<p>Since I am positive that I can get the answer to anything here…</p>
<p>H has a terribly sore shoulder. It came on pretty fast and he is in tons of pain. He is having a terrible time sleeping and is in pain all the time. He went to his primary and they said rotator cuff, tendinitis. Gave him exercises to do, put heat on it and take ibuprofen. That was it. No X-ray, no MRI, no drugs to help him sleep. </p>
<p>Anything else he can do? We both would like to get some sleep ;)</p>
<p>Id go to an orthopedic surgeon.
A cortisone injection along with physical therapy should help.
[Rotator</a> Cuff Tears-OrthoInfo - AAOS](<a href=“OrthoInfo | Error”>Rotator Cuff Tears - OrthoInfo - AAOS)</p>
<p>Thanks ek4, he has an appointment on Friday. Trying to see what we could do until then. That’s why he went to his primary today, because he is in such pain. I’m hoping a heating pad will give him some relief and he can get some sleep.</p>
<p>I’m not a doctor, and I’m not giving medical advice…but if your husband is in severe pain, don’t do any exercises to aggravate things now…see the specialist first. You are doing the right thing seeing an ortho doctor. If he is screaming and hasn’t slept in days ask to see ortho guy immediately or go to emergency room.</p>
<p>Ice.
A sling, to relieve some of the weight off his shoulder.
You should be able to get one at the drug store.</p>
<p>Glad your dh will see an orthopedic surgeon soon. Until then, call his primary care doctor and tell him that OTC pain meds are not working. Unless there’s a medical reason why he can’t take Percocet or something similar, ask for a one week supply. You may need to emphasize that on a scale of 1 - 10 the pain is a 9 or 10 and is also waking your husband from his sleep at night. You might have to pick up the Rx and take it to the pharmacy. In our area, at least, doctors can no longer phone in narcotic pain meds. I can’t take NSAIDs or cortisone injections, so when Tylenol doesn’t work for me I have to take narcotic pain meds. I try to keep enough for two or three nights on hand at all times.</p>
<p>I’m no doctor, either, but have way too much experience with rotator cuff problems, bone spurs, etc. Ice is what my ortho suggested when the pain first flares. Try 10 minutes out of every half hour whenever possible to reduce any inflammation. </p>
<p>Only after the inflammation was gone could I use heat. A cotton or flannel sack filled with long grain rice to heat in the microwave for two minutes makes a comforting heating pad and you don’t have to worry about the patient falling asleep and possibly getting burned like with an electric heating pad.</p>
<p>The sling will be helpful, too. If your dh can’t/won’t wear the sling at night, try using a safety pin to pin his pajama (or long sleeve tee) sleeve so that his arm is in a comfortable, neutral position. I used to sleep with one arm under my pillow. When the bone spurs caused trouble, I tried to stop that habit but kept waking at 2 or 3 a.m. in so much pain. Safety pinning my nightgown and pajama sleeves was the only thing that worked. </p>
<p>Depending on the cause of the pain, the ortho may suggest physical therapy for your dh. The exercises the PT gives him may be similar to the ones your family doctor suggested. My initial sessions have always been just for massage, heat therapy, and TENS, with the exercises starting after the inflammation has subsided.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice. Sounds like ice is the thing other than heat. I am not very happy with the primary as I thought he would prescribe something for the pain until he can get into his specialist. I’m annoyed as I was the one pushing the doctor today. H does not go to the doctor unless he is in a lot of pain. </p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>H’s brother is a physician. I hope he will call him and I know his brother will prescribe something for the pain as he knows H wouldn’t call unless it was bad. I’m sure H’s specialist will too as he knows him, H just thought he wouldn’t bother them and would get relief from his PCP.</p>
<p>I also agree with the ice advice. To make a long story short, my RC tendinitis became a frozen shoulder. Tell your H to try to do the wall walking exercise. For an example:
[Wall Climbing - Standing Exercise - Wall Climbing](<a href=“http://breastcancer.about.com/od/lifeaftertreatment”>http://breastcancer.about.com/od/lifeaftertreatment</a>
/ss/arm<em>exercises</em>tutorial_7.htm)</p>
<p>The purpose is to prevent a frozen shoulder but doctors feel free to blast me. Then ice it after the exercise. Ice about 10 minutes every hour just like Silpat advised. You can take a warm shower in the morning and do the gentle shoulder stretches inside the shower. Take ibuprofen or Aleve after breakfast and dinner. I needed 2 cortisone shots and had PT for one year (that’s another story why it took so long) in lieu of surgery. Good luck!</p>
