Shoulder pain after I tripped on Monday.

[lexcat]

Fell Monday afternoon and hit my head, but the most pain was in my neck. Neck pain soon past. Just felt slightly dizzy and a bit of a sore head. About 1-1.5 hours later had a slight pain start in the shoulder this spread down arm first then across the neck. In the morning I had a nasty headache and it hurt from my neck to my elbow with the worst pain at the top of the arm in shoulder area. By the end of the day it had spread that my finger were even feeling tingles. I can move the arm but with a lot of pain. Took myself to the dr,who said it was muscular and try and keep the shoulder moving.

Now some of the pain in the neck has gone as that did feel like pulled muscles but my shoulder is still so sore. I'm taking ibuprofen and paracetamol which first thing seems to make very little difference. As the day goes on it does get a bit better in the fact the area of pain is smaller (ie not right down the arm). What has never gone is a pain in the shoulder itself. Which at best gets to be an ache but with shooting pain if moved in the wrong way.

bump

The pain is really starting to get me dowm now so any words of wisdom really would help.

have only just read your message. Sorry to hear that you are in so much pain. have you tried ice/heat packs on your shoulder? you could try a painkiller with codeine in it as well.
Sounds like you should perhaps go to A&E to get an x-ray. In my experience GP's aren't great with injuries.
Shoulder injuries can be very painful - can you manage pendular exercises? - leaning/bending over forward, letting your arm hang down and gently swinging your arm backwards/forwards and around in circles - that will just keep the joint mobile without using the muscles. If you can't manage that then definitely go to A&E - if you can wait with the pain 'til the morning get there early as it tends to be quiter/less of a wait early in the mornings.
HTH

About 5 years ago I fell on my SIL's bathroom while we were staying with them in New York. How the hell I didn't break anything I'll
never know. I was really shocked and really hurt my shoulder and for the rest of the holiday(10 days) couldn't turn easily in bed, could only do my bra up at the front of me and was quite uncomfortable.
Spoke to a physio in the hospital I work in ( am a health professional and really am the absolute last sort of person to seek medical advice if I can help it, hence why I never rushed off to any A&E or doctor in the US even though we were insured) who basically told me a couple of exercises. Not sure how long I persevered or even what they were.
It did take a few weeks to get over it, and was extremely painful, so I think that you need to give it time using your pain killers.

Ok the night was hoorible again this morning so took myself to A&E (thanks midnightmunchies). They think I have a clavicle displacement, I have to go back later when X-ray is open. For now I have been given a sling and their was talk about stronger pain killers as well when I see a dr later.

Hope A&E are able to shed some more light on what you have done once they have the x-ray and that they sort out your pain for you.
All the best.

as a serial person in pain....I've had severe rheumatoid arthritis for 12yrs , heres a few tips for pain.
warm baths/ wheat bags or hotter bottles help with muscular pain
A lot of stronger painkillers contain codeine... be careful with this if you're not used to it it can make you a bit spaced. It also bungs up your insides so eat lots of fibre when taking it.
try to focus on other stuff , take it easy but if it is muscular don't stop completely otherwise you can seize up. balancing movement with rest is key.
When you go to bed try to wedge yourself in a comfortable position with lots of pillows. THere is nothing worse than rolling over on to your sore bits and waking up in serious pain.
Hope you get it sorted and feel better soon

Thanks for the support, the Xray came up with nothing. They think it's a rotator cuff injury (the muscles the allow the the shoulder to rotate). Just need to carry on with the pain killer and use the sling when it's really sore. If no improvement in a week I need a MRI scan but there's a huge waiting list.

Now I not sure what to do about work next week, as I have been struggling over the last week. On the other hand it's stopped me feeling sorry for myself and doing noting at home.

Lexcat did they give you a referral for physiotherapy? Physio will be able to assess you more thoroughly and assess exactly which muscle/tendon it is that you have damaged and give you appropriate exercises to rehabilitate your shoulder more quickly. If A&E haven't referred you to physio - ask your GP to, unless you have private insurance and can see one more quickly that way. The rotator cuff involves some big muscles (to hold your shoulder in place and move it) they often need some physio to help them get better.

It might be worth looking online to find some exercises for rotator cuff injuries, but don't over do it and if you can't mange anything else, just do the pendular exercises I suggested in my first post.

If work takes your mind off/distracts you from your pain, then go in, so long as it doesn't involve any heavy lifting or need you to use your shoulder too much.

HTH again!