TexasCHLforum.com

UPDATE: About 2-1/2 weeks ago, I saw a local orthopedic surgeon in Tyler who specializes in shoulders and sports injuries, the same surgeon who treated my knee 8 years ago for a torn medial miniscus, which after 3 steroid injections in a 2-3 year time period, is completely functional now. I do not get on the floor with either knee, though, for fear of re-injury. He wanted to do laproscopic surgery to remove debris, but we never did that. On my most recent visit, I also complained of new pain in my left shoulder. He ordered three x-rays of both shoulders, and found no tendon, ligament, or muscle problems. He said I apparently had a little osteoarthritis similar to what he found in my knee when my miniscus was torn in a fall on concrete sidewalk. I asked him if my left shoulder pain could be caused by pain radiated from my right shoulder. He said it was possible, because I also had the beginnings of neck muscle pain the night before I saw him. I accepted his offer of a steroid injection in my right shoulder into the bursa (a fluid-filled area of the shoulder as I understand it). As I drove myself home that day, I noticed pain in my right shoulder was almost non-existent. Two days later, I did 1-2 of the exercises he recommended for my shoulders, and felt almost total lack of pain in either shoulder or neck. I would say that as of today, I have 95% recovered, but am aware that I may have limitations on what I can do with my shoulders. I think I got lucky. I did mention to him that I liked to shoot my 9mm pistols about twice a month for about 30 minutes each session. He said that was fine, but he recommended I avoid shotguns and high-powered rifles (which I quit using years ago). I see him for a follow-up the middle of this month, and if the pain returns, he will do an MRI. Right now, I am pleased with the steroid injection. Maybe I'll have the same good luck I had with my knee. Thanks again for all your personal stories about your own experiences with shoulder issues.

The orthopedic surgeon I'm seeing in two weeks specializes in sports injuries and shoulders are his favorite thing. He also treated me ten years ago for a torn medial miniscus in my right knee after I fell. He wanted to clean out the torn pieces through laproscopy, but I declined that. After 3 steroid injections over two years, I'm still leery of kneeling on a hard floor, but no pain at all now. I do have arthritis in my leg and arm joints, so there's that. I walk for exercise about 3 miles a day, spreading it out in 20 minute sessions. When my right shoulder hurts, I can feel a small bump in the outside edge of the top of my bicep. That bump is sore when I lift something above face level, like putting dishes on a kitchen cabinet shelf. It does not hurt when I shoot my 9mm pistols, but does hurt a very little bit when I remove my gun from my Kydex holster. I'm hoping that I can delay surgery and try acupuncture, but I will take the surgeon's advice if he thinks I need to do it now instead of waiting. Thanks for all the info and advice, guys!

RPBrown wrote:I had rotator cuff surgery about 15 years ago in my non-dominant left shoulder. Back then, things were not as advanced as they are now and I got back about 70% range of motion. I was very diligent in my PT but was still somewhat disappointed. Fast forward about 6 years and I started having the same issues in my right shoulder. Went to visit the surgeon and of course, after all of the scans came back, he said surgery.
After much conversation (nagging, lol ) my wife convinced me to try acupuncture. I, of course, always considered acupuncture to be voo doo hoo doo and was very reluctant to try it but she was very insistent if you know what I mean so I made an appointment with a lady that was recommended by a friend of, who else, my wife.
I went in, filled out all of the paperwork, and she took me back to a very comfortable chair. We talked about the pain and diagnosis for a few minutes and I told her about the limited range in my left shoulder as well. She had me take my shirt off and I think before I could even get set down good she had several needles in both shoulders. over all, she put in about 25 in my right and maybe 10-15 in my left. I stayed like that for about 30 minutes, almost falling asleep. When she came back in, she took out all of the needles and asked me to go through several range of motion exercises. Imagine my surprise when I could move my right arm at least 50% more without pain than when I went in and my left arm had almost 100% range of motion pain free.I went back to her for 3 additional treatments and have 100% motion in both arms and no surgery.
Now, I will admit that I did try acupuncture for my knee before surgery and it did not work. But she told me up front that it may not due to the type of injury I had.
Sadly, my acupuncturist passed away last year and I am in search for a new one. However, I would strongly suggest at least trying it prior to letting them cut on you.

I hadn't thought about PT or acupuncture, but my secondary insurance allows 12 acupuncture treatments per year. I have heard about a good one in Chandler. I'll probably wait until the surgeon orders the MRI. I sure like the idea of acupuncture, though.

I am a 73-year old man. I visited my primary care physician yesterday for shoulder problem in my dominant right arm. He diagnosed it as rotator cuff arthropathy, and I have an appointment in two weeks to see an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulders. I have limited range of motion, such as arm straight out lifting things such as putting dishes up in a cabinet shelf above my head. For over a year, I am uncomfortable going to sleep on my right side, but often find myself sleeping like that when I wake up. I have another medical condition diagnosed recently called lupus anticoagulant disorder, which means I probably have a tendency to form clots, especially during surgery, but a hematologist told me I may also have a tendency to bleed at times. She told me I don't need blood thinners because it could cause issues with my brain, because I had emergency subdural hematoma surgery in 2014 due to a brain bleed, cause being unknown. My brain had been bleeding for a while, because the neurosurgeon told me that I had some thickening of the blood pool when he opened my skull.

I'm hoping that the orthopedic surgeon will try more simple solutions first, such as steroid injections, which I had several years ago for a medial miniscus tear in my right knee. I never had surgery for that, and the only thing I have to be careful with is kneeling on the floor, which hurts if I'm not slow and careful.

My other concern involves the fact that I shoot my 9mm pistols about twice a month at the range, usually 100 rounds or less each range session, and I carry my pistol on my right hip all the time. Back in 1970-1980, I was into combat pistol shooting, but was never much good in left hand shooting drills.

If you have ever suffered this type of medical problem, are you still able to shoot pistols after months of rehab and therapy, or did you have to quit shooting altogether?