Right Shoulder Pain - Not sure what to do.

[tealtreak]

Please see am ortho or PT... I have similar issues but I know the cause (car wreck...) to have that type of thing going on and not know if what you are/are not doing is making it better or worse...yikes! Please get it checked out!

[OakLeaf]

You should it get it checked out, definitely.

The trouble is, by whom. I am finally seeing someone who understands how shoulders work (actually, the first person I called after I got hurt, and when I couldn't get hold of him didn't try again ... turns out he'd been in a wreck himself, but is back to work now and thank G*D for that.) Between moving and shopping, I saw a total of one useless chiropractor, one mildly helpful chiropractor, two band-aid-solution osteopaths, two PTs who didn't help and one who made things worse, three completely worthless LMTs and one who could at least keep things from getting worse, two DOMs who definitely helped/is helping but didn't get to the bottom of it, FINALLY I'm back with the LMT who after five minutes on the table told me things about my body that I'd been trying to get others to understand for a YEAR.

Hope you get luckier than I did. Or, I should say, hope you find someone who understands shoulders way quicker than I did, because in the end, I AM lucky to have him at all.

But, whichever route you take, anyone you call should be trained, experienced and certified in neuromusculoskeletal work. Not a guarantee of anything, since most of the practitioners I saw were, but at least it will eliminate people who definitely don't have the skills.

[NbyNW]

Sorry you are in so much pain! Is it only aggravated by cycling? Do you have a sense of why your right side is affected more than your left?

I would start with getting evaluated by an ortho and see if you can get a PT referral. Maybe ask around your cycling community to see if anyone can recommend a Dr. to you.

I had an awesome LMT back in Seattle. He did some trigger point work on me, when my shoulder locked up from using crutches. A couple of books I saw on his coffee table: The Trigger Point Workbook and the Frozen Shoulder Workbook, both by Clair Davies. I got the first one for myself. There are a lot of great self-care techniques in it, I imagine the Shoulder one is just as good.

[Eden]

Tennis balls in a sock! (seriously). Put two tennis balls in a sock and tie it off. Lie on the floor with the tennis balls under your back - stretch over them in several places up and down your back as is tolerable. You can use them to hit the sore spot in your shoulder too. This was the only thing I found that really, really helped me with a problem that sounds just like yours.

Mine was from computer mousing with really bad, non-erganomic desks for years, but cycling and a bad bike fit was really aggravating it. The tennis ball trick took care of the acute problem and now I never use a mouse pad - I always mouse on a clip board placed in my lap.

[OakLeaf]

The trouble with nerve irritation is that it's likely more than one muscle playing off against each other to trap the nerve, and if you don't work them in the correct combination, it won't help, and it can even increase the muscle imbalances and the pressure on the nerve.

And, many of the neck and upper chest muscles (which can press on nerves feeding the arms and shoulders) take a lot of delicacy to work them without *directly* bruising nerves, which you don't want to do that, obviously.

I really think you should try to find a good neuromusculoskeletal practitioner.

Is the numbness constant or intermittent? How severe? Are there positions you can put yourself in that relieves it? What about changing your sleeping position?

[Catrin]

I agree with Oakleaf - the shoulder and all attached to it is a complex structure and addressing things in the wrong order (for you) can lead to even more problems.