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Upper back/shoulder/armpit pain

Hi There, I injurred my shoulder in the summer of 2007 (diagnosed as rotator cuff related), and had physiotherapy and massage done on it for 5 months. The inury came on gradually but was most likely the result of weightlifting, although no one incident caused sudden pain. It developed and got worse over time. They both did not solve the problem, and I continued to experience pain. The pain was in my shoulder and "inside the armpit," and I would also experience grinding in my shoulder (between the collar bone and trap, around the neck) when rotating my arm around in large circles. I quit working out at the gym as a result of the injury shortly after I started experiencing the problems. At the time I was in top notch physical shape: a university athlete on a strict diet and workout schedule. I picked up swimming as a result of not being able to go to the gym, and have been swimming now for about 7 months. Recently things have taken a turn for the worse: I am not also experiencing upper back pain on the side of my injurred shoulder, and occasional pain that radiates down into the elbow (more like my lower tricept) and into my hand on the same side. Furthermore, I have started experiencing symptoms in my right shoulder that are similiar to the symptoms that I first noticed with my left shoulder over a year and a half ago. The injuries are really starting to concern me, especially since the physiotherapy and massage program did not seem to help. I am starting to feel like I have the body of an old man, not being able to do the things I love like playing hockey and working out because of my injury. I have been to a couple different doctors and the same suggestion is always made: go to physiotherapy and stop working out...those obviously haven't been working. I have also had a test for rhemeutoid arthritus (because of the pain in my elbows and hands) which came back negative. Any suggestions on where to go from here, and anything that the doctors might have overlooked in diagnosing my problem? For the record, I also have a bit of a bad knee (just incause there might be linking assumptions).

Thanks!
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Avatar universal
i have the same pains and i play hockey too can that be a reason maybe to many wrist shots?
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1 Comments
I have exactly the same issue... wish there was an answer here
Avatar universal
Well this is a bit of a late reply, but I'll do it anyway.  I think you should get an MRI of your neck.  This sounds very similar to my symptoms I've had from my "shoulder" injury which it turns out was a neck injury.  Most of my pain started in the top shoulder and the muscle going from the shoulder to the side of the neck.  Shortly after that the pain went to my armpit and the back of my shoulder.  Now I have pain/burning/tingling down my arm and into my hand, my arm often feels like it's dangling by a string and I have pretty bad neck pain as well.  An MRI showed I have some bulged discs in my neck.  I also developed similar (but far less severe) symptoms in my opposite shoulder which have become far more common over time.

Try tilting your head towards the bad shoulder (touch your ear to the shoulder) then rotate your chin towards your shoulder.  If you're pinching a nerve in your neck you'll feel it by doing this.
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