Back in 2004, when I was 45 years old, I took a bad spill on my bike. The point of my shoulder hit the pavement and while I didn't break anything I ended up with a bruise from the top of my shoulder to center chest. The orthopedic doctor said the Subacromial Bursa was inflamed and that it probably never would go all the way back down. He said it would probably cause me problems later in life.

He was dead right on that. Over the year I had periodic trouble with it, minor pain, but some anti-inflammatory OTC meds and Tylenol took care of that. Now it's been going on for more than a month and is getting worse. It literally feels like there is not enough room inside my shoulder. Big problem is that I can't draw a pistol from a holster without that spot of pain on the up pull and then pain as I bring my hands together. Not to mention that it's difficult to point the pistol one handed even sideways. Then I can't shoulder a rifle without working at it, and then not for too long. I can shoot off a bench where my arm is supported.

The thing is back when I first hurt it and as I recovered I told them I was having these same problems. That was met with a strange look and really indifference by both the doctors office and the therapist. Only when I said it was a requirement of my job did they pay any attention.

So what is the course of treatment. From what I read it's injections. Those failing it's Subacromial decompression surgery, then that failing it is removal of the bursa. They say after about four months the bursa grows back. I see the doc on the 27th. Until then its the noninflammatory meds (Ibuprophin) and the rubs.

I should probably tell them it has seriously effected my Tee off and my golf average is going all to hell. That might be considered a much more serious matter.

No haunt, just hurt, put it out of your head and plow forward, we need to live hard and play hard till we die!

Feel better Armed, take care of yourself as best you can, but realize Father Time is undefeated.

We will all get there eventually.

That sucks. I like the golf strategism. You may also try using "fishing" or some stupid trendy liberal fad such as paddleboarding.

Good luck in this, I have had a bad elbow from a fall fifteen years ago that I did not document at work. But it is not as bad as what you are going through.

I have had multiple injuries from sports (torn tendons, broken bones) and back when I was very young had polio in my left leg and back. All ache to some degree but as gunner said the aches a person just puts out of their head and moves forward. I did some more damage to my left knee last fall and was put in a full leg brace. I said screw this there has to be another way (I am 68 and my injuries are from 18 thru my 20's). I found a very good deep massage therapist who also taught yoga and she put me into a stretching / strengthening program targeting my hips and knees on both sides as I was compensating with my good leg. I am about 2 1/2 months on this and can walk normally again (brace is in the closet). My suggestion on your shoulder would be to see a deep massage therapist that could also give you a routine for stretching. There is nothing to lose with this approach as you are not getting operated on and are just moving / de-binding under utilized muscles and tendons. Having had should surgery to reattach tendons you will be in some discomfort and the suck it up pill may be required. Good luck

Many shoulder surgeries, neck fusion, many broken bones, played pretty hard and rodeo'd some.
Shoulder surgery Jan 14 2020 , this Humpty is going to rope this Spring. 62 this month.
Shoot little recoiling rifles, don't deadlift heavy things but quite healthy, creaky in the morning.Good luck

I have two broke wrist but they don’t bother to much. Just a dull ache mostly. Just found out about the one a year ago. Doc said it was a very old break. Oh well. Ed k

Here's the thing, it doesn't just hurt it sticks. When I push into it my arm shakes. It's like trying to hold up a weight. Not just pain but impingement.

Same deal. After 9 surgeries on my knee and ankle, almost all work related, I finally had to pull the plug and find something else to keep me occupied.

sorry to hear that Armed, anyone can be young, but you gotta be tough to be old. .
hope you get fixed.

Not me, I will shoot until I die. I will find a way. Even if I have to retrain all left handed.

"They say after about four months the bursa grows back."

Who's they? I've never heard that.

I’ve spent some time in real physical therapy wards in hospitals. My injuries were severe but, they were minor in what the shoulder guys had. I can still hear their screams of pain from forced movement therapy. Shop around for the best ortho surgeon. You need the fighter pilot that can work on his plane while it’s running.

