ski trip

I went skiing the second week in January, 2010. I had some trepidations, since I was fearful that I might worsen the problem were I to have a bad fall. However, this was an expensive trip which I was gleefully anticipating, so I decided to take the risk and try to be as careful as possible.

During the trip, I continued to experience moderate pain, on and off. I had some problems pushing myself along with the poles over flat spots. Generally the pain would reduce after I'd been doing it for a while, but then the next day it would feel a little worse.

I also fell a couple of times while skiing, which is quite usual for me. During the last fall on the last day, I twisted my left arm and felt a very bad stabbing pain! The pain eased up pretty soon. I'm glad this happened right at the end, otherwise I might not have enjoyed the trip so much.

It was probably really stupid to go skiing with this condition. OTOH I could easily fall and slip on the ice at home. So I took my chances, and I don't think I actually made things worse despite the fall. It's hard to tell.

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.

first visit to a doctor

Meantime, on December 16, 2009, I saw my primary care physician (PCP) to ask for a referral to get some physical therapy for the shoulder. At this point, I didn't think it was too serious, but I felt it wasn't going to heal on its own.

Before visiting the doctor, I recall testing my range of motion with the left arm and being a little alarmed at how limited it had become. When I stretched my left arm out up in front of me, I could barely get it past 90 degrees. My right arm could easily go up all the way past my head, a little beyond 180 degrees.

The doctor gave me a quick look. She asked if I was waking up with any pain at night, and I said no (I thought "why on earth would I have pain at night when I'm not doing anything?" - there was some foreshadowing going on there). I was only having mild pain during some activities at that point.

Anyway, the doc decided I had a rotator cuff injury, and told me it would likely give me a lot of pain and would take a long time to heal. "Oh no!" was my reaction.

She referred me to an orthopedist. I figured, OK, the orthopedist will look at me, and refer me to physical therapy. It seemed like a waste of time, but ya gotta jump through the hoops. She also sent me to get x-rays immediately - they came back normal a few days later. (It was nice to confirm that I hadn't broken anything. In fact, if it had been up to me, I wouldn't have taken x-rays, since I was completely sure I hadn't broken anything. But later my orthopedist told me that you may not realize it when you have broken something in this area!)

Before leaving my PCP's office, I went to make an appointment with orthopedist. The computer systems were down! They told me to call for an appointment the next day. But it was just before Christmas, and I was very busy at work, and I was just coming down with a cold, so I procrastinated.

In fact I procrastinated until after my January ski trip. When I got back, the earliest I could see the orthopedist was in the middle of February. Bummer, I wanted to go immediately.

December - the Holiday Challenge

Throughout December 2009, I rowed 200K meters on my Concept II indoor rower for their Holiday Challenge. For about the first half of the Challenge, I usually had some light pain in the shoulder, but it was not a big issue. Towards the end, I began to feel like I was adjusting my natural moment to compensate for shoulder pain, and I began to develop secondary issues in my left arm - pain between the shoulder and the elbow and some pain along the forearm too. But I managed to finish the Challenge before Christmas without too much trouble.

Despite the pain, I continued to do my weight-lifting and rowing workouts when possible. I was sick with a bad cold around Christmas and into January, so I wasn't working out as often as usual.

At some point in January 2010, I had to stop doing squats and shoulder presses, since I couldn't get the bar overhead without severe pain. This was worrisome.

how it started

I believe the problem started late last October, during a backpacking trip. I was climbing up a steep section of the trail over some boulders, when my left foot slipped. I reached out with my left arm to break my fall, and felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. It didn't feel too bad, though, and I continued my hike without any other problems. Later I learned that the medical community calls this a "FOOSH" - a "fall on an outstretched hand".

Over the next few weeks, I began having some shoulder pain during my weight-lifting workouts. I keep an exercise journal, and the first time I mention the pain was on November 11, 2009 - "left shoulder hinky".

Also, I recall that moving my left arm behind me to slip on a backpack became painful in the weeks after the fall. I adapted by putting on the left side first, so I wouldn't have to reach back with my left arm.

purpose of this blog

I've created this blog to share my experiences with a problem in my left shoulder. I was "diagnosed" with frozen shoulder last week.