Tendinitis in the Shoulder
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9 July 2016 at 7:24 pm #138387
I have developed tendinitis in my left shoulder quit a while ago. My doctor said it would eventually go away and not to do things that irritate it. Woodworking seems to irritate it quite a bit.
Has anyone else had this problem? If so, have you found something to help the healing process along. This months and months of pain and little woodworking is getting very old.
9 July 2016 at 11:50 pm #138401Hi Thomas. That’s a real bummer. I’ve has elbow tendonitis a couple of times in the past few years and it took seemingly forever to heal. I typically worked through it, but with pain. I go to the gym, and I had to stop doing certain things until it got better.
Typically what this needs is rest until it gets better – something we’re usually not willing to do.
Personally I’m prone to a lot of joint inflammation. I’ve been experimenting with food to see if there is anything that can be done to help. I googled that and found that several groups of foods are related to inflammation. I tried eliminating wheat and fortunately that didn’t change things (I love baked things). Lately I’m reducing the amount of carbs that I eat – bread, potatoes, rice, sugary sweets – and that has seemed to help some. Nothing scientific, but I do feel better.
Just a thought. Everybody is different and what works for one person might not work at all for another. Good luck. Hopefully when you get over this shoulder problem it won’t recur.
10 July 2016 at 12:21 am #138402Thanks for the reply. I will look into the diet thing (never thought about it).
10 July 2016 at 1:14 pm #138406I get tendinitis for too often mostly in my shoulder and elbows and sometimes in thumb, hips and ankle area and I refuse to get the Cortisone injections. I spent a lot of money on therapy, the best was Cryotherapy, (freezing chamber therapy with physiotherapist massage after) but found the following just as good for me. I still go for Crtyotherpay occasionally as a checkup really.
I use BioFreeze gel (same as Tiger Balm I think) and it gives great relief. It seems to heal and numb the area after massaging it in. I also do find cold packs better than heat packs, I think it reduces inflammation and stimulates blood flow.
I also find magnesium excellent, I take it in a natural remedy form called “Melissa Dreams” to help sleep and it made a remarkable difference but magnesium makes me drowsy so I only take it about once, twice a week before bedtime.
I also find that finger massage improves healing and relief. I walk my fingers around the pain area with a little pressure to find the max pain point and the use my middle finger tip pressing harder/softer to find the exact pain point, then I press/massage around that area, NOT on the pain point, with the middle three fingers soft and hard for five or ten minutes. Its suppose to enhance blood flow in the area and flush out the trapped blood. It hurts but it works for me but initially I think was aggravating the damage so it took a while to master.
Its due to work, genetics and as Matt says diet. Lots of nutrients, minerals and natural benefits are now missing due to mass cultivation and modified selection of our food. Far too many – selenium and magnesium are two. I’m working this out at the moment.
Take care,
John11 July 2016 at 6:57 pm #138432Hi Thomas,
I feel your pain… Unlike bones, tendons and ligaments take way longer to heal.
I have a really bad elbow which I shattered in a bicycle accident. Sawing boards knocks me out for days. It affects my hand in such a way that I can’t chisel or plane my wood because of the cramps running down my arm into my fingers.
Icing will take care of the swelling and inflammation, the first 24 hours. I use arnica (a plant-based century old remedy) for the pain. Rub that in and I then cover to keep warm. Massaging to promote blood circulation also helps.As others above mentioned, diet will help. Look up anti-inflammatory foods. I think omega 3/6 fatty foods, leafy greens, and nuts are on this list.
But the best healer after an episode is rest.
Feel better..25 July 2016 at 4:10 pm #138794I wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and give you all a update. I went to a chiropractor a couple seeks ago. He took some x rays and said that there was some degeneration in the disks in my neck. He gave me a stretch to do and did some bone cracking. I can say the pain has decreased significantly. I still have some pain, but not near the level I had. Once again thanks for all the suggestions and such.
