Impingement

I'm a 42 year old teacher of physical education at a secondary school in Belgium. My weekly programme : gymnastics, dance, judo, circus (age 15-18).After almost two years of pain in miy left shoulder( scans, x-rays and echoes showed nothing abnormal, got an injection twice which gave a temporary relief ) I finally came across an orthopedic surgeon who is specialised in the upper body part. Problem : impingement of the tendon of the supraspinatus muscle. Solution : arthroscopic surgery ( two 1cm incisions on the backside of the shoulder ). Seems the tendon of the muscle was very much swollen and was rubbing against the bottom side of the acromion with every move the arm made. The tendon was being torn to shreds. So, bone of the acromion was scraped to widen the canal. Surgery was done on august 29. Before, I couldn't bring my arm forward upward, and in sideways position with the elbow in 90 degrees I could not tilt my hand backwards. Had to teach keeping arms crossed. Now, one month later, I'm ahead of schedule in therapy : can lift upward, sideward, put hand on the back, behind the neck, have done breaststroke and freestyle in an easy manner, hope to be able to do a handstand within 4 weeks. Will mail again at the end of october. groetjes ! (greetings)

don't get to excited over shoulder surgery. I had what was suppose to be impringement surgery in November '03. My pain is greater today than every before. Don't know if it was doctor or what but I sincerly wish I would never have had it done.

was suppose to have been (got trhee nice little holes and a picturee of the inside of my shoulder). ended up with three incissions about three inches long each. Doctor has been truethful with me. Getting med. file to take to another doctor. This one says it was not due to work related incident but I think so and the referring doctor thought so. Present doesn't really want to co-operate (must have somethiing to hide. Will see what nest doctor has to say.

this is true!!BUT the examining doctor (which says "impringement) and the doctor that I was sent to by company doctor (which examined originally) don't agree. It's all in the incident/accident report which says "shoulder popped when bolt broke that was being pulled on". Operating doctor says "no way it was work related". can't find a lawyer that will take case unless paid "up front". thanks cecil

Currently suffering from impingewment in left shoulder. Starting a P/T reigmen, but I know from problems in right shoulder that P/T may not be the solution. How did you handle impingement? Surgery or more non-invasive approaches. Acromioplasty is an option, but people who have this procedure seem to havee mixed results.

hi there, i had an acromioplasty on my right shoulder on 3/11/04 for bursitis & impingement syndrome, before surgery i had months of p/t which didn`t seem to make much difference i have worked on a production line doing repetitive work for the last 14 yrs, since surgery i have been in constant agony i used to think i was in pain before surgery but that was like a bad toothache compared to what i`m going through now ,from the time i get out of bed in the mornings(which is the worst apon waking in the morning)to the time i go to bed. its been 2 months and i still feel like it was yesterday that i awoke from surgery, i`ve been to my doctor i don`t no how many times because i just can`t handle the pain. my doctor told me to contact my specialist which i did 3 times and they basically said excercise,excercise,excercise well i have not stopped excercising and it doesnt seem to make any difference so i went back to my doctor with electrocuting pain shooting straight down my arm to my elbow and he rang the specialist and amazingly i got in the very next day. the specialist basically manipulated my arm to get a full range of motion and said i wasnt having the correct p/t so he put me into some1 else that ive seen twice now he told me that the electrocuting pain shooting down my arm was a tethered nerve which would heal with the correct excercise.(aparently its like a dropped stitch when knitting is how they described it whatever that means) im at my wits end stuffing my mouth with pain relief every 4 hours using heat packs,hot showers and heat rub constantly(specialist says ice packs are a big no no, only to be used for first week after surgery then heat im starting to feel like there is something seriously wrong like dr maybe stuffed up but i read some of the messages on here like yours and realise that there are a lot of us in the same boat trying to put my arm behind my back makes me want to passout its all getting to me and i feel so depressed how long does it normally take to get over something like this. my advice to anyone out there considering surgery for bursitis & impingement syndrome is to think very carefully this procedure is definately not a quick fix. i just cant wait to be normal again this thing is ruining my quality of life thanks for reading just my opinion jody

Hi Barb: I have heard that having cortisone shots is not a good idea, and yes, there is a maximum per year you should have. However, each time I visit the Doc's over my shoulder problem, they sure like to ask me to do a shot. I say no every time. I had one and for me, it didn't really help all that much, however, I heard you have to really not use that shoulder for a couple of days afterwards and I did not do that.

Anyway, this is for anyone out there, too:

I woke up 7 months ago with a really hurt shoulder. It used to come and go but this time, it stayed for months. I finally got authorization to have x-rays, mri's, and see specialists. Every single one says something different and I could sure use some assistance in sorting this out.

Ortho says that I need subacromial decompression with distal clavicle surgery. Rhematologist says that no, it's arthritis that I have vs. impingement and to take celebrex. Pain Management MD says no, it was frozen shoulder, don't need surgery but I need PT and ergonomic lessons. Another Doctor says no frozen shoulder, basically anatomical defect with my sloping clavicle and have calcium problems. She wants to do acupuncture.

Needless to say, I could use some guidance here. I'd rather not do surgery unless I have to. Ortho says that if I don't, I could tear my rotator cuff and right now, there are no tears. I only hurt when I do a lot with shoulder now and when I sleep on that side. It was debilitating for months before, though. OUCH!

Jane
California

ABICHE, I'm wondering how long you have had "chronic impingement" in your left shoulder...I have had frozen shoulder in my right shoulder for almost a year, and was diagnosed with impingement in the left shoulder in March, but it had been developing since November (2004). My Frozen SHoulder is slowly improving, but the impingement is now almost more painful/frustrating than the FS. I've been doing exercises for about 6 weeks that I was told would help - they're supposed to strengthen the other muscles so that the swollen tendon can relax..but it doesn't seem to be working so far. Did you try exercises and did they help at all? What have doctors suggested? What is your pain level and ROM?
Also, what caused your impingement, if you know that? Mine is from overuse due to compensating for the other arm being immobile with pain from cervical radiculopathy, initially, followed by frozen shoulder.

I noticed your post is dated May 21st, so not sure if you still visit this site. WOuld love to hear more of your experience, or from anyone else who is currently dealing with this frustratingly debilitating problem.
Thanks!

I feel for you! I had shoulder pain, then a frozen shoulder in'99. Manipulation & release, Acromionoplasty, and arthroscopic surgery in '00. Returned to work in a year and a half. A year and a half later (03), everything went way wrong washing my hair one AM. No one can fix me. Now I rely on Kaiser and Vicodin. Considering ESWT. $3500 and only on East Coast. PT almost cleared up my probs but when I tried to do normal things (file papers, clean,etc.), it got worse than before. Any ideas? Is anyone out there? Help?

Physical Therapy works for some people with minor injuries. For others their shoulders are too far gone for it to ever really help much. I had injuries and conditions that never get better. Physical therapy before surgery was useless for me.