AC Joint pain - Shoulder

[Mr.Beanman]

I've been suffering from shoulder pain that has increased in intensity over the past year. Having played tennis actively for 25 years, I believe it is a result of wear and tear from constant serving and swinging. Further to this, my day job requires me to be on a computer for many hours and the repetitive motion of using the mouse no doubt has exascerbated the injury. My posture isn't great but I'm focussing on improving it and ensuring my mouse, screen and chair are in the correct positions.

A few months ago I finally consulted my doctor who immediately identified it as pain in my AC joint. An injury to the rotator cuff was not suspected through various resistance tests he conducted. My doctor referred me to an orthopaedic specialist who examined xrays of my shoulder and also said it is the AC Joint. He basically said I would need to live with the pain and that there was really nothing that can be done. He gave me a cortisone shot (which I now regret). It did result in the pain subsiding temporarily and I continued playing tennis after a few weeks of rest after the shot.

Once I resumed playing however, the pain became quite intense afterwards - especially at night. I routinely took Advil after playing and iced the shoulder. However, the pain continued to get worse. I finally quit tennis this past summer because the post-game pain became too much to tolerate and I worried that I was doing further damage to the shoulder joint. I consulted with another doctor who also tested for rotator cuff problems and also diagnosed it as AC joint inflammation.

Recently I started Physiotherapy and have received treatments of electric therapy and ice packs on the joint as well as laser. I have also been given exercises to complete to strengthen the areas around the joint.

After 2 weeks of physio I am still no better. The pain is excruciating at night - waking me up often. It hurts to put a T-shirt as well as moving my arm across my chest. The pain is constant.

I haven't played tennis in weeks and long to get back - but I want to be pain free and have an assurance that I'm not doing further damage to the shoulder.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be most appreciated from anyone who has experienced this or has expertise and can give an opinion of where I should turn to next! Should I stick with the Physio and/or consult other sports injury medical professionals? Should I consider chiropractic or even accupuncture? I'm at my wits end!

Thanks in advance!

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[Dyvyne]

I'm not a physiotherapist so please consult someone before trying anything!

I have an irritation with my AC joint as well. And I'll be honest, playing a sport like tennis will only make it worse because your inflammation hasn't healed and you might have irritated it further. My best advice would be do perform very light stretches and exercises for your shoulder. Some pendulums, abduction/adduction, lateral abduction/adduction etc., is what I've been recommended. Progressively challenge yourself. Only 2 weeks of physio isn't going to help (unfortunately)! You could also ask them to remove scar tissue in the area which for me resulted in a lot of soreness in my shoulder and down my arm but allowed me to move a bit more.

Acupuncture, I've seen doesn't work for everyone the same way. I've seen some people who respond very well and others who do not.

I don't know your age, but nevertheless it might be wise to make sure you don't have osteoarthritis in the joint!

Anyone who is more experienced, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong! =)

[Mr.Beanman]

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like good advice to me. I'm 47 by the way..... I actually had a treatment today that included removing scar tissue. It hurt - a lot, but hopefully it will be worth the pain. Any other thoughts/advice is most welcome.