Full thickness in shoulder tendon

[Magzy01]

For the past 12 months I have had severe pain in my left shoulder, with pain radiating in to my bicep and forearm, and have had problems raising my arm, gripping things, with my hand and dressing etc. I had various pain killers, physio and accupuncture to try and help with the pain (I also have bulging discs in my cervical spine - so it was thought for a while, that it may be connected to that) The pain has been very severe, though and has responded to nothing that has been offered. I had an MRI scan 3 months ago, (and the report was lost on my shoulder, so I have had to wait until now, for the results). I have been told that I have a full thickness tear in the tendon in my shoulder, and the gap between the tear is around 1cm. I don't know if this would be classed as a small tear or a large tear, as I am now being referred to a shoulder surgeon, who I have been told will answer all my questions. In the meantime, I have been told to rest my shoulder as much as I can, and carry on taking the pain killers.

Just wondered if anyone out there, had any advice? or has experienced this kind of injury, and can let me know, what treatment they had, and what the recovery time is.

Any advice at this stage, would be greatly received.

Many thanks in advance, for taking the time to read my post.

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[Vanc_WA_PT]

I think you need to sort out how much of the problem is shoulder and how much neck; if the tear is in the supraspinatus tendon, then your bicep and forearm pain would not really be linked to that, though very often the bicep tendon is impinged along with the supraspinatus tendon; is grip weakness just on it's own - like dropping paper from b/w fingers or dropping coffee cup? That could be a sign of nerve conduction loss. Pins/needles, burning, shooting pain into the fingers could also be more nerve than shoulder tendon; not an easy thing to sort out sometimes, but i'd get as many opinions as possible before going in for any procedures. Regards.

[Magzy01]

Thank you for your reply. Its hard because all the specialists I have seen so far, are not very forthcoming with advice, so far, I have seen 3 specialists and am now waiting to see yet another one. I suffered a full dislocation of that shoulder as a child, and had surgery in the armpit of that arm, 7 years ago, to remove a lump, which resulted, in some nerve damage, I have no feeling at all from halfway, across my armpit and around the back of the top of my arm (if that makes sense). I don't know which tendon has the tear, at the moment, as all I was told, was wait to see the shoulder surgeon, I do Know, I have some impingement on that side, and there is also some compression at the nerve exit route and narrowing connected to the bulging discs in my neck, I have now been told the bulging discs are wear and tear, and that I need physio to strengthen my neck muscles. I do not feel happy about the fact, that my questions don't really get an answer and that, I have been walking around for 12 months in an awful amount of pain, more so in the top part of my left shoulder, I also cannot raise my arm above my head, not just because of the pain, it is just an impossibility. Maybe I just need to wait until I see the shoulder surgeon. I am in the meantime just trying to rest my shoulder as much as I can. Thanks again for your advice.