Shoulder pain

gillymay

Hello dear people. How nice to be able to 'talk' to folk in the same situation.
I wonder if anyone has a lot of shoulder pain and what they have found helps? I had a hip re-coating last august and a total knee replacement this feb. I'm getting there but the thing that has brought me down most is this pain across my shoulders .
I don't know the cause - please let it not be more OA! I wonder if walking with crutches causes/exacerbates it? It makes dressing dificult . Pain killers don't seem to help (but massage does)
Would really welcome any advice
Many thanks
gillymay

elnafinn

Hi gillymay

Welcome! I do have shoulder pain due to an inoperable massive torn rotator cuff. I have in the past fallen on that shoulder at least twice and the last time, finally did it big time! I had a washout of the shoulder as I was on the operating slab and as the surgeon could find nothing to knit together he gave me second best, which did not help.

I have attended physio so know exercises to do and I have adapted how I do things so at the moment it is fairly tolerable most of the time. There is lots of room for improvement but that is just another thing that I have had to come to terms with!

Pains that occur over the shoulder blade area can be due to the large muscle and underlying smaller muscles having gone into spasm. The spasm of the muscles can be brought on by overuse or trauma to the muscle. The muscle will develop a spasm or “trigger point” that often send radiating pains to sites far removed from the trigger points. It would be perfectly understandable to think that the use of crutches has brought this on. They are very hard work and use up a lot of strength from the arms/shoulder.

I really think you should have it checked out. I expect you will be asked to do arm exercises to the best of ability so the medic can see what you can do and may be xrays/mri or you may be sent to a physio in the first instance.

Wow, a hip and knee op! I had a tkr January 2008 and it has given me my life back. I need the other knee doing shortly though.

Take care
Elna

joanlawson

Hi Gillymay

I think the crutches may well have set off the pain. After knee surgery recently, I started using a stick for support, and then I got pain in my shoulder on the right side. I realised that was the side I was leaning on when using the stick. As my knee got stronger, I wasn't putting as much pressure on that side, and gradually the shoulder pain has got better.
However, in your case, it might be best to check it out.
Joan

gillymay

joanlawson wrote:

Hi Gillymay

I think the crutches may well have set off the pain. After knee surgery recently, I started using a stick for support, and then I got pain in my shoulder on the right side. I realised that was the side I was leaning on when using the stick. As my knee got stronger, I wasn't putting as much pressure on that side, and gradually the shoulder pain has got better.
However, in your case, it might be best to check it out.
Joan

THANK YOU SO MUCH

gillymay

elnafinn wrote:

Hi gillymay

Welcome! I do have shoulder pain due to an inoperable massive torn rotator cuff. I have in the past fallen on that shoulder at least twice and the last time, finally did it big time! I had a washout of the shoulder as I was on the operating slab and as the surgeon could find nothing to knit together he gave me second best, which did not help.

I have attended physio so know exercises to do and I have adapted how I do things so at the moment it is fairly tolerable most of the time. There is lots of room for improvement but that is just another thing that I have had to come to terms with!

Pains that occur over the shoulder blade area can be due to the large muscle and underlying smaller muscles having gone into spasm. The spasm of the muscles can be brought on by overuse or trauma to the muscle. The muscle will develop a spasm or “trigger point” that often send radiating pains to sites far removed from the trigger points. It would be perfectly understandable to think that the use of crutches has brought this on. They are very hard work and use up a lot of strength from the arms/shoulder.

I really think you should have it checked out. I expect you will be asked to do arm exercises to the best of ability so the medic can see what you can do and may be xrays/mri or you may be sent to a physio in the first instance.

Wow, a hip and knee op! I had a tkr January 2008 and it has given me my life back. I need the other knee doing shortly though.

Take care
Elna

Thank you , Elna
Sounds right to me
I'm so glad your TKR was such a succes. Don't envy you having the second one done, though - good luck with that
GillyMay