Shoulder Pain

I woke up nearly 2 weeks ago and my right arm was in total agony. I couldn't lift it without horrible pain. Even without using it, I felt severe pain my shoulder. So, I avoided using it as much as possible and went about my life. Finally after about 4-5 days the severity of the pain started to lessen. On the 6th day I paid a visit to a chiropractor friend. By then, the daily pain was at least 70% less than it had been initially. He did some strength and motion tests and said he could not see anything wrong structurally. He suggested that if it gets worse and returns to it's original state, to go back to see him immediately so that he can re-evaluate it. He was surprised- as I was - that the extremely painful symptoms seemed to mostly go away so quickly. The idea that a rotator cuff injury or issue would be that intense and heal so fast it very difficult to understand. P

Today, 12 days since the trouble began, has been my best day. The pain has almost completely gone away. It seems almost normal again.

What in the world happened here? Obviously I am thrilled that the pain seems to be almost all gone. The way it felt, and with some of the injuries I researched, i was concerned that I might be out of commission for months. Even still, I am fearful that the problem could come back anytime. I know that if I sleep with my arm in an unusual position, it will increase the pain when I get up.

Can anyone suggest what in the world is going on with my shoulder??!! I can't imagine what the problem was / is. The night before I woke up in agony I had been doing a dumbbell workout with back and shoulder muscles. I didn't hurt myself or recall doing anything that would have caused what I just went through.

Thanks.

Straydog, thank you for the reply. I was hoping your assessment was going to be accurate. Unfortunately, it was 2 weeks yesterday when I woke up with severe shoulder pain. While the symptoms decreased, after 15 days I have to say that there is still something really wrong with my shoulder / rotator cuff. I seemed to hit a peak where I thought I had healed 80-90% but I am still suffering a lot. It seems a lot of my agony is when I am sleeping and wake up in tremendous pain. I feels like my shoulder is out of place or something to that effect. I can move it around and seem to have a good range of motion. But the underlying problem is still very much there.

I think I might make a trip to a sports injury clinic this weekend to try and get some type of a diagnosis and figure out what to do. Serious or not, I am basically unable to use my arm for much and it is quite painful and annoying throughout the day - and when in bed.

I need some relief!

M&G, thanks for the note. I don't think it's a scapula issue but I've been wrong before! I live just over 3 hours from the big city so I was planning to make the trip in to walk in at the sports medicine's minor injury clinic. I woke up today, and strangely, my shoulder feels a lot better. I am almost disappointed in a way because now if I go see a doctor, it might be difficult to diagnose like it was the last time! In reality I am quite relieved, however, we'll see how the next couple of days go.

Not sure what it is but I seem to occasionally suffer from these really strange and painful ailments. My lower back that has been a problem for many years, seems a lot less problematic the past couple of weeks than it had been in January and February of this year. The issue is still there for sure, but not as problematic as it was a few weeks ago for a lengthy period of time. At the start of the year for a few weeks, I could barely sit still during the daytime because of the discomfort. Nowadays it is much more tolerable. A few weeks ago I had some pain that flared up suddenly on the top of my right foot. All those little bones and it hurt to walk etc. I never injured it that I know of - and a few days later it just completely went away on its own.

I can still feel my shoulder slightly, but it is far better than it's been since the pain began two and a half weeks ago. I want to return to my normal arm usage and my normal workouts but I certainly don't want any setbacks either. Some of these injuries are just plain strange. It's almost like turning a switch on and off to turn the pain on and off.

Post Edited (arncap) : 4/3/2021 8:20:33 PM (GMT-6)