Shoulder injury from car accident 4 months ago still hurts
Posted , 7 users are following.
Hello all, I was in a roll over car accident about 4 months ago and my shoulder hurt pretty bad right afterwards due to the seatbelt. The docs took xrays but nothing on it. I had several weeks off from work and thought the pain was getting better. Ever since returning, the pain has come back and has not gone away. I finally went back to the doctor about a month ago and they prescribed me some ibuprofen and muscle relaxer and also referred me to physical therapy. Well, a month into physical therapy, the shoulder really still hurts. It's hard to lift my arm and do overhead activities. It's also hard to reach in the back and put on my coat for example. Any kind of pressure on it makes it sore and it feels pretty weak now. I was told from worker's comp to possibly ask a referral to see an orthopedic surgeon but I am not sure I want to go down that road. I am thinking of asking the doc to order an MRI. Any suggestions or similar stories? Maybe I should just stick with physical therapy for awhile or take action?
0 likes, 13 replies
lindaudio paynelady
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Linda
Juanita22245 paynelady
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ian06941 paynelady
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I am waiting for an MRI scan on my right shoulder.I have been offered some physio at the local hospital next month but until the scan shows just what is wrong I am doubtful whether this will help recovery.I would definitely ask for a scan
paynelady
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sue20431 paynelady
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paynelady
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ashley43984 paynelady
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misty60903 paynelady
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Did you ever figure out what the issue was? I am having the same troubles but I am going on 7 months since the accident. The MRI showed nothing and physical therapy hasn't helped. Do you have any advice as to what made the pain go away?
paynelady misty60903
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Sounds very similar to mine. And even to this day I still have pain although at least in my case I am starting to wonder if the doctors were really right about it just being muscle pain to some extent. I have recently started going to a boxing gym and learning how to box. I have found that boxing is a great workout sport to get in shape but also has fantastic shoulder exercises that are definitely more vicious than physical therapy. Some days my shoulder hurts going to the gym but after working out the shoulder and everything else, I find that my shoulder feels better after the physical exercises. The physical exercises I do for boxing target each of the shoulder muscle groups. Its quite amazing. Strange because it definitely hurts during the workouts and I really have to push myself through it but really does feel better afterward just feels fatigued but not pain after workouts. I asked the boxing trainer what his opinion was and he said the exercises help loosen the muscles and naturally makes them stronger too. I always have to use 1 to 2 pound weights during workouts too. I've been doing this for about 2 months now and while shoulder generally hurts on days it does feel better too. Now I am not saying to go try out boxing. It's a hard sport and not for everybody however I am desperate to get rid if the shoulder pain and do not want to live with it forever. I feel like the workouts I do during boxing will make it stronger and help fix it. But will take time and patience and determination! Not to mention boxing is far more fun then physical therapy and heck of a lot cheaper. It very much helps that I can go to the gym anytime I want and get personal one on one time with the trainer. Everybody is different so I am not sure what pain u may be having but don't lose hope! I've seen so many doctors and have since had several MRI on neck and another one on shoulder. Everything turned out normal. Physical therapy helped some but not enough. So I am trying to find my own conservative ways to deal with it. I feel like my shoulder muscles are very weak and tight from being injured. It's been over 2 years since the accident happened so I am really hoping boxing can help me in more ways than one.
lukas86068 misty60903
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paynelady lukas86068
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Wouldn't that kind of injury show up on MRI?
lukas86068 paynelady
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lukas86068 paynelady
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There are just some quick hits on the search I made:
http://opensample.info/acromioclavicular-joint-sprain-and-its-prevalence-with-whiplash-injuries
If you search more, you will find more evidence and also studies that MRI very often shows nothing with this kind of soft tissue injuries. My personal explenation to which I arrived based on my injury experience is the following. Once the ligament is stretched even a little, it never comes back. Meaning in the AC joint, the collar bone goes up even a tiny bit is enough. All of u sedden the whole shoulder are, being a complicated complex of many joints functioning as one, has different proportions, ratios and lengths. This severly impacts the mechanics of all the soft tissues, muscles, ligaments, etc. All of these soft tissues must work hard to compensate and modify for the changed ratios in this complicated engine. Plus the nerve can get pinched in this process od adaptation/modification. All of this takes months to reset again to some new functional mechanical complex. Muscle memroy that have been used for years in that are is off. In my opinion all of this happens even if the collar bone changes its place by 1 mm.
My orthopedist also told me that I cannot have any more pain and shoulder problems if I am already 6 moths after the injury. Told me it is all heald by now and sent me home. Though I was in pain.
On the internet, people usually advice to stay away from the surgery, just makes things worse in most cases.
Another link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3977376/