shoulder injury, likely bursitis? Advice to speed healing?

[Sansena]

I likely injured it from repetitive motion, the slept on it wrong. Working on day 3 and I can’t lift my elbow above my ribcage and I’m SCREWED because I have some big jobs I need to finish.

Any advice on expediting the healing? I’m fairly certain this is bursitis, and the doctors want to inject me. I’m not a fan of that idea. Otherwise, they will say rest And of course that’s unlikely at this point as well.

CoTH have any great advice?

I would have posted this in OT but that category is closed presently… would love to know what happened to get our wrists slapped… In the mean time, any advice on this damned shoulder? acupuncture? arnica? icy-hot?

[Janet]

Ibuprofen

[Magicboy]

Ice is your friend. Use a paper or styrofoam cup filled with water, then frozen…peal back the edges and use it to massage your pain area with ice. Try for 30 minutes, then rest, ice massage again and again.

[Zu_Zu]

ICE …never underestimate the healing benefits of ICE coupled with REST ~

[Simkie]

I’d inject it. Ice can help, but nothing is going to knock out that inflammation like a little steroid. Are you sure it’s not frozen shoulder?

[Marla_100]

For broken clavicle- this is what helped: 1) Anti-inflammatory like Advil- Ibuprophen 2) For immediate pain, Sore No More or SalonPas 3) Sling the arm and baby it- don’t use it 3) pillows all around the arm and your body to comfort
sleeping. Try propping the arm w/ pillow under it.

It will heal but you need to help it out.

[MissCoco]

Ice! Ice! Ice! You can kind of hold an ice pack onto your back by zipping a snug jacket/sweatshirt over it, or just lean against a stack of pillows.
Doctors always say max 30 minutes with cold, and I am sure that is correct, because just freezing everything makes healing difficult, but I did ice too much when I had bursitis because it was just the only thing that worked well at all for pain relief. Bio-freeze or other menthol products also work well for providing that iced-out feeling.

I never had much luck with ibuprofen as a painkiller for bursitis, my shoulder specialist recommended using naproxen (Aleve) instead, though I didn’t find that much more helpful.
For heat therapy, a pair of soccer socks (or boot socks I suppose) filled with rice and heated in the microwave can go over/around your shoulder as well. Put both socks inside each other to prevent rice escaping. Many protocols recommend alternating ice and heat at 20 minute intervals several times a day.

As far as actual treatments go, I never tried injections.
Physical therapy might be on the list of what your Dr. recommends as well, a good routine that you keep using can speed up healing and also, if you keep doing it, keep stuff from recurring, though PT is boring as all get out once you are over the acute injury.
Sports massage was helpful for me, as my bursitis was compounded by other muscular injuries and tightness around my shoulders and neck, but it was not a quick fix, and I did it along with physical therapy.
Kineso-tape is a (semi) new thing, it might be worth asking a doctor or physical therapist if that would be a way to give the joint some external support if you aren’t going to rest it.

Unfortunately, the reality with overuse injuries is that if you are going to keep doing the overuse, they are probably not going to heal, or at least not quickly, but I know it can be super hard to actually take a break.

[UrbanHennery]

Are you sure it’s the shoulder and not one of your firs 3-4 ribs being “out”. I’ve got some chronic rib issues related to some stupid decisions and when my 3rd rib is out I feel it in my shoulder.

There are some self releases you can try that are unlikely to hurt you and might help.

[RMJacobs]

I would go for the injection. I’ve had my left shoulder injected four times and both hips more times than I can remember, all for bursitis. It can be a very fast fix if the doctor is able to hit the right spot. If they don’t hit the right spot, it won’t cause a problem, it just won’t help.

I’ve also had joint and tendon sheath injections, and most were helpful. You don’t know until you try.

Rebecca

[Laurierace]

Can you literally not move it above whatever level or it hurts too much to move it?

[Sansena]

@Laurierace

Can you literally not move it above whatever level or it hurts too much to move it?

Good question. If I use my other hand to lift the arm of the bad shoulder I can actually raise it over my head. But it’s pretty painful and I have to go very slowly.

