Category Archives: shoulder

Shoulder Operation -More Confusion

A Canadian study on full thickness tears found the no-op subgroup did well over 5 years. A Netheraland study found removing bursa (B) and taking off acromium(A) not any better than just removing bursa alone  in chronic subacromial shoulder pain. … Continue reading

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Chronic Nonspecific Shoulder Pain -Look For Infraspinatus Trigger

At a recent conference, it was stated that the Infraspinatus muscle was key to all pain in the upper quadrant. He advised rolling a lacrosse ball back and forth it over it. You either sit or stand against a wall … Continue reading

Posted in arm, Manual Med, myofascial pain, shoulder | 1 Comment

AC Joint Treatments

Recent article defines treatments as steroid injection or distal clavicle excision. It found little evidence of persistent benefits of AC steroid injection and found arthroscopic distal clavicular excision satisfactory in 92.5% of cases on average.

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Cervical Radiculitis Without a Cause ? Chickenpox Zoster Virus History High

If you take cases of cervical radiculitis – if imaging shows possible reason for it, they give a history of having had shingles at about 18.4%. In cases with normal imaging, the prior incidence jumps to 81.6%  (p<0.01) – most of … Continue reading

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Pain News – Short Snaps June 2017

June 2017 Pain News: I put them up as short snaps because not going to blog note them – hope you like. You will probably not find many in news elsewhere.

Posted in Abdominal pain, celiac, chronic fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, Injection, Interstial Cystitis/Gynecologic, Knee, psychology, shoulder | Leave a comment

Subdeltoid Hyaluronic Acid Lubricant Injection in Supraspinatus Tendonopathy Helps

Subdeltoid hyaluronic acid injections 2 ml x 2 weekly associated with mild improvement in pain

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What Should Patients be Advised Post Shoulder Injection?

116 patients Forty-one (35.3%) patients experienced post-injection pain. The mean duration of symptoms was 3.9 days. At 6 months, 81 (69.8%) patients were discharged successfully and, at a mean of 23.2 months, did not require re-referral; 29 (25%) had surgery; … Continue reading

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Instructions for Dealing With Calcific Tendonitis Shoulder

It has always been vague on the fine points of this techique. A beautiful account for this procedure is available in this newsletter: http://www.asra.com/content/documents/nov-13_asra_news.pdf on pages 14-17 I have included a summary for those who can’t reach it.

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Frozen Shoulder – Just a Little Cortisone But More Blocks Help

Study found 20 mg Kenalog worked as well as 40 mg and another found you don’t even need to hit the joint. I supplement suprascapular and quadrilateral space blocks as well as subscapularis working out.

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Reaching “Critical Mass” to Achieving Pain Control – Procedure Pearls

I have recently achieved (previously unattainable) control in some of my chronic pain subjects using recent innovations – but to acheive this required use of multiple modalities at once.

Posted in arm, Back Pain, Botox, complex regional pain, Drugs, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, Injection, IV therapy, Leg Pains, Manual Med, myofascial pain, Neck, neuropathic, Pain Dystrophy, piriformis, post herpetic neuralgia, radiculitis, shoulder, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

How Much Relief Will Celecoxib Give in Frozen Shoulder?

A drop of 1.5/10 does not seem like much though they do say 71.4% got rid of night pain

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Failed Knee or Shoulder Arthroplasty? – Intra-articular Botox Injections Help

50% reduction of pain was reported in about 1/2 of post shoulder and knee arthroplasty pain cases with Botox injections. This was sustained by repeated injections.

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Geriatric Rotator Cuff Tears – Intra-articular Shoulder Joint Steroid Injection For Pain Control

Recently, had an elderly but otherwise in good condition patient with tears of two of his shoulder rotator cuff tendons that he wished repaired. Was told by specialist – too far gone – and just learn to live with it. … Continue reading

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Bolulinum Works as Well as Steroid in Frozen Shoulder – Isn’t it About Time We Think About Combining The Two?

