Shoulder Problems

A few weeks ago, I decided to take two skids that had been used to ship our flooring and make one skid with little to no space between the slats.  In order to do this, I had to remove the slats.  They were all nailed down, so as I began to pry out the nails, I found myself exerting more and more pressure...  when one nail finally popped out, it pulled my should muscles and I felt an excruciating pain in my right shoulder.

It was all I could do to hold my arm motionless towards the ground as if it was lifeless or dead until the pain went away.  When I went back to removing nails, I found I had no strength in my right arm so I had to postpone what I was doing until my should get better.

A few weeks later, I was at my family doctor for my annual check up and mentioned my shoulder and it was suggested that I go to therapy.  

The therapist said after testing the movement of my shoulder that I had damaged my rotator cuff and without an MRI there was no way of telling how serious the injury was.  In the meantime, I could go through some therapy and if the injury was not that bad, the rotator cuff would heal itself.

There are basically three muscles that need to be tested.  Using a ball the size of a soccer ball is used for the testing as long as the ball as some flexibility when being pushed.

Hold the ball against the wall and push in towards the wall with your hand as you face the wall.

Second, with the ball against the wall, turn sideways and use the back of your hand to push the ball in.

Third, with your left side facing the wall, push inward using the palm of your hand.

These three exercises will let the therapist know which muscle has been injured.

In my case, I could not really push in with the back of my hand.  So, exercises were designed to focus on that area while not completely ignoring the other two muscles.  I was to have 9-45 minute sessions three times a week.

After 7 sessions, the therapist told me that my injury may not heal on its own and that I needed to decide if I wanted surgery or if I could live with it.

At my age, surgery would be difficult and even under the best of circumstances would take two months maybe three months to recover.

Hip and knee surgery have much much shorter recovery periods, especially when one is 75 years old.

Surgeons won't do anything without an MRI, and I am not too fond of getting an MRI.  So, my thoughts are to continue therapy at home and see if I can live with it.

When I first started therapy, I could not lift my right arm up enough to comb my hair, but I can do that now...  which shows improvement.

I am hoping it will heal itself...