My first physical therapy session yesterday was pretty cool, albeit painful. The PT put my shoulder–which was already hurting from busing/backpacking through town–through the usual contortions (*tear*). By the end, she would raise my arm in such a way, push lightly on it, look at my face, and go, “Hmm, I’m not going to put you through that.” Her conclusion was the same as the sports doc: decently likely it’s a small cuff tear. What followed was far more interesting than my usual pain, though. First, I got a therapeutic ultrasound. And the gel was warm! (Quite the novelty in my experience.) I didn’t feel any warmth or hum from…

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.…