Physical Therapy and shoulder...

[Catrin]

I KNEW I posted this here for a reason, I almost deleted the post an hour or so after I made it. Crankin and Oakleaf, that is a very good idea about following up with him every 3 months, even I can afford that. I am working on a list of things that I want to cover in my last session with him (at his request) and that will be at the top of it. Health and fitness does indeed exist on a curve, it isn't an on/off thing as much as we would like it to be. It was a bit unrealistic to expect even a talented PT to totally reverse the effects of an improperly healed injury from 40 years ago, muscular/neurological damage and degenerative arthritis - though I didn't know all of THAT was involved. All I knew was that it hurt sometimes, I didn't have full ROM and I couldn't seem to gain strength in the arm.

This certainly won't stop me from being active - and I am actively gaining strength and flexibility in every other way - which does make me feel better I appreciate the support and constructive suggestions. I know very few people away from the gym that seems to get why this matters to me, which means I really don't have anyone to discuss it with.

[Catrin]

My PT sent a message today saying that Indiana is considering a change of law that would allow direct access to PT without requiring a doctor's order. I had no idea that most states apparently allow this, Indiana is one of the holdouts. This would certainly make it easier for me to see him periodically - which I LIKE the idea of! He told me today, in an email, that in my case we really can't just isolate my left shoulder. It is the entire upper quadrant as a whole because of restrictions in collar bone/scapula junction, shoulder joint and my neck. Yes, I do think this is something that I just have to accept and deal with the best I can. There are worse things to deal with, that is for sure!

The important thing is there IS improvement, and he is going to show me ways to (hopefully) maintain that and increase rotator cuff strength.

[Crankin]

Yup, my first rx for pt was for 12 sessions. After like 4 months, I was still there...
I just call and go when I want now. They must have passed that law here sometime in the past 5 years.

[Kiwi Stoker]

I too have rehabbed a shoulder, one that had a broken collarbone one year and then I broke the ball joint into 5 large and lots of small pieces and had a plate and 11 screws inserted a year later.

Some things I found out along the way-

Traditional physio often doesn't work- that is the stuff like walking your fingers up the wall, lifting the arm with a pulley. If your muscles are pretty much frozen or weak, it's going to take years to rehab. I dropped the traditional 1/2 hour physio who made me do exercises and then gave me a massage (and not very good one at that). for a specialist arm physio who worked with golfers to improve their swing. He was also into dry needling- oh the agony but he managed to re-program my muscles to work and respond. I would have 1 hour seassions with him and boy they worked. I didn't need to many sessions in the end.

Sometimes things will not fix themselves- in my case I managed to get my shoulder to lift my arm to shoulder height but couldn't raise it higher myself. My physio could lift my arm higher, but I couldn't. I ended up have an ultrasound on my shoulder (because the MRI wouldn't show anything with all the metal I had in there. BTW it was also much cheaper!) and it showed that the orginal surgeons hadn't done- repair a badly torn tendon. I don't blame them, they were too busy trying to save my shoulder joint and bone. But it meant I wasn't going to get the range of motion back no matter how much I did physio. So it required more surgery. The doctor was also able to check during that exactly how much motion I was going to get out of my poor mis-shapen joint. Yes it is permanently decreased but I now can reach up to put my clothes on, put things on a high shelf and pull the curtains.

I realise money is an issue and I was unemployed during this whole process. But I would suggest trying to make the most of what money you have. I would go and see a doctor to check out what you can realistically achieve. Ask if he can do an ultrasound if he thinks it's muscle/tendon related. Also I would look to see if you can find a specialist arm and shoulder physio (yes I know you have built a relationship) to get as much bang for your buck. And investigate other methods like accupuncture and dry needling.

Good luck and best wishes.

[Catrin]

Sounds like quite the journey Kiwi, and thanks for sharing your experiences. Glad to hear that you finally got relief! Bill thinks an MRI and a visit to an Ortho to determine how much improvement is realistic to expect would be a good idea. He doesn't think an ultrasound would show everything in question. I need to think about this, I have to pay a sizeable percentage for an MRI...