my gp explain that the cortico injection hadn't worked and what would they suggest is the next step, they will most likely refer you to a physio first as its cheaper then to a surgeon later.

Get the information from a professional, don't listen to me for example I could be any fool with a search function, If your surgeon suggests you need an operation which you don't like the sound of get a second opinion from a second surgeon, don't place any emphasis on the opinion of a guy on an internet forum. People who are vocal that "stuff doesn' work" are the ones that it has not worked for because they don't want others to end up like them, when they were probably going to end up like that any way. Ones that is has worked for tend not to be so vocal. It is very frustrating when patients come to my practice with preconveived ideas about a treatment based on what they overheard from some guy in a taxi.

Good luck.
 
Isn't it great to mature! Was lucky to live thru age 15 thru 25 (the bullet proof years - LOL) . All those serious bangs tend to accumulate and come back over time.

I do appreciate all the positive comments and suggestions. I've gone thru or continue to use most of them. Our local hospital complex is the best business I know of. Have resigned to moderate neck pain, etc. 24-7. Sometimes 3+ cocktails helps but don't want to over-do that either.

My only suggestion to others is get appropriate medical help and don't expect miracles.
 
The Doctor said:
What a crazy place to come and ask for medical information, being a physiotherapist myself I can safely say that the it is absolutely impossible to diagnose your shoulder problems from the information that you have given.

I assume that you have been to a professional which is how you ended up having a cortico injection, if however this professional didn't have a good understanding of how the shoulder works (Few doctors do, remember the body is vast and there is no way anyone can know about all of it) then reliving the swelling from a cortico injection may only work for a short period of time. The cause of the swelling must be addressed as well. Some earlier posts have suggested shoulder impingement may be the problem which, many years ago, would have purely been treated with rotator cuff strengthening but now a days physio has moved on and we need to know what is causing the impingement. It could be a problem with pretty much any of the muscles surrounding the shoulder complex of which there are many.

Or it could be a boney problem which would be a job for a surgeon, this is not my area of expertise and if I was treating and it became apparent that the problem was not something I could help with I would refer back to the general practitioner with a recomendation of refering on to a shoulder surgeon for an assessment, if the surgeon felt they could not help then the patient would normally go down the line of alternative therapies. In short I would go back to my gp explain that the cortico injection hadn't worked and what would they suggest is the next step, they will most likely refer you to a physio first as its cheaper then to a surgeon later.

Get the information from a professional, don't listen to me for example I could be any fool with a search function, If your surgeon suggests you need an operation which you don't like the sound of get a second opinion from a second surgeon, don't place any emphasis on the opinion of a guy on an internet forum. People who are vocal that "stuff doesn' work" are the ones that it has not worked for because they don't want others to end up like them, when they were probably going to end up like that any way. Ones that is has worked for tend not to be so vocal. It is very frustrating when patients come to my practice with preconveived ideas about a treatment based on what they overheard from some guy in a taxi.

Good luck.
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The guy in the taxi probably isn't going to make $40,000 off of a possibly unnecessary surgery. Have you ever heard of prolotherapy? Is it not recommended by former surgeon general C. Edward Koop as the most effective and safe treatment for numerous shoulder problems, spine problems and problems with other joints? Or am I mislead? Why do you not mention it?

Why not come here, to a forum where a lot of people do the same thing you do and have similar problems to you to help each other find answers? The internet is a great place to learn things. I found a study describing the injuries incurred by people using wheelchairs. It seems they mostly have very similar injuries, which appear similar to a lot of pool injuries.

Chronic pain can be life threateningly serious. I'm fortunate that I have learned how to make mine go away. I'm trying to learn how to keep it away. I'll listen to someone in a taxi speaking a foreign language if they know something that can help me, especially if it doesn't involve a huge needle or scalpel.

I do appreciate you coming on to try and help though, and I'm sure you are right, noone can make a diagnosis that easily. My simple rule is that if a tendon is so tight that it's causing pain in the shoulder, neck or back, a bone has to move somewhere. If the shoulder's not seperated/dislocated or the sterno-clavicular is not out, then the back/hip is, so start at the bottom and straighten it out. It may not be true for everybody, but it's what I live by. Pain pills or alcohol do not begin to relieve the problem, and moving the right bones will completely eliminate it. Now if I can just quit moving them the wrong way, I'll be fine.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

unknownpro
 
this is my first visit to your forums and i cant believe many of you have this issue.
people here think im mad when i say i have a POOL INJURY but my left shoulder is like a lot of you hard to move after long practice sessions im right handed so this is my bridge arm.

my wife is a personal trainer and has been working on my core strengh and balance as she believes it is caused by my own weight pushing down on the shoulder. i have to say i think she is right

i now stretch before playing and with different exercises on a stability ball she has improved it no end.

if you just fix the problem it will keep happening but fix the cause and it may stay away. it is difficult to change your stance and balance but its better than the pain and not playing for days on end to recover
 
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