A recent article shows that botulinum  and steroid have similar durations of action in adhesive capsulitis – ie Frozen Shoulder. I have given both triamcinolone and botulinum (at separate times) into knee joints and noticed the combination can cause a profound … Continue reading

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At Last – Treatments For Supraspinatus Tendonitis – Platelet Rich Plasma (PPP) or Dry Needling or Deep Frictions

Because (noncalcific)supraspinatus tendons can tear, I tend to avoid steroid injection. This leaves deep frictions that may work 1/2 time but are painful and labor intensive – Though Platelet Rich Plasma needling/injection worked well, dry needling by self did not work … Continue reading

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Does Neuropathy Form a Part of Chronic Shoulder Pain? And Nerve Irritation the Basis to Some Chronic Knee and Tennis Elbow Pains

One dumbed down rhizotomy – 42 degrees centigrade pulse treatment to the suprascapular nerve going to the shoulder can give long term 50% relief of various forms of chronic shoulder pain. The ease of this effect (only one treatment) makes one wonder … Continue reading

Posted in elbow, Knee, neuropathic, shoulder | 1 Comment

Confirmation of Nerve Growth in Tendonopathy – in Shoulder Too

I have previously written: Does Pain “Grow” at Tendon injury sites? -and Treatment tennis elbow Now for shoulder tendonopathy, “increases of newly grown nerve fibers and blood vessels ” inside tendons has been found

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Asymptomatic Rotator Cuff Tendon Tears More Common in Elderly Diabetics

In 70 year olds, incidence of major asymptomatic supraspinatus tears is 7.8% in elderly controls, and 15.8 in elderly diabetics

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How Do Asymptomatic Shoulder Tendon Tears Become Symptomatic?

When partial tear became full, or when full tears spread by >5 mm – it was more likely to become symptomatic. It was suggested that “Further research is warranted to investigate the role of prophylactic treatment of asymptomatic shoulders to … Continue reading

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Post Stroke Hemiplegic Shoulder Pain – Plain Local Suprascapular Block as Good as Steroid Injection in Shoulder

Beefing up my contention that suprascapular nerve blocks have therapeutic shoulder effects, is a new article finding it works as well as steroid injections into shoulder – without having to use steroids.

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Can’t Get Rid of Shoulder Tip Pain? – Think C4/5 Neck Facet

Various measures have been used for trapezius tip pains but they keep coming back. Now it’s confirmed the neck is a player.

Posted in myofascial pain, Neck, shoulder | 2 Comments

Fix For Torn Shoulder Tendons and Pain in Elderly – Loosen Deltoid Muscle

Torn shoulder tendons gimp shoulder mechanics and can lead to “chronic and often unbearable pain, muscular fatigue, and severe functional disability”. A reverse prothesis and latissimus dorsi tendon transfers are a treatment but are extreme measures. A simple and effective … Continue reading

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Breast– (Some Post Mastectomy) & Chest Wall Pains – Easy Fix

Study of Scapulothoracic Bursitis – Though 78.6%  presented with the breast/chest pain, a tender area was found posteriorly on the medial aspect of the shoulder blade(scapula). Injection of steroid to area relieved the breast/chest pain as well in 83.5% of … Continue reading

Posted in breast cancer, breast pain, chest pain, shoulder, Thoracic | 2 Comments

Testing For Shoulder AC Joint Pains

I am used to doing an arm raised adduction test (bringing arm over chest) to see if it elicits pain.  Alarmingly , this crossed arm adduction test may only be positive 67% of the time. More sensitive tests have been … Continue reading

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Torn Rotator Cuff Lesions Best Treated in First 4 Months But Single Tendon Tears Are Sneaky

Rotator cuff tendon repairs give good results even with fatty degeneration and muscle atrophy best under 4 months. Single tendon tears  – commonly supraspinatus, are sneaky – only 43% can relate any trauma to onset and 90° active abduction is … Continue reading

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