Hello Facebook friends. I wanted to share with you a bit of a struggle Ive been dealing with for the past 8 months or so. Ive had shoulder pain and stiffness progressively getting worse for several years. For some reason last spring the problem became acute. The pain in both shoulders got pretty nasty, and started to freeze up in a condition known as adhesive capsulitis, or frozen shoulder. The shoulder capsule can start to fill with scar tissue, making the shoulders difficult to move. The cause isnt completely known. There may be other factors, but its probably related to hours of guitar playing every day. For months Ive tried several interventions: PT, chiropractic, cortisone injections, acupuncture, healing touch, pain meds, NSAIDS. Theyve all helped, some more than others. Ive made some great progress in my right shoulder, but my left still has a lot of pain and a very limited range of motion. You really dont realize how much a shoulder does until something goes wrong. Its made playing instruments really difficult. Its forced me to cut back on work, and to realize that Ive been working too much for my body. Although Its been a frustrating several months, Im very thankful for all those whove worked to help me. Thankfully Ive made some good progress. Im especially grateful to Rachel Ludeking Nielsen for putting up with me. :-) So December 8th, Im going to have a manipulation of my left shoulder under general anesthesia. In other words, theyre going knock me out and move my shoulder to break adhesions (ya--- dont look it up on YouTube, just dont). Im hoping it works. If it doesnt Ill have to have more invasive surgery. Its a terrible time of year for a musician to be out of commission, but if all goes well I should be playing again by Christmas week. Im not looking forward to the procedure, but Im looking forward to hopefully having full use of my shoulder again. Ill keep you posted...
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 02:06:38 +0000
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