RA shoulder pain.

Becky88

Good Afternoon,

As always, I am looking for a bit of advice from other people who share the same issues on a daily basis. I have RA and have been on medication for many years. I am currently experiencing a shoulder flare up. I have had this before and found that a steroid injection worked well.

Can anybody please advise me whether it is better to try to keep it moving a bit or whether a sling would help? It literally feels heavy, almost as if it is dislocated (it isn't).

Any help would be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

stickywicket

I've always been advised to do gentle Range of Movement exercises when flaring. https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-for-healthy-joints/exercises-for-the-shoulders/

But shoulders are horrible things to get comfy so I sometimes, when sitting and reading, used to make a sling from a scarf and use it to keep my forearm still which I found did help the shoulder.

As you say, steroid jabs can help too. Maybe your meds need a tweak.

Becky88

Thank you, stickywicket. As always, you offer great advice. I am worried if I say that I am experiencing this flare up, they might take me off my current medication, Tocilizumab, which has generally helped me a lot so far.

Thank you very much for your advice. I really appreciate your help.

stickywicket

You're welcome @Becky88 . If we can make our arthritis experiences useful to others then it's not a complete waste.

I can understand the not wanting to rock the meds boat. I hope this is just a blip. Don't put up with it for too long though.