This morning I met with my physical therapist, Lance. He was my physical therapist after the joint replacement on my right knee in 2012. One of his colleagues, Lovely Paul, was my physical therapist after the joint replacement surgery on the left knee in 2017, and now I am back with Lance for the torn rotator cuff PT.
To be honest, I did not feel very hopeful about the status of the shoulder after this first session. Compared to the right shoulder, the left has very limited range of motion. The injury happened in February, and I have waited ten months to get help for it, so now the muscles around the torn area are all tight. One of the things Lance did was gingerly probe various muscles along the back of my neck, across my shoulder, down the back of my arm - the tricep - and up the front of my bicep. All the places he touched are so tender tonight that I wondered if I was bruised. I know he wasn’t digging his fingers into those areas, but it kind of felt like it. My eyes were watering and I whimpered a little bit, too. He told me that the way the body tries to heal and protect itself is to tighten up around the injured area, and that’s exactly what has happened. My shoulder is inflamed - the reason for the cortisone shot - and everything else is tight around it - the reason for the lack of mobility.
He gave me three easy exercises to do this week with a resistance band. The purpose is to loosen the muscles a little and regain some mobility. He also told me to put a slim pillow between my arm and my body when I’m sleeping to reduce the movement of the shoulder. I’m kind of surprised he didn’t wrap my left arm to my body because I need to be really careful with the motions I make.
Even now, about 12 hours after my appointment, I am sore. I’ll be taking a couple of Tylenol before I go to bed tonight, for sure.
1 comment:
I'm so sorry to hear you're hurting. I hope the therapy helps loosen the tightness. Take good care of yourself.
Love you!
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