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RA in shoulders

Posted , 7 users are following.

Guest
Guest

Is it possible that you have RA in the back of your shoulders? Where the shoulder blades are? Is there tendons back there holding the muscles on that can be affected?

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • Debkimly
    Debkimly Guest

    Posted

    I have horrible shoulder pain that the rheumatologist says is not RA.  So far methotrexate and plaqunil have helped wrists and knees but not difference in the stupid shoulder.  He could tell based on no swelling. Yours may be different.

     

    • Guest
      Guest Debkimly

      Posted

      My shoulders don't swell and i definetly have RA. That is not what they should base their diagnosis on either. If your shoulder joints have sharp pains in them and you have flares, you have it in my opinion.
    • Debkimly
      Debkimly Guest

      Posted

      I also only have the pain on just one side and think that is another factor.

       

  • Rowbirdie
    Rowbirdie Guest

    Posted

    Hi River

    Arthritis research uk do a leaflet on shoulder pain. You can read it online. I dipped in and it does say neck problems can cause referred pain in shoulder blade. I didn't read it all but it may have useful info for you.

  • gemma83759
    gemma83759 Guest

    Posted

    Yes yes def. I've just experienced the worse flare up ever. Mostly my shoulders but also wrists, hands and feet. Shoulders were so bad that I had sticky heat pads on constantly as well as two types of morphine and oral steroids. The pain was in the shoulder joint and travelling up my neck into my jaw and down the back of my shoulder blades. Doc said was primarily joint pain with tendinitis. Going to biological clinic today to start biologic med!! Try having long hot baths, this was comforting for me. Keep well. G.
    • Guest
      Guest gemma83759

      Posted

      So sorry to hear that Gemma! i feel so bad for you. I am thinking that maybe the pain in my shoulders are causing stress and the muscles are getting all tensed up and doing their thing. Don't know for sure. I've had tension headaches plus the awful aching pain between my lower shoulder blades for a couple of weeks now. All the sudden today it is gone and guess what? I woke up to my right thumb flaring. Just the one joint. Feels like the hand could swell but it hasn't all day long. I started prednisone this morning. I don't know if MTX is going to help at all but I guess I need to stay on it 3 months to find out.
  • EileenH
    EileenH Guest

    Posted

    Something that can cause this sort of pain is spasmed muscles - especially for those of you who find heat helps relieve the discomfort.

    Our back muscles put up with a lot, adjusting to cope with poor posture, poor gait (which all of us with inflammatory arthitis probably have) and other insults such as slipping or falling or not stopping when the bus does - and eventually protest by going into spasm to prtect themselves from further damage.

    I used to get a lot of relief from my osteopath because some of the muscle reaction can be caused by vertebrae that aren't articulating properly (sliding against each other). The best thing I have found for the muscles is Bowen therapy - a deceptively gentle procedure that I suppose you could call chiropractic for soft tissues (tendons/ligaments and muscles) and one which the University of North Durham Hospital Pain Clinic uses as part of its pain management program. You can find that all over the place and it doesn't need a doctor's referral - if it will help you will see a change within 3 sessions, if you can't feel any difference in that time you can stop, it probably won't help, although one lady I know did continue because she felt a difference in wellbeing - eventually it also helped the pain.

    It can be myofascial pain syndrome - Bowen helps that but so can a good physiotherapist or sports massage therapist who can moblise the so-called trigger points manually. 

    This isn't to say it isn't the RA - but these are common causes of that sort of pain that aren't.

    • Guest
      Guest EileenH

      Posted

      I'm thinking you are right Eileen. My husband massaged my shoulder blades and it hurt but felt good. The more pressure the better. Even on the nerve spot in the middle of your shoulder blade. It took about 45 minutes (bless his heart) to get the pain gone but it only stayed gone for about 4hours then came back. I also used heat but it didn't seem to help that much. I'll look up the Bowen therapy, thanks for the tip! smile
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