Shoulder update

Man went in for chiropractic care before he met with his dr about the results of his latest MRI. He didn't even get an adjustment, because the chiropractor poked around his shoulder and said that his pain could be explained by compensation. His shoulder hurt, so he began to favor some muscles over others. As a result of that, some muscles became weaker than others. One particular muscle became so overtaxed from that kind of compensation that it began to hurt all of the time. It was so tense that it felt like a lump of gristle. He got surgery to correct the initial cause of pain, but recovery from that surgery put even more strain on that one little muscle as he compensated even more. After that, he was compensating for the painful muscle itself and a vicious cycle has led to ever worsening pain. He can only sleep on one side, as any other sleeping position hurts too much.

This morning, the chiropractor identified the errant muscle, gave him a couple of exercises to do, and immediately Man felt a slight breath of relief.

We're being pretty careful to not hope too much this time around. The hope cycle is a difficult one to stay on for very long. Man is heroically patient concerning these exercises. He says that every time he does them, the painful muscle feels a tiny bit better. He has an appointment in three weeks to get a chiropractic adjustment to see if they can get that muscle to release after the other muscles have a chance to strengthen a bit. That poor little muscle will likely take quite a while to get back to normal after almost 3 years of abuse, but... here's hoping.

The MRI found a very slight tear in his superspinatus tendon (one of the blokes in his shoulder) but the treatment for that would be the very same exercises the chiropractor assigned him.

I'm still praying, and hoping, and the poor man will have to endure my inquiries on whether it feels better today, how about today, and today, and etc. I'm reservedly excited about his adjustment in three weeks, given how much an adjustment helped a back injury I got when Freida was still tiny. It only took 24 hours for my pain to dissipate entirely. Wouldn't that be a miracle.