A few days before visiting the orthopedist, I did a little research into the shoulder to get an idea about what to expect. I tried memorizing the parts of the shoulder, learned the mnemonic for the rotator cuff muscles (SITS), and found some informative videos about the shoulder exam. The best were posted by bluetentorthop.
Finally, it was time to see the orthopedist. The doctor performed a very few tests, and declared with certainty that I had frozen shoulder. She prescribed an MRI to see if there was any underlying cause. That was scheduled for the following week.
I was disappointed because I had expected the whole battery of tests that I'd seen in the videos. In fact, she didn't even visually inspect the shoulder, something that was supposed to be part of every good exam, according to the videos I'd seen.
However, I was happy that she hadn't decided instantly that I had a rotator cuff tear, something that I had been a bit worried about. I didn't realize at the time how big a problem frozen shoulder is.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
attempted physical therapy
After getting back from my ski trip, I had to wait three weeks before seeing the orthopedist.
I was sure that she would prescribe physical therapy (PT), so I decided to get a head start, and began doing some rotator cuff exercises that I had found at Yahoo! Health.
It didn't make sense to just do some exercises without testing to see if they were doing any good. So I marked a column of inches on a sheet of paper to use as a ruler, and hung it on the wall. After doing my exercises, I'd reach up against the sheet of paper to see how high I could get, and whether I had progressed at all. To start with, I could reach six inches further with my good side than with my bad.
I did exercises every day for about a week, but found there was basically no improvement in my reach. Further, I felt like the exercises were causing too much pain. I'd get a sharp pain in the front of my shoulder when reaching up. It would get worse the more I did the exercises. I feared I might be aggravating a tendon or doing some form of damage, possibly caused by impingement. I stopped doing any PT exercises, but continued doing weight-lifting pretty regularly, sticking to exercises that didn't hurt.
I was sure that she would prescribe physical therapy (PT), so I decided to get a head start, and began doing some rotator cuff exercises that I had found at Yahoo! Health.
It didn't make sense to just do some exercises without testing to see if they were doing any good. So I marked a column of inches on a sheet of paper to use as a ruler, and hung it on the wall. After doing my exercises, I'd reach up against the sheet of paper to see how high I could get, and whether I had progressed at all. To start with, I could reach six inches further with my good side than with my bad.
I did exercises every day for about a week, but found there was basically no improvement in my reach. Further, I felt like the exercises were causing too much pain. I'd get a sharp pain in the front of my shoulder when reaching up. It would get worse the more I did the exercises. I feared I might be aggravating a tendon or doing some form of damage, possibly caused by impingement. I stopped doing any PT exercises, but continued doing weight-lifting pretty regularly, sticking to exercises that didn't hurt.
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