2 Chronic Pains, all attempted solutions have failed.

[nmarman]

Ok, first I had your wrist pain before from lifting weights and it is seen a lot in weight lifters. It is a compression injury to the intercarpal bones - rest and manipulation (a chiropractor specialising in extremities will sort this in about 6-10 visits). – job done. wear a support while recovering and if you go back to weights to stop re aggravation during recovery.

The shoulder sounds like impingement with concomitant bursitis (these two together would account for all your shoulder aggravations).

It will normally start with a single injury in shoulder and spread to involve more areas and tissues as you compensate to stay pain free. This Makes it hard to pin point the pain much later on. Remember the joint is just a pestle and mortar lashed together with tons of ligaments and muscles. This means we get loads of movement from it but also makes it prone to injury and poor recovery.

The shoulder is the biggest pain in terms of treatment - I would do 6-10 sessions (2xweek) of ultrasound therapy at 1mhz (10mins) and 3 mhz (10mins). Combine this with rest and start controlled rehab with a thera band once pain has reduced by 60-70% but be careful not to re-aggravating. If you do stop, rest and ice; for best results immobilization during treatment works well (normally only done in severe chronic cases). lastly if that doesn't work try shock wave therapy, the studies show very good results for quick recovery at our clinic (3 visits) however big studies haven't been done yet on this area, except in calcific tendonitis.

To refine this diagnosis can you please list the imaging you have had on the shoulder and the things found – if any.

Niall Marshall-Manifold D.C
London Shock Wave & Sports Injury Clinic
http://shock-wave-therapy-london.co.uk

[Peejulz]

First and foremost, thanks you for taking the time.

With your wrist diagnoses, it sounds like an attractive one. It makes me wonder how critical the ultrasound therapy would be though, as I've tried using a wrist brace for about 3 months and the problem persisted. Albeit, I was using a lightweight band for physical therapy (only wrist curls and stretches) so that may have stunted any progress with irritation. That's moreso a shot in the dark as to why the rest may not have worked. I'll have to look into ultrasound therapy, I hadn't even heard of it until now.

I've had two x-rays and an MRI and neither a surgeon nor a radiologist were able to find physical deformities. They said I looked just fine physically which lead my sports medicine doctor into suggesting acupuncture for 'misfiring pain receptors'. This fact makes me think that the bursitis may not be the case. But I could very easily be wrong.

It should be noted that for both injuries, I've rested them for months with no progress. Seems my body wants action. I've also had a cortisone shot in my left shoulder, and that did little to nothing.

I'll look into what you've suggested, feel free to ask any more questions in the meantime.

Thanks again,
Paul