27 July 2016 at 4:51 pm #138859I can sympathise, having recently suffered from incredibly severe pain in my lower back that came on suddenly one morning about four months ago. It was so bad I couldn’t stand up straight, and on other occasions having stood up I couldn’t sit back down without experiencing absolutely crippling pain. This went on all day every day for about six weeks.
The only thing that helped me was a very strong anti-inflammatory drug called Diclofenac (or ДИКЛАК where I live). It immediately gave me the relief that three doctors’ visits hadn’t. It is available over the counter here in Bulgaria, I’m not sure about elsewhere.
I would advise anyone who suffers from back, shoulder or joint(?) pain to give Diclofenac a try. It literally allowed me to start functioning normally again – even to the point where I’m getting interested in woodworking. I’ll certainly be taking it easy to avoid aggravating the problem though. I never want to go through that again.
7 September 2016 at 1:01 pm #139976I would try and find a good acupuncturist, ( if you aren’t afraid of needles) he or she will increase blood flow to the affected areas and you will heal much faster. Heal up completely and start a low impact exercise regimen. Simple stretching like Tia chi or yoga will help more than you can ever imagine. Walking everyday is another low impact exercise you can do. If you keep aggravating your shoulder you will never get better.
Woodworking by hand is a great workout but you just can’t start by hand sawing a long cut or planing a large surface by hand. If you haven’t done much physical work in some time you are going to hurt yourself again.
Look at Paul Sellers when he is working hard, he often goes whoo and has to catch his breath and he has been doing this for years! It’s hard physical work (but good for you) you have to build up to it.19 June 2018 at 1:17 am #548611After a long journey with inept doctors. I have a 75% tear in a tendon in my shoulder.
On a positive note, they thought it was a problem in my neck. So I went to physical therapy and they dry needled my neck and shoulders. I haven’t been this flexible in years. It really helped to loosen up stiff muscles.
Just thought I would update this, even though it took the doctors 2 years to figure it out.
4 July 2018 at 3:22 pm #549131Thanks. I too am to the point where I really find it tiresome to go to the doctors.
I have suffered numerous joint problems over the years, recently had a spine operation and 2 hip replacements, but just about every joint in my body is bad.
Using a western saw used to really inflame my elbow joints and anterior portion of the shoulder, switching to Japanese saws completely eliminated those problems, for two reasons I believe,
firstly very little pressure is required with a Japanese saw as I’m sure most of us discovered when we bent our first jap saw lol
and secondly on the cutting stroke you are pulling rather than pushing so you are using opposing muscle groups and tendons. In my case this takes the pressure of my triceps tendons and front of my shoulder and transfers it to opposing areas which seem to cause much less pain.
I think it is very wise to just rest though until it is better, if I could turn back time, I would of not kept working through the pain and probably wouldn’t of turned a lot of the injuries into long term chronic injuries and maybe saved myself 5 joint operations.
And as I was told by one of the orthopaedic surgeons, be careful with NSAID’s such as diclofenac, naproxen etc as these are only masking the pain and not treating the cause of the inflammation, they are fine for pain relief, re gaining some mobility etc but just remember that you still have the injury and you don’t want to make it worse.
Anyway I hope your pain gets better and if like me your love for woodworking is great, then I’m sure you will learn to work around your injuries and experiment with different techniques and be able to identify the movements that you personally have to avoid, Like Matt said above “everyone is different” but I wish you all the best mate
8 July 2018 at 2:46 pm #549210Thanks for the Japanese saw idea.
I feel for you. I have 2 disc fused in my lower back. Unless I am bent over for a while woodworking is not a real problem. I do try to stay away from pills as much as possible.
I have been trying natural things like turmeric, ginger, garlic and cayenne. I buy the empty pill capsules and fill them (I tried making a tea, but the turmeric is nasty). That seems to help a little and an added benefit is, I have not had a cold in a year (use to get one every fall).
It is a little discouraging. I really want to find some kind of work that gets me out of a chair. Woodworking with hand tools is relaxing plus the added bonus of finding old tools (I really like old things). I always though it would be neat to working the cabinet shop at Colonial Williamsburg. Not sure I would look good in the tight knee high pants though.
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