Shoulder Injury
March 9, 2011 by Dr. Marc Darrow, M.D.
Filed under Shoulder Pain
Discussion from our Radio Show:
CALLER: I have a question regarding a shoulder injury, I do not know if it is a rotator cuff, but I would say about two years ago I injured it, I am not sure exactly how, I did the old work through it thing trying to get it better. It never got better. Went and got an MRI done because it was really aggravated so thankfully I had no tears or injuries but problem is I am still in a tremendous amount of pain and I am not really doing anything to lay off it and it is not getter better.
Doctor Darrow: The good news is there is nothing major going on, based on what you are telling is, from the MRI, the problem is the MRI doesn’t tell you what the problem is, which automatically tends to mean that you have an impingement syndrome or that the top of the shoulder is either digging into the tendons or you have a bursitis or an inflammation of the tendon in that area. I do not know if you ever had a steroid injection.
CALLER: No I never had one, in my experience I have been told that cortisone shots is something that you want to avoid.
Dr. Darrow: We don’t like to do repeat injections of steroids or cortisone but sometimes doing it one time is a very good diagnostic test to see where the problem is coming from. Once we find out where the problem is coming from, and we isolate the area, and the needle is telling us, your pain goes away immediately, that is the area where you need tissue rebuilt and grown and then we go and use Prolotherapy after that. Shoulders typically heal with a month to six weeks.
