So today, to start off my vacation, I had to get up early to head down to physical therapy.
Who doesnt like to still get up early on vacation... & like to have a little physical torture?
I'm in so much pain lately... still... that it didnt even matter. I went with hopes that there would be some answers.
I get there only to get hit first with the reminder that health insurance totally bites. Reviewing how much I have to pay out of pocket is the hardest punch in the gut for me. Why not? I'm used to people telling me, "You're insurance doesnt cover ______, so you'll owe $____ (More money then I have laying around as spare change)"....
The physical therapist asked me all kinds of questions. Does it hurt to raise my arm? Does it hurt to lift anything over 5 lbs? Does it hurt to dress yourself? Does it hurt to do simple things, like write? ....
... the answer is YES to all of the above.
So he starts pushing, poking & pulling.
Next thing I know, he has me raise my arm... (insert POP POP POP in my shoulder when I raise my arm)
He then starts poking on my shoulder blade in my back. Has me stand up again & then grabs, yes GRABS my shoulder blade & tells me to raise my arm. Pain? Not nearly as bad as it was... I can almost say it wasnt there at all!!! What the heck? Is this dude a magician or something?
He told me he doesnt think I have tendonitis in my arm afterall... he thinks there may have been a touch of it at one point, & that it may come & go, but that isnt whats causing the severe pain in this arm.
What is? I cant even begin to tell you... it was like a 20-syllable word that sounded like a foreign language curse word.
So I ask him, "can you dummy that down for me? What do I tell people when they ask me because I'm not even going to ATTEMPT to repeat that word"
He said, "
Your mechanics in your shoulder are completely out of whack"....ok... dummy-ed down...
But that means that somewhere along the line, the shoulder blade & my rotator cuff have gotten off track & its made the muscles weak & it has them stretched & pulled in the wrong directions.. in the front of the arm & the back where the shoulder blade is.
I thought he may be crazy at first because it hurts in my WHOLE ARM & my back & my shoulder blade has never been an issue. He then went on to tell me that the rotator cuff reflects pain to where the bicep reaches the rotator cuff... & that pain "refers" down to the bicep, down to the forearm, & even as far down to the fingers... & he pointed to exactly where all my pain is.
He explained that is why heat/ ice/ Alleve/ anything for inflammation isnt helping - because its not really inflammed. He used the word "
impinged" & said its about building up the muscles again.
So, there's good news in that. They were saying that if the tendons werent getting better, then we could be looking at surgery... but now its not an issue.
But its still going to be awhile... he said that the muscle is pulling on the rotator cuff & that its going to take awhile to do these exercise he's shown me & for the body to adapt. Because when I left today, the pain wasnt bad at all... even felt better. But he said, "
your body will adapt back to what its been used to - which is broken" ... "broken"... what a word... so its going to take months of repetitive exercises to train the shoulder to get back to where it needs to be.
... he was right too - the pain was back within the hour... even WORSE - which he told me it would be as I am trying to strengthen these mucles.
So - that's where I'm at... still in pain... but at least feeling like I have some answers...
but still broken....