Therapy for shoulder pain. Any advice?

Thank you,Veronica,I will slow down a bit and consider more sessions of PT if needed.

Pritzy I do sympathize. We have a Medicare PPO and still have to pay $40 a session for PT. if your Dr cleared you for PT then the stretch bands etc would be the first exercises they would start with and certainly can be continued carefully at home. It is important to keep moving but if the pain is increasing a return to the orthopedist might be adviseable to make sure you are not worsening the damage. You have obviously overdone things with the move etc and extra rest is in order. a you know the older you get the longer things take to get better. I know I am 76. Do a bit rest a bit and stop when you are tired. Pushing too hard is not the name of the game for seniors, it is slow and steady wins the race.

If I am reading this right, you are doing your own physical therapy at home using equipment you bought and reading the instructions? Physical therapy should cause a bit of discomfort [no pain, no gain] but it shouldn't remain painful... you might be doing yourself more damage by doing this at home on your own.

Instructions only go so far. You need to know what muscle groups are the correct ones to work on for your certain injury... need to know how to stand correctly while doing the exercises [standing wrong could create other injuries]... know how many reps to do each time, etc. Example, do NOT do the same exercises day after day, do certain one one day, and the next day do a different set. And drink plenty of water while exercising.

Xrays were taken.

I am so surprised that your Orthopedic doctor isn't asking for x-rays to be done to see if, in fact, you had a strain or broke a bone in your arm/shoulder.

I am currently dealing with a broken shoulder and in one month have had 2 sets of x-rays done, first set the day of injury and the 2nd set 4 weeks later, and another set of x-rays scheduled for early next month. A doctor will not order physical therapy unless he/she know sthe bones are healing [if it is a broken bone].... otherwise you can keep rebreaking that area.... remember as we age our bones tend to be brittle.

The facility is fully equipped,but my diagnosis did not require any of the machines there.I have a Tens from my previous injury. I have everything they used here at my home, What else do I need? I am beginning to see that maybe I am just overdoing the exercises. I am afraid that if I don't do enough I will have a permanent situation.

I'm really surprised at the limited "equipment" at the therapy facility. The ones we've attended always have quite a variety; the hospital affiliated ones are really great workout centers.

I'm not familiar with Medicare Humana; I have Medicare and am allowed I believe $1800 worth of therapy for an injury; that gives me about 10 sessions, which is generally enough. In the past, if I wanted more I could attend for another 2 months at a very nominal rate. There wouldn't be any modality treatment, but I could use any of the equipment.

I understand about the money issue; I'm in the same situation, as I'm sure are a lot of people who post here.

Hope you find some good solutions to the problem of shoulder pain. I'm surprised though that a shoulder MRI wasn't done. Shoulders are so complex.

Equipment they used at the 4 sessions I attended consisted of very inexpensive
items, stretch bands and lightweight bars, etc. Medciare Humana pays only a portion of the expense. If you don't have the money, you don't have the money. I have not self diagnosed.MRI was not part of the solution from the orthopedic doc.

I'm concerned about the PT you're doing on your own. I don't understand the statement that PT was expensive - aren't you on Medicare? If so, your doctor can script for it. I believe the maximum is around $1800 for one issue. You probably would be able to get some modalities such as U/S or TENS, depending on the therapist's assessment.

You seem very knowledgeable, but unless you have medical experience in reading x-rays, or can read an MRI and have training in PT, I'd be concerned about self diagnosis for something that obviously isn't healing.

You state that your movements are painful and seem to be worse. Isn't it time to get professional advice and use the benefits Medicare offers?

I assume you know that you could be causing more damage by creating your own therapy schedule.

Besides, exercise equipment isn't cheap - it would be more financially advantageous to get PT and let Medicare pay for it.

Cortisone shot did not work for me,others I have had in the past did help.The pain is not in the rotator area, I have had that before in the other shoulder,where cortisone helped a lot. Xrays were taken. PT was expensive so I got the equipment and instructions I needed and am trying to improve my movements with the exercises, but they are painful and seem to get worse rather than better. Have plans for water exercise soon.

Shoulders are complicated mechanisms. There can be many issues causing the pain. I've had both rotator cuffs operated on in the last 2 years. The pain per surgery was different in each one, with the upper arm hurting or my left hand going numb. If there is an injury, bone spur, rotator tear, bursitis etc, you need to be x rayed and given an MRI if the X-ray is inconclusive.

So, have you been to the doctor about your shoulder pain? Could be something more than a strain. You might need a cortisone shot.