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Shoulder Update: Steroid Shot!

7/21/2011 /

I got in to see the rather awesome (medical bill pending) sports doctor at my doctor’s office yesterday, and got my (*tear*) first ever cortisone shot.

She ran me through a painful battery of tests (painful because they were designed to find my limits) and determined that, yup, I did a great job of aggravating and maybe worsening my old injury. May have been a small rotator cuff tear back then or now, but the result now is a loosey-goosey shoulder joint (very weak stabilizing muscles) combined with some super-tight (ow) tendons.

Given that I can’t take NSAIDs, she recommended the steroid shot. I also start physical therapy next week.

The shot itself actually wasn’t bad, despite her descriptions of going past this tendon and around that muscle, etc. (My mother used to get them in her foot, so I’d heard of the agony involved. Apparently, feet are just painful places to do anything.) She and the nurse were laughing their asses off my plaintive “will it hurt?”, but it was, in fact, much less painful than giving blood. Besides, they did a cold spray to numb the spot, which was really cool.


Unfortunately, I ended up having a reaction that she warned me about, and by the time I got signed out and into my car, my left arm was in throbbing agony.

Thuh-robbing. Another one-handed day.

Further credence to her competence, the post-shot pain was back to a bit better than normal after 24 hours, just like she said.

The tingliness is actually cause for some concern, since I’ve already been on steroids since the move. I have a followup for that in three weeks, and if it hasn’t gone away, we’ll have to do some sort of nerve tests to make sure I haven’t bungled anything.

My jock-self is very excited for my first physical therapy session next week, even if it is at 07:00. I haven’t talked shop about weight-lifting in forever and I’ll get to pick a knowledgeable mind.

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