<p>And there’s this: [Loren</a> Fishman, MD: A New Yoga-Inspired Technique To Help Your Shoulder Injury](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>A New Yoga-Inspired Technique To Help Your Shoulder Injury | HuffPost Life)</p>
<p>OP - I have had arthoscopic rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders within the past three years. Bone spurs run in my family - both my mom and aunt have had rc surgery in the past. Both shoulders gave out around 50. My rc looked like “chicken feathers” on the dvd of my procedures!</p>
<p>Your ortho will order an MRI to determine if there is a tear (versus tendonitis and other conditions) and if so, where is the tear located and how large the tear is. These determinations, along with age, amount of pain, general health, job requirements and desired activity level will help shape the ortho’s treatment recommendation. </p>
<p>If your H has a decent sized tear, is middle aged, in good general health and wants to be active (golf, tennis etc.), surgery may be recommended. If the tear is small, PT may be tried first. If you go the PT route, be sure and know how many treatments per year your insurance will cover - and let your ortho know. If PT doesn’t work you will need to make sure you have enough coverage for post-surgery PT - which is absolutely necessary.</p>
<p>Almost all rc procedures are done arthroscopically now. There are a few tears, most often due to accidents or falls that might still require a “mini open” surgery. The recovery from these procedures is much longer than if a scope is used.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I hope your husband can get in to see a specialist soon, and I hope he can get some effective pain relief immediately. Be sure to get a surgeon who specializes in shoulders. I had a frozen shoulder (not much pain, but severely restricted motion) and I waited 10 months to see anyone about it. The surgeon recommended PT, and it started helping right away. It took quite a few visits to get completely rid of it, though. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Heating pads can be soothing but will not help heal the problem. By heating the area you are bringing blood to the area, mainly to the skin. Use cold compression to get the symptoms down and relieve much of the pain, by removing inflammation he will be allowing his blood to flow properly bringing oxygen and nutrients to heal the soft tissue. He can also be stimulating blood flow to speed up the recovery, gentle stimulation like an electro-magnetic stimulator is best as it will not re-aggravate the injury. I’ve torn both rotator cuffs, fortunately not at the same time! To learn more about these methods check out the link below:</p>
<p>[Torn</a> Rotator Cuff by King Brand](<a href=“Torn Rotator Cuff by King Brand”>Torn Rotator Cuff by King Brand)</p>
<p>Ice. Ice. Ice.</p>
<p>S1 is a swimmer (butterfly) and started club season in September instead in physical therapy through December. He’s just starting to reach times he had last year and is not even touching his former best event of 200 fly. It’s a long recovery with 3x/week PT.</p>
<p>I used to swim. I injured my shoulder from something other than swimming once. The orthopedic surgeon I went to for the shoulder injury gave me a printed sheet of about a dozen stretches and exercises to do for rehab with cords and dumbbells, etc. The exercises were almost exactly the same exercises I used for swim training for shoulder strengthening and injury prevention.</p>
<p>Oh, dear. This is a complex problem. I think you need to get a clearer diagnosis. D1 had shoulder problems for a year before seeing surgeons. Was a competitive swimmer and soccer player. Four surgeons with four different recommendations. Ended up being scapular thoracic bursitis due to loose ligaments. The diagnosis was made by surgeon three who gave a lidocaine injection into the bursa and the pain disappeared until the injection wore off. The surgeries that two of the surgeons recommended would not have done anything (general surgeons-- not shoulder guys).<br>
Recommendations–
<p>Although your husbands situation is different, I hope you will go to shoulder only people. </p>
<p>Where do you live? There are some great docs in MA as well as in Vail.</p>
<p>Good luck! Shoulder pain is really horrendous.</p>
<p>Many insurance companies will require physical therapy for several weeks before authorizing an MRI. Very annoying.</p>
<p>I saw an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulders. MRI, PT, and 2 shots. He told me the first should relieve pain about 80-90%. It did. Months later, had the 2nd shot, which he predicted would help about 50%. </p>
<p>It really helps to see a specialist. (He sent me away for shots to neck–not even someone in his large practice).</p>