agonising shoulder, whats wrong with it???

[needmorecoffee]

muscles in my should are throbbing with pain. Down the front of the shouler and upper arm. I cannot lift that arm up either forwards or sideways. Can use the lower arm a bit as long as I don't move the upper arm. wtf?
Pain has kept me awke all night.
The front of the shoulder at the top f the arm bone is too painful to touch.
help!

no-one? waaaaaaaaaah

Sounds like a frozen shoulder. Google it to see if it fits and then go and see your GP. You may need Physio to sort it out.

I googled it but it said frozen shoulder lasts years! Mind you, wait times for adult physio are about 8 months so maybe I should get started now.....

Any reason for this to happen? Can you think of anything you did? Any pins and needles? Does your neck move ok?

housework

neck is fine. Maybe it was hoovering. You certainly use those front shoulder muscles for that.

There's quite a few different things it could be. How long have you had it?

it started yesterday evening, just a bruised feeling then by nighttime I couldn't lift the arm at all. I couldn't turn in bed without clutching it to my side. Lower arm is fine. I have the upper arm against my body and I'm typing just fine with the hand. Just can't move the upper arm awy from my body at all. The throbbing has reduced with nurofen.
Thought about the osetopath but mine isn't in today and he treats me for free. To see one of the others would be 35 quid! Thought about the doctor but I imagien he'd say 'muscle strain' and come back in a week if its still not fine.
I did wonder if it was dislocated but there's no swelling just this awful pain at the front of th shoulder - where the top bone of the arm and collar bone meet, that knobbly bit.

My frozen shoulder only lasted a couple of weeks, and it was only acute for a few days.

Do the rest of the symptoms on google sound like your pain?

Couple of things off hand: one is that there is a small joint there which can become inflamed; the other is that there are a lot of tendons which pass around that area and get irritated.
You need to have a proper assessment to exclude your neck as a source of problem and also to advise you correctly.
It's good that ibuprofen help as this indicates an inflammatory problem.
I would probably go to the docs is it is bugging you as he can prescribe stronger anti inflammatories and put you on the waiting list for physio
In the first 24 hours of an inflammatory problem no one is going to want to jump up and down on it anyway. You can also try putting an ice pack (bag of frozen peas in damp tea towel) on the painful bit. No more than 10 mins at a time (they get soggy anyway!) but you can do this hourly.
Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Which arm is it?

I had th exact same thing last week strangely enough, but it stopped after 3 days. I have read though that such pain in the right shoulder can indicate a gall bladder problem. Strange hey?

thanks everyone. Will toddle along to the GP later and ask to go on a waiting list. Dunno if GP's can assess joint/muscle problems.

nmc, my GP could, she assesed the directions I could move it and level of pain, but she admitted there was little she could do and to come back if it worsened.