I have various old injuries that remind me of my age! That's why the saying , getting old isn't for pussies!

Not my shoulder, but here's one that caught up to me! Just over 2 years since the surgery and doing SO much better! The shots, and therapy, no longer helped and I was in so much pain... not any more. I used to be invincible... used to be. It's slowed me down a little, but I'm picking up speed again! Mine's the result of an old water skiing and motorcycle accident (arthritis set in) and then 40 years of electrical construction. Hope the best for you and your situation!

I'll pass but wish you well.

Seems like I always sympathize and feel sorry about the physical woes of others - and you are included. Hope it gets a lot better for you.

After a lifetime of sports injuries, then hunting/outdoor mishaps and a couple of vehicle wrecks - all of which hurt (some a bunch) and all of which were overcome with some stoicism and dedicated effort - I feel quite grateful to have been able to have kept plowing on with energy.

My perception that much/most of the overcoming is attitudinal has been even more driven by a couple of serious internal events after age 75 which finally put me into hospital treatment/confinement - way too long each time. That stuff can make a guy stir crazy. Found that, even after such near catastrophic events, the answer for me is to build oneself back up by degrees and keep charging forward. Sometimes it hurts to do so, but the alternatives are not appealing.

MAY!



I would really rather do the Acromioplasty first, and probably that is where the doc would go, according to my sister anyway. She would know, knows the doc, was a nurse for 44 years before retiring as Chief Nursing Officer at a University Hospital.

https://www.arthritis-health.com/types/bursitis/shoulder-bursitis-surgery

Two brain surgeries, an ACL tear from 1964, two knee jobs on it later, and two shoulder jobs (rotator cuff). Left shoulder is giving me trouble lately and the left knee swells and won’t bend. Heck, it’s always something, and I hurt somewhere most of the time. But I just don’t know what to do but keep going.

I had planned to live forever, but am now thinking that plan may be flawed.

Just reading some of these posts makes me ache. damn

Only surgeries I've had were a couple hernias (no long term effects) and a repaired tendon in my hand. She did carpal tunnel while in there. I've a couple aches that creep up over time though. Got lawn darted off a horse 14-15 years ago, broke the helmet and jacked my neck. Sprained an ankle really bad a couple years ago and when they did x-rays found out I had broken it years before, just thought it was a bad sprain. That one absolutely haunts me though.

I don't know the extent of my shoulder injury, but I can throw a rock or ball maybe twice (and not well at all) before I'm done.

I was leading a mare out of a barn one afternoon back in '85, and that worthless nag rared up because she tripped herself on the door roller foundation...totally unexpected. Yanked my arm up and back in a way it was never meant to move. I'd given her way too much slack, I guess. It hurt like the devil for a few months and I'd have to support my right arm just right to relieve the pain. After a while I learned to just regard the pain as nothing but a meaningless sensation, and these days it rarely bothers me.

I wish I could do that five minute stretch over again, though.

Didnt bowhunt this morning because of back pain. Work had me lit up friday, and i put in a new washing machine yesterday. Slow go today.

Not horrible. Just a fatiguing constant blah.

Reason I'm not a rock star and was slow to get married is I ripped off my left ring finger near 50 years ago. That killed my guitar pickin'.

The up side is I can count in fractions with my fingers and if a cashier is dawdling too much for my tastes I can put my hand on the counter and wave stubby at 'em. It's electrifying!

Looks like my back but I have two less though. 50%+ of people that have this surgery are back in less than ten years adding to the top because that vertebrae/disc then takes all the stress. I am right at ten years, but have decided to put up with the pain. I am tired of these doctors " practicing medicine"

Is that your neck or lower back?

I am a Registered Master Maine Guide, so I guess I am accustomed to some accidents in the woods, although rare.