I slept pretty well last night like the princess and the pea, surrounded by pillows on the recliner. I can’t’ roll over when I sleep there, and part of the problem is my wanting to sleep on my side with my arm under my head.

ibuprofen helps a little. The Aleve helps a bit more but nothing is taking the pain away. I haven’t tried the ice yet because I absolutely hate icing anything on my body. It’s torture.

But I’m fairly limited on what I can do, so ice is likely in my near future. I can’t even lay blankets flat on my counter to perform repairs. And mucking my stall this morning was interesting… so long as I kept my hands low and had someone else empty the wheelbarrow.

I’m going on day 3. All I have to accomplish today is some billing. We’ll see how that goes.

Scheduling with an acupuncturist next week for other things. We’ll see if she can help with this as well.

[Laurierace]

Ok well that rules out a frozen shoulder since they couldn’t get mine to raise more than 81 degrees under general anesthesia. I wouldn’t wish a frozen shoulder on my worst enemy so glad that isn’t it but that doesn’t mean you aren’t headed that way. Do anything and everything to make sure your shoulder doesn’t freeze, mine froze when I rested It following a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff but it can come from any shoulder injury. I think you are going to need a doctor’s help here, sorry.

[danacat]

Same thing happened to me a while back – ice/ yes – steroid injection/ big yes – anti-inflamatory/ yes.

It took over a month for my shoulder to heal. If you indeed have bursitis it will get better.

[Gloria]

I’d definitely do the injection, plus physical therapy. I injured my left shoulder years ago (partially torn bicep), and that makes everything a chore. It never healed. It has come to the point where I can hardly do anything other than desk work. Talk about depression… Then, one MRI and one injection later, I feel so much better, well enough to return to my gym work and back to horses. I’m starting physical therapy next week.

If this injury is recent, you really need to put ice on it ASAP. You want to get any active inflammation under control.

Is there a reason you are adverse to injection?

[Alliteration]

RICE.
Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.
And anti-inflammatories.

Are you sure it’s not a strained or torn rotator cuff? Your symptoms sound very much like one.

[goodhors]

Any chance this could be something besides bursitus? Torn rotator cuff, ligament damage? Is your Doctor an Orthopedic specialist? I am saying this because one of the tests for rotator cuff is arm out straight sideways, you trying to hold it up as Dr gently pushes down on your hand. If you can’t resist push, it is probably torn/worn to the point of needing repair.

Now as for " I can’t take time for that!!" The torn muscles start retracting shortly after injury, so waiting any time makes repair and 100% recovery more difficult, to impossible. My Mom had a sore shoulder off and on for years, would not go to the Dr. Finally it started hurting a lot as she had to use a (wrong sized) walker. Exam showed sh had torn shoulder at some point years before, now wrong size walker use had hurt her again. But there was nothing they can do to fix it now. Muscles had atrophied away. So now she just has to manage with the shoulder. She still being stubborn in refusing to use the lift part of lift chair, instead of pulling herself forward to rise from chair. Keeps the bad shoulder constantly in pain.

So if you have not seen an Orthopedic Dr,this might be time to schedule an appt. Get a diagnosis to be sure you are treating the soreness in the correct way, not just guessing at your problem.

Husband has had to be repaired several times from wear-and-rear injuries as Farrier with a long working history. Body parts change with use, time, so you need to get them fixed. This is even if the timing is bad, so injuries don’t get worse by waiting. A friend waited on his surgery, kept putting it off, “hay is ready, busy season at work”, went on until he wore thru his tendon because clavicle bone had reshaped to a sharp edge to cut it. Only regained about 75% of strength, bicep fell and did not return to previous firm condition. Plus Doc had to work very hard to pull tendon back up and over shoulder to “tie the ends back together”. Very sore, along with surgery repair pain. He was off a very long time, unable to do much on the farm or his job as a piano tuner. BIL was a similar problem, but by putting it off he ended up needing a reverse-shoulder replacement surgery with a long recovery. Also loss of strength he won’t get back.

We have the Ortho Dr on speed dial!! Getting in to be checked, diagnosed, treated if needed, shortens healing time, doesn’t let us injure things worse by ignoring the pain. You might have to “shop around” to find a good Orthopedic Dr, but certainly worth doing. Ours is also a horse woman, understands what we need to do in daily life with horses and farm life. We MUST be able to function, she helps us do that.

Best of luck getting better.