Hi everyone-
I haven't posted in a while but I still read the forum everyday. I am currently 4 1/2 months post-op. Two months ago I had excrutiating pain in the front of my shoulder, it was so bad I didn't know how to get through the pain. I went to a local shoulder specialist and he gave me oxycodone, which really didn't even touch the pain. I started physical therapy in the pool, and that really helped the pain. I think at the time the pain was so bad since the muscles in my shoulder atrophied and as a result my shoulder dropped. I'm pretty sure I had a bad pinched nerve coming off of my neck causing this pain. THe physical therapy since then has built up my shoulder. I almost developed a frozen shoulder since I wasn't able to move my shoulder for so long, but again, the therapy has helped and I am able to move it alot more and have a better range of motion now.
Now, instead of the pain being in the front of my shoulder, it is now in the back left side of my shoulder blade. The pain is relentless in that area for the past 8 weeks. It never goes away. It is a burning, throbbing type of feeling. I was scared something was wrong so I went to see Dr. Boachie last week. He said all the hardware looks good and told me just to keep up with the therapy. He said the problem looks like it stems from the cervical spine. He said I could start taking Advil, which I was shocked because I thought you couldn't take NSAID's until after a year. He told me to come back in 6 months. I know others have had this problem with the scapula because I did a search on this forum. I was wondering, does this really take a long time to go away? I am sooo scared this will be permanent. Every week that passes by it doesn't seem to get any better. When I take my hand and rub it against the left side of my back, it is all numb and feels like I was just cut open yesterday. But my right side of my back feels totally normal. Very strange that this is all happening on the left side, especially the upper part of my left back/shoulder blade.
I guess I am worried that the hardware is irritating the muscles around my shoulder blade. A local doctor told me this could be the case, but Dr. B said to just give it time.
So I was wondering, how common is shoulder pain after surgery, and how long does it take to go away?
Thanks so much!!
JenM
I haven't posted in a while but I still read the forum everyday. I am currently 4 1/2 months post-op. Two months ago I had excrutiating pain in the front of my shoulder, it was so bad I didn't know how to get through the pain. I went to a local shoulder specialist and he gave me oxycodone, which really didn't even touch the pain. I started physical therapy in the pool, and that really helped the pain. I think at the time the pain was so bad since the muscles in my shoulder atrophied and as a result my shoulder dropped. I'm pretty sure I had a bad pinched nerve coming off of my neck causing this pain. THe physical therapy since then has built up my shoulder. I almost developed a frozen shoulder since I wasn't able to move my shoulder for so long, but again, the therapy has helped and I am able to move it alot more and have a better range of motion now.
Now, instead of the pain being in the front of my shoulder, it is now in the back left side of my shoulder blade. The pain is relentless in that area for the past 8 weeks. It never goes away. It is a burning, throbbing type of feeling. I was scared something was wrong so I went to see Dr. Boachie last week. He said all the hardware looks good and told me just to keep up with the therapy. He said the problem looks like it stems from the cervical spine. He said I could start taking Advil, which I was shocked because I thought you couldn't take NSAID's until after a year. He told me to come back in 6 months. I know others have had this problem with the scapula because I did a search on this forum. I was wondering, does this really take a long time to go away? I am sooo scared this will be permanent. Every week that passes by it doesn't seem to get any better. When I take my hand and rub it against the left side of my back, it is all numb and feels like I was just cut open yesterday. But my right side of my back feels totally normal. Very strange that this is all happening on the left side, especially the upper part of my left back/shoulder blade.
I guess I am worried that the hardware is irritating the muscles around my shoulder blade. A local doctor told me this could be the case, but Dr. B said to just give it time.
So I was wondering, how common is shoulder pain after surgery, and how long does it take to go away?
Thanks so much!!
JenM
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