increased pain

After visiting the doctor in mid-December, I began to experience more random pain in the shoulder.

Late in December 2009, I began waking up with shoulder pain during the early morning hours! My doctor had predictive powers on that one.

I began to notice it was getting harder to tie up my ponytail without a pinching pain in the front of my shoulder.

Nevertheless, I continued to use my rowing machine and lift weights. At some point in January, I had to stop doing squats and shoulder presses, since I couldn't get the bar overhead. Oddly, shoulder shrugs still felt fine.

In addition, I started getting shoulder pain when

1. reaching my left hand under my right arm pit while bathing
2. bending over and dangling my arms down in front of me (for example when tying shoelaces)
3. reaching back to put on my seatbelt with my left hand - I switched to using my right hand
4. reaching into my left back jeans pocket

I had a few events during December and January where I'd make a sudden motion with my left arm, and would experience excruciating sharp pain in the shoulder. For example, one time, I had stuck my arm out into a dryer to stop a blanket from falling out, and the weight of the blanket slightly twisted my arm while it was outstretched. Yow! The pain was amazing. But a few minutes after these events, it would just feel like a small warm burn, and then it would feel relatively normal again soon after. The incredible pain made me wonder if I had a rotator cuff tear, though, and I was getting worried.

Over time, I continued limiting what I'd do, since I thought resting my shoulder was the right thing for it.