Sub-acromial impingement syndrome

[Scottietottie]

Hi - its not SjS - but its health related.

Anyone else suffer this?

Had one plasma shot for it - which helped - but now I need another one. They won't do more than two - so after this it will be keyhole surgery.

(Unless it works for longer!)

Take care - Scottie 

[Joe S.]

(((<3)))

[Carolina]

Ok Scottie, had to look that one up.

It must be very painful, so I hope the treatment is working.

Hugs,  Elaine

[irish]

I had to look this up also. Sounds like similar to what some people call rotator cuff. Any way you look at it this could be another long episode for you. Hope that it does feel better and that if surgery is needed then hope all goes well for you,. You have had a lot of joint/tissue/bones/tendons/ligament issues the past couple of years, I would guess that connective tissue disease is part of the problem. You have the bad thyroid issues, etc and that can just increase a lot of these issues. Good luck. Irish

[Jenny]

Yes, I believe this is what I had. After a lot of Physical Therapy it got better. I'm not sure if it was related or not, but I ended up having to get my shoulder replaced about 15 years later.

[Carebear]

Yes, Scottie.  I have this myself.  I am just now feeling improvement in my movement, reduced pain and muscle strength.  Dare I say, I feel I am at 80% right now.  I also have a small tear in the nearby rhomboid muscle which has complicated things.

It has taken 11 months of treatment, and very hard work on my part to get there.  Dozens of injections of lidocaine deep in the muscle tissue, hundreds of dry needle injections, physiotherapy, ice/heat packs, pain medication, meditation.  Lots of frustration and agony along that journey too.

I still must do the physio, see a chiropractor and have regular visits with my acupuncturist.  Acupressure is often done on the surrounding muscles that won't loosen up on their own. I still require some pain meds, but this may not be necessary in a year or so.

At about month five, my docs spoke to me about the plasma shots and another treatment where they inject a dextrose solution into the damaged tissue.  As it was explained to me, both options are designed to fool the body in order to encourage it to repair this tissue.  I would have to stop any anti-inflammatory meds for a period of time (because you want inflammation), and physiotherapy would continue.  The dextrose solution therapy would be done every two weeks, 3 to 6 times, depending on the results.

I decided to continue my current therapy and for me it has finally paid off.  But I know it is different for everyone.  And I need to keep on top of my exercises or I will be back at square one in no time.  Best of luck, Scottie.

[Scottietottie]

Hi folks 

Thank for the replies.

I'm in a different situation from you Carebear - because I am no allowed to take anti-inflammatories because they cause me 'unexplained bruising'.

This has been ongoing in a way since Feb 2014 - but I initially developed frozen shoulder which is a different condition from sub-acromial impingement. One thing slid into the other.

Irish - I think the whole connective tissue thing is probably very relevant. BWay before developing dryness I had an awful lot of 'tendonitis' episodes. (Tennis elbow etc)

My GP says that as one gets older - aches and pains have to be accepted as part of life. I am grateful that my 'shoulder doctor', at least, is prepared to try to minimise this!

Take care - Scottie