Anyone here gone to a physical therapist for shoulder pain? Can they discover the problem without an X-ray?
- Thread starter thups
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- fitness after 30
@thups Stretching would be bad if there's a tear that would make it worse. Depending on how severe, you should go talk to a doctor. If you still have full range of motion though, you're probably fine and some mobility exercises would be good.
I had a rotator cuff injury. I couldn't life my left arm away from my body beyond horizontal and getting it to horizontal was very painful. It wasn't getting better on its own after 2 weeks, so I went to a physical therapist. Through a series of test motions etc. they were able to pinpoint which sets of muscles/tendons, etc. were injured. They walked me through a series of exercises to help it heal and strengthen. I also had to stop several activities that were aggravating it. Took 2 months to mostly heal and 3 months to fully heal but now it's all good.
I had a rotator cuff injury. I couldn't life my left arm away from my body beyond horizontal and getting it to horizontal was very painful. It wasn't getting better on its own after 2 weeks, so I went to a physical therapist. Through a series of test motions etc. they were able to pinpoint which sets of muscles/tendons, etc. were injured. They walked me through a series of exercises to help it heal and strengthen. I also had to stop several activities that were aggravating it. Took 2 months to mostly heal and 3 months to fully heal but now it's all good.
questioner2
New member
@thups I'm a trainer, it's most probably soft tissue tightnes, rather than structural. This means adequate stretching and massage of key areas will allow for greater external rotation of the upper arm. This will release the tightness and remove the discomfort.
With your chest in s stretched position you need to massage your upper pec area. You may also have tightness in your trap muscle, again massage this area. Then do external rotation stretches, holding a weight in your hand to assist the stretching. This is a static stretch.
I'd post some pics but not sure how.
With your chest in s stretched position you need to massage your upper pec area. You may also have tightness in your trap muscle, again massage this area. Then do external rotation stretches, holding a weight in your hand to assist the stretching. This is a static stretch.
I'd post some pics but not sure how.
@dawn16 Thanks, if you come across videos or images you recommend that would be helpful. It’s hard to describe the pain, and it only comes with certain movements of the shoulder. It used to be much worse but now I’m at the point where is barely ever there, but just every now and then. Overhead press is an exercise I’ve been doing fairly often and I don’t experience the pain with it.
theunfaithful
New member
@thups I think the general medical consensus is that you should always seek out PT first before any other intervention. Primarily because it will be far less costly, especially if the PT can diagnose and treat the issue first thing (which in many cases is entirely possible and effective), and secondly because any form of PT is preferable to being medicated or having surgery unless otherwise unavoidable.
Full disclosure: my wife is a PT, but from hearing about her and others' experiences in the field as long as you find an honest and reputable one they'll be up front with you about whether or not they can treat something. Just do some research first and it should be easy to figure out which ones are the "McDonald's" of PT clinics, so to speak, who are just looking to up their numbers and churn people through to make more money. Avoid those obviously but the rest should be able to help you or make good referrals if they can't.
Full disclosure: my wife is a PT, but from hearing about her and others' experiences in the field as long as you find an honest and reputable one they'll be up front with you about whether or not they can treat something. Just do some research first and it should be easy to figure out which ones are the "McDonald's" of PT clinics, so to speak, who are just looking to up their numbers and churn people through to make more money. Avoid those obviously but the rest should be able to help you or make good referrals if they can't.
@thups Depends on the pain, but I’ve had good luck with real massage therapists. They went to school to know what all the muscles do and how they should react. I’ve also been to a physical therapist for joint issues and they gave me exercises which fixed my issues. Neither time did I need an X-ray.
downtrodden
New member
@thups Not trying to diminish what you have going on, I was having shoulder problem for an excessive amount of time to the point I couldn't lift items straight in front of me. My doctor gave me exercises that didn't work. Someone told me to change my pillow to a higher loft. It actually was the solution. I was sleeping with my arm towards the headboard and under the weight of my head with a thin pillow. A higher loft and adjusting how I sleep changed all that for me.
jeffwiebe90
New member
@thups my physical therapist was able to diagnose and fix my shoulder issue w/o an xray.
An xray probably wouldn't even help for most shoulder issues since it doesn't show the muscles. You'd probably need a CT scan or something for muscle issues but I didn't get that either
My shoulder would occasional feel like some muscle was "catching" inside of it and then it would sort of "pop" and free up again. It was a weird feeling that was uncomfortable but not reliably reproduced
The PT diagnosed me as having an encapsulated muscle in the muscle behind my shoulder (sort of the end of the trapezius). He did hard manual therapy (like massage but it hurts) and then gave me a list of exercises and recommended I stop doing overhead presses (which is when it hurt the most). It hasn't really bothered me in nearly a year since then
An xray probably wouldn't even help for most shoulder issues since it doesn't show the muscles. You'd probably need a CT scan or something for muscle issues but I didn't get that either
My shoulder would occasional feel like some muscle was "catching" inside of it and then it would sort of "pop" and free up again. It was a weird feeling that was uncomfortable but not reliably reproduced
The PT diagnosed me as having an encapsulated muscle in the muscle behind my shoulder (sort of the end of the trapezius). He did hard manual therapy (like massage but it hurts) and then gave me a list of exercises and recommended I stop doing overhead presses (which is when it hurt the most). It hasn't really bothered me in nearly a year since then
godblessyouall
New member
@thups Ultra sound then mri. At least thats what i did when i had shoulder problems... even then the mri didnt pick up theproblem snd the specialist had to go in with a camera. My supersi artus had pealed off the bone and had to be anchored back on to heal it. After10 yearsi sometimes forget which shoulder it was
@thups Hi there, im a PT and yes a good PT can diagnose and fix ur issue without xrays. An xray wont show anything anyways. Xrays only show bone issues like a fracture, u would have to get an mri to find out what is exactly wrong. Which to a good PT wont really matter, as he is going to look at ur biomechanics and dysfunctions and fix them which will in turn alleviate ur symptoms. My advise find urself a really good PT.
@thups While I’m sure the chances of us having the same problem are slim, I’ll share my experience with you. I was having shoulder pain, working out 4-5x a week. Massage therapy and the chiropractor I was seeing at the time for treatment did nothing to help. I had an X-ray that showed nothing. Finally I saw a new chiropractor who had me get an mri that showed several herniated discs in my neck. Before seeing one yourself, I’d look into seeing a physiologist (I think that’s the right name- someone correct me if I’m wrong).