Shoulder injury (AC joint)

[JamieM]

I've had a painful shoulder since May. I can't remember any one time when I injured it, sometimes it's painful, sometimes not too bad. I play football (in goal), go to the gym, and go cycling. I've tried stopping these, doing more of these, or varying these, but still have the pain. The one thing I've learnt not to do for now is the punchbag in the gym which definitely made it worse.

I've seen the doctor about this, been for an UltraSound scan, which apparently showed no obvious tendon damage, and been to see a physio. The GP said it's a sprain of the acromio-clavicular joint, which seems spot on in terms of where the pain is. The physio thinks it's related to when I broke my hand in January playing football, even though I had no shoulder pain until May (which is when I started playing football and used the punch bag again).

What's frustrating is that I'm still getting the pain 5 months on and if anything it's getting worse. I've now been referred to an upper limb specialist at the hospital, but am still waiting for an appointment. It's stopping me playing football (in goal), limits my gym workout, and is often painful when trying to sleep.

I can generally move it okay but it's painful in certain positions, although when the physio asked if I could touch my opposite shoulder blade it hurt more than before and hasn't got any better since (that was a month ago). I played football (in goal) last week and that seems to have made it worse.

Any ideas? Could it be bone damage? Ligament damage? I've not had an x-ray yet.

[Heidi]

I think bone damage is unlikely as you would normally be able to pinpoint when you did it. Same with an AC joint sprain.

When you broke your hand, did you fall onto it? If so this may have caused some damage at the shoulder due to forces being transmitted through the arm.

I think the best think you can do is rest it as much as possible until your appointment with the specialist. Other than that it is very difficult to really advise you on what to do.

[AZMom]

[I] had no range of motion in my shoulder for years. It was very painful, just generally uncomfortable. I had fallen on ice at least 16 years ago, and just never didi anything about it. I just tried a new technology, works off sound waves. In two days, I regained full range of motion, and all pain is gone. I must have had some old scar tissue, or some block. This machine reduces inflammation and breaks down scar tissue. You can read about it at myhealthmachine.com. I'm using it now on a painful knee, and my lower back pain has disappeared. It really worked for me.[/I]

[jenniferkidsme]

im havin the same kind of trouble i dont remember injuring my shoulder the pain came all of a sudden and i have it for 6 mths now