Physical therapy for my shoulder

Just got back from a trip out of town, so I've been unable to devote attention to this blog. Now that I'm back, I can write the next installment.

As the title indicates, this is a post about a shoulder problem I developed and the therapy I'm currently undergoing to help it. Oddly enough, I can't say this problem is a direct result of my new exercise regime.

I did experience some shoulder pain once I started my strength training last summer. But it didn't bother me very much. Then, I took a 10 day vacation in the fall, and thus a break from my strength training routine. It was actually during that 10 day break that the shoulder problem cropped up and worsened.

What happened is that I began to notice pain in my right shoulder when I would move my arm in certain ways. It became pretty painful to do certain things, like reach behind my head to comb my hair.

I went to the doctor about this when I got back from that vacation and they took some x-rays that showed the joint looked ok. So he decided it was tendinitis and gave me some anti-inflammatories to take for 10 days, after which time the tendinitis was supposed to clear up.

The anti-inflammatories did help a lot. The range of motions that would cause me pain was reduced noticeably. But the pain did not go away totally. After finishing the 10 day course of anti-inflammatories, the pain was still present and the greater range of motions I could perform with little or no pain began to diminish. This led to another visit to the doctor's office.

This time, I was prescribed more anti-inflammatories and, in addition, sent to a physical therapist. Which brings me to the current moment.

I've been having physical therapy sessions and doing their recommended exercises for about a month now. This has definitely helped the pain and increased the range of motions I can do with my right arm without experiencing shoulder pain. There have been a few set-backs--I think due to the fact that I've had to skip or reduce my exercises a number of times during the holidays. The pain is actually a little worse at the moment than it had been immediately prior to the holidays. But now that I'm back home, I'll start doing the whole selection of exercises again and will be missing fewer days. I'm expecting a full recovery within a month or two. If the exercises don't finally resolve the problem, however, they will administer a cortisone shot later.

In closing, I should mention that I've had this shoulder pain in the past, so it's not a totally new development. Something I've been doing recently has exacerbated it--but what exactly that is, I'm not sure. It could be the strength training, although it is odd that the pain would worsen when I was taking a break from strength training. I would actually say that, if there's a movement I can point to as a source for the pain, it's when I'm lying on my back in bed and reach way back behind my head to tuck the pillow further under my head--an odd way to experience a shoulder injury. In the past, I'd say the pain has been exacerbated by doing prostrations during worship services.

In any case, I'll close this post on the hopeful note that I will be recovering from this pain soon.

UPDATE: At my physical therapy session this past Wed. the therapist told me he thought I would not need any further sessions with him. I estimated that my shoulder is at about 97% now and seems to be steadily improving, and on this basis he said he thought continuing the exercises at home should get me totally healed up fairly soon. I still have some pain when engaging in certain activities, but it's lessened noticeably and I hope for a full recovery soon.

FURTHER UPDATE: My shoulder continues to improve and is very close to being fully healed. The shoulder exercises, when performed daily and with the proper amount of strain, seem to have healed the tendinitis. I may post more details in the future on what sorts of exercises I was doing and the theory behind what was causing me shoulder pain. It seems like that information could be of benefit to others.