possible shoulder injury

[TronaldDump]

I sprained my shoulder, possible rotator cuff tear and was too broke and without insurance to take care of it or get it looked at besides resting it for the past 5 months. It feels great, but I'm planning for an awesome trip in June and will be somewhat remote so I don't want to take the chance of it being weak and snapping it completely, if its partially torn. I'm starting up training again and would love to have it looked at now that my insurance kicked in. Can anyone recommend a good doctor for shoulder injuries in the seattle area? Maybe one who climbs and understands these things and the strain that can be put on it?

[LittleJohn]

I have torn my rotator cuff several times, there are two surgeons I have seen, Dr Kirby in Seattle at Phone: (206) 386-2600. Only does shoulder surgeries and has excellent reputation, but no longer will take L&I cases. Dr Craig Arntz at Proliance surgeons in Kent, at (425) 656-5060. He also specializes in shoulder surgery and is highly recommended. If you have been pain free for 5 months I doubt if your cuff is torn, one of the hallmarks of a tear is the inability to sleep through the night because of shoulder pain. Good luck, hope there is no teat, recovery is long and kind of a bitch. With non-arthroscopic surgery you are looking at 30-60 days in a sling, before you can even start to move the shoulder.

[obwan]

Hey There:

LittleJohn is correct - I too have had shoulder problems, and Kirby is the man ( he fixes other's mistakes), but both Kirby and Arntz are the best in the NW. I saw Kirby and he had some guy in his office all the way from Anchorage - and he almost laughed when I told him I had a torn rotor cuff. He said, yeah right - I've got my waiting room full of brick layers and sheetrockers that need shoulder surgery. This may be a long story but my diagnosis is that you don't need an expert , but better to follow up and find out. So, to continue my "trip report" to Kirby - I said Doc C'mon, it hurts like hell and I can't sleep at night, and can't even put on a shirt or reach for my wallet - not to mention I'm not able to belay. I told him I even taped my arm to my side with duct tape at night, as I turned around sleeping , the morning was hell - and insisted he take an Xray. Which he did and laughed again saying there was no tear - and I'm wining about it hurts like hell. He was even able to detect a previous "dislocation" and laughed again when I told him that was done 50 years ago in H.S. Gymnastics on the rings.

And he says - I know your kind - what ever it was that caused the injury has healed, and by keeping it calm and resting - the shoulder has lost it's range of motion and built up scar tissue. I said, oh yeah - probably that Mtn bike wreck months ago and then I babied it.

His diagnosis was, I had a classic "frozen shoulder", now I'm thinking this guy doesn't know Jack Shit - he said I can send you to a P.T. but the once a week stuff isn't the way to go. He sent me home with a couple of "door" stretches and said I needed to be consistent 2-3 times a day for a while - I said, how long - and he said some winers take six months, but if I was consistent and aggressive - maybe 4-6 months. I went home in great pain and called his office twice for pain killers, and he kept saying keep up the good effort. Basically, I knocked it out in 3 months and now don't even remember the pain.

You can Google the "frozen shoulder" issue - I basically did two stretches. Reach to the top of door or sill and finger cling, like rock climbing and hold for awhile. And standing between the door with both hands on the door jam, lean inward.

This long trip report is no bull - but it worked, he doesn't operate unless he has to.

In fact my son, also had a bike accident and took the full force in a downhill crash taking out a Chevy Blazer with his shoulder - now that one was a torn rotator cuff, Kirby had to operate on and with great results.

So, I wish you luck and as LittleJohn said, it is probably not requiring surgery or even torn if you are not losing sleep over it .

Good Luck!

 

p.s. This scenario will save you a bunch of dinero.