This picture is of my Left Arm/Wrist, happened on a Moose Hunt I was guiding people on for a week. Before the season opened
I was scouting on a Saturday with my 10 yr. old granddaughter and my English Setter Race. We were about 25 miles from the nearest
paved road, 50 miles from the nearest Hospital, as in 4 rooms in Northern Maine when this happened. I patched myself up, got two moose on Monday, 1 moose on Tuesday.
I went back to the Hospital, they saved my arm/hand. I did not appreciate then how close blood poisoning came to killing me.
Everyone talks about the red lines from blood poisoning, I had 9 on them, some short, some almost to my elbow.

This injury took some time to recover from, I also understand pain, I still have lingering effects from this injury, the good news,
carpal tunnel syndrome I'm not worried about on this arm.

That picture is at my home on my dining room table, that is how the little hospital in Northern Maine sent me home. WTF, like I said
I understand pain.

[/quote]
Is that your neck or lower back?[/quote]

My lower spine.

It's become a test between the body and the memory.
Things will start to hurt out of the blue where I'm thinking "Why the hell is that hurting, I didn't do anything to that!?" Then some time later it will come back to me. Oh yeah!

Example, I was recently having unexplained pain in my wrist/hand with no idea why. A few days in I saw an old photo of me shooting a multi gun match. "What the heck is that on my arm?" Duh. yeah the brace I wore for about eight months after getting my arm under me in another actiivity and getting it bent way too far back! How the hell could I not remember that? That gave me problems for years! (Who knows what else I'm forgetting)

Something always hurts, old age. I ignore it and go on.

Yessir. When I wake up hurting in the morning, I am reassured that I am not dead. Like Gunner says, plow forward and make sure that the corpse you leave when you die, is thoroughly worn out.

Outstanding. Simply outstanding.

Who knew, or cared, about knee issues when you're an early 20s Y.O. paratrooper? I wish I had. My knees and lower back are a mess. I hurt when I get up, and when I go to bed, and all day long. Muscle relaxers help a little.

Surgery on both knees, both shoulders and an ankle. Lower back is out half the time. Arthritis in the shoulders and hands. Other then that I am just fine.

where are the liberal whiners on here, complaining about their hurt feelings last election

Made it through four years of football in high school with no serious injuries. 'Got two concussions racing snowmobiles. One time I got knocked off my sled when the guy in front of me spit a stud off his track and hit me square in the helmet right above my goggles. I went off the back of the old Merc like someone had hit me with a pole ax. The second time I was walking across the infield up at Eagle River, slipped on the ice and fell back and hit my head. 'Woke up in a hospital two day later having no idea how I got there. My brother said I had a couple very pretty and well endowed nurses, but I'll be damned if I could remember them. I lost about a week of recognizance over that one. Every once in a while things get a little foggy, and I attribute it to the concussions.

My left lower leg acts up from time to time.
This spelled the end of motocross racing back in my late twenties.
I still get around pretty wsll despite all of this hardwate.

Armed - have you done the screwdriver test? I messed my right shoulder up in 2006, was about to move and couldn't figure it out as to why pain was sporadic. After 6 months of it not getting better or worse I finally noticed a pattern. I couldn't do anything where my thumb went past noon and toward one o'clock, by 2 o'clock I was on the floor gasping for breath. Finally saw the orthopedist and went right to the MRI. Torn labrum almost to the point of letting go of the shoulder completely and bicep rolling down the arm. 4 anchors and lots of therapy later it was back 100%. Hope yours isn't as bad and you get it resolved.

Dean - that's more hardware than in my front porch!

That's nasty. Are the yellowish-orange splotches from iodine? How did you get that gash?

f I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.

Mickey Mantle

I have left knee that reminds me of the time I spent playing Rugby, circa 1994 ACL repair. Slowly getting worse as I age.

I severely sprained my right ankle last spring, still recovering from that. X-Rays showed I had broken it n a previous incident that I do not even remember.

My right shoulder complains from all the heavy traditional bows I have shot over the last 25 years and from a cliff diving mishap where I caught my arm entering the water.