PT discovery -This makes no sense...

[Catrin]

So I've been in PT for almost a month now, and my miracle guy has made a difference, but I am still not there yet. Actually, I didn't expect much of a response at all from my shoulder so I am happy so far. I KNEW if conservative methods would get a response that he would be the one to do it.

This is odd though. Last week my whiplash injury started really bothering me - while it is 1.5 years since the event it was a very bad whiplash so it is still healing. I also noticed that my shoulder ROM was decreasing again and more pain/tension in my scapula. My PT was out all of last week with the flu so no PT last week.

I went in today, and my ROM returned to that shoulder after he did a LOT of gentle mobilization of my neck. It even decreased the tension in my scapula on THAT side. As he said, everything is connected, but even he seemed surprised that the attention to my neck muscles provided such a large return (we then proceeded with the rest of the agenda).

I know we have PTs and other medical folks here - does this make sense? Not that I am complaining of course, but it got my attention. Friday I see my doctor again, but have PT that morning and we are going to do a re-assessment so I can take a report to my doctor. I suspect that I am not done with PT...I don't want to get side-tracked with my neck but neither do I want to ignore something that is going to cause later problems. Everything appears to be soft-tissue/muscle related which is a good thing?

Then again, I CAN still do most of my favorite activities, and that is a true blessing.

[Kernyl]

I don't know. I've had good results with trigger point massage for upper back/shoulder pain. I believe my pain results from a fall years ago now. I can feel immediate release in the muscles after I do it. And I can do it myself, which is great. You might look into it and see if it is something that would help you. I've also been recently doing yoga to gain more movement/flexibility in my upper back, I am tight from too much computer time.

[Kathi]

I know it makes no sense but neither does this. 4 years ago my left SI joint went wonky. However, it started with pain in my right hip, then my right knee hurt worse than ever, then my right foot. Ortho wanted to do lateral release surgery on my knee, podiatrist said I had 2 neuromas in my foot and would probably need surgery, add arthritis to my right hip and left SI joint. Add to that my hips were misaligned, the right hip rotated backwards. I could barely walk , let alone bike, hike or ski. Plus, for years I had this nagging shoulder pain. After 4 months of PT and I was no better. I consulted a second PT who did bike fits because I thought my bike fit had set everything off. Instead of looking at my bike fit he looked at me and found the SI joint issue. Miraculously, everything on the right side settled down and the shoulder pain disappeared. 4 years later no surgeries and no pain. The hip alignment is good and the strength is back in my right hip. The lower body issues are understandable but how the shoulder was affected still amazes me.

There's a saying that "he who looks at the sight of pain is often lost" and it was certainly true in my case.

[Catrin]

Wow Kathi, that was a very complex chain of cause and effect! My neck injury affecting my shoulder does, when I think about it, make some sense. I just thought that my neck had healed enough to get past that kind of effect on other muscle groups. I have certainly learned over the last couple of years that the cause of pain is very often someplace different than we think - and that was one of the reasons I posted this to begin with.

Pretty amazing that your SI joint affected your shoulder! So glad to read that all calmed down.

My PT just extended my period of physical therapy...it wasn't much of a surprise but I HAD hoped that 4 weeks would be long enough. Still better than surgery though, still rooting for my PT (my dr. isn't so sure that I won't need to eventually have shoulder surgery).

[OakLeaf]

Totally makes sense. Really your SI joint is connected more tightly to your shoulders than it is to your lower extremities! Solid sheets of muscle all the way up, and rib and spine joints that just don't bend in certain directions!

My DOM explained how these things tend to cross sides along the fascial lines. Right neck, left shoulder, right T-spine, left L-spine, right hip, left ankle. He says I'm textbook.


I'm hanging in there. Honestly except for a couple of sensitive spots (and if you've had tattoos you already know where they are), acupuncture is almost never painful. Occasionally the muscles will twitch or thrum a little bit, rarely they'll release in a major way, mostly it's just relaxing and energizing.

Hope you two are continuing on your recovery too!

[Catrin]

Totally makes sense. Really your SI joint is connected more tightly to your shoulders than it is to your lower extremities! Solid sheets of muscle all the way up, and rib and spine joints that just don't bend in certain directions!

My DOM explained how these things tend to cross sides along the fascial lines. Right neck, left shoulder, right T-spine, left L-spine, right hip, left ankle. He says I'm textbook.


I'm hanging in there. Honestly except for a couple of sensitive spots (and if you've had tattoos you already know where they are), acupuncture is almost never painful. Occasionally the muscles will twitch or thrum a little bit, rarely they'll release in a major way, mostly it's just relaxing and energizing.

Hope you two are continuing on your recovery too!

Right neck and left shoulder eh? This is very interesting, as the worst of my whiplash injury was to the right side of my neck, and my left shoulder is the most problematical. Thanks for those!

That is good to know about the acupuncture Oak, I've got an....issue with needles so it just sounds terrible to me! Glad that it is helping you though!

[ny biker]

Last year I found that the pain in my neck went away when I rolled a lacrosse ball on my upper back just inside my shoulder blade.

I never questioned if it made sense, was just happy that I figured out how to make the pain go away. Even happier that it only cost the price of a lacrosse ball.