To be worried about pain in shoulder

[LottieLou90]

Shamelessly posting for traffic so I apologise but hoping someone has had similar.

For quite some time now, about a year, I have had a dull ache in my shoulder blade. My arm would tingle occasionally so I saw my GP for some advice. They said it was a pinched nerve and to get a massage. I can’t afford to get massages every other week so I looked up some exercises on the internet.

The pain is still there, had a baby 14 weeks ago and suffered with SPD throughout my pregnancy so my shoulder pain was the least of my worries.

Anyway fast forward to now. Oh my god the pain but it’s now so painful to put pressure on my shoulder bone and the bone round the back that is opposite to the collar bone (if that makes sense) I can’t get a dr appt until Monday next week so I guess I’m asking if this could be connected to the pinched nerve? Can that happen where you feel the pain in the bone and not the muscle? The bone feels like a bad bruise when I touch it.

I’ve tried deep heat, tiger balm, ibuprofen and nothing. I get a bit of health anxiety and hoping that this isn’t anything sinister. Sometimes when I push it I get a head ache about 5 minutes after so hoping it’s all connected.

Sorry for rambling and thanks in advance x

Is it your right shoulder and are you right handed?

Might me a touch of arthritis if the pain is in the bone, not the nerve. Could also be lots of pain and tension from holding baby awkwardly? Managed to strain shoulder in first few weeks with DS. Got a massage to help and it was making everything else tense up and hurt.

Sorry should have put that. No it’s left shoulder and right handed x

Have you tried an osteopath?

get to an acupuncturist. They are very good at dealing with painful shoulders. Usually only a couple of treatments needed.

I would suggest seeing a physio and possibly have a proper deep tissue massage. I have a tendency to hunch my shoulders when stressed or when out in the cold watching rugby and it makes my neck and shoulders horribly tight. At their worst its really sore but I'm lucky to be able to know (and to be able to choose to spend the money on it) a really good sports physio who releases the muscles for me - although not without a good deal of squeaks from me of pain as the knot 'pops'!

Or a shiatsu massage? Similar to acupuncture without needles.

Not tried an osteopath. A friend mentioned a chiropractor but it’s the cost of so many sessions I think that puts me off but now the pain is like it is I’m going to have to try something.
Would an osteopath be better than a chiropractor?

I’ve had this for at least 7 years now. I thought it was a muscle knot pain, then a pinched nerve and various other things. Eventually found out it’s not really anything to do with my shoulder, it’s the discs in my neck which are basically degenerating and the pain is referred to shoulder/blade/tingly down arm. I’ve been told there isn’t much I can do, it’s just wear and tear / age.

I didn’t think of acupuncture. I guess because the pain feels like it’s the bone itself and not the muscle. Would a pinched nerve or knots cause the bone to hurt or the ‘illusion’ that the bone hurts? It’s just so sore and tender.

@Paddingtonthebear that sounds awful.
My arm feels so heavy at the same time as the tingles. I don’t want to think about this being permanent.

OK, two things that might sound a bit random but that happened to me after giving birth. Firstly, any chance you have some trapped wind because that can create shoulder pain. Also, are you co-sleeping? I had terrible shoulder pain and I realised it was because I was sleeping with my arm curled around my baby's head. As soon as I started straightening out that arm, the pain disappeared.
Good luck OP.

The tingling will be something pressing on the nerve. I wouldn’t worry about it but you should go to GP, they might refer you for physio if it continues

Yes, I would generally prefer an osteopath to a chiropractor. You might find that your midwife can recommend one - some midwives who know their stuff send mothers to be to osteopaths in order to move the baby or pelvis around a bit to ensure a better birth.

I go to a chiropractor when my back “goes”, which is does from time to time. I’ve had four sessions and will probably have two or three more. He does some manipulation, but also dry needling, which I didn’t know about before, but which was not at all painful.

Of course it isn’t cheap, but if you can spend the money for a few weeks to get things working properly again, I think it’s worth it.

A couple of deep tissue massages or sessions with an osteopath early on when it originally started probably would've sorted it out, it doesn't need to be sessions every couple of weeks indefinitely. An osteopath will actually see you as few times as they can to fix it, it's a chiropractor who will schedule you for never ending maintenance appointments. My osteopath usually fixes things in 2 appointments, if it takes her more than that she gets frustrated! But sometimes if something is particularly injured she sends me for a deep tissue massage first to loosen it all up and then back to her, better success then.