I have been in 8 weeks of PT for a mysterious and troublesome shoulder injury, as yet undiagnosed, making progress that amounts to 2 steps forward one step back, and the therapist is talking about referring me for a cortisone injection. I have had 2 cortisone injections in my spine and they did nothing for me. I am not excited and am quite dubious about the prospect of getting one in my shoulder. I have unstable joints in general and this shoulder is particularly unstable. I have read that cortisone can weaken tendons and ligaments and that seems like the last thing I need.
Can anyone share their experience with cortisone injections for shoulder problems? I am feeling very frustrated but am getting to the point where I might try this. I cannot do freestyle at all and my daily life such as personal care and home maintenance is greatly challenged by this darn shoulder. Plus my border collie is depressed because I cannot throw his frisbee. Things are getting desperate!
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Former Member
But Jim, icing is contradicting your own statement, you are interfering with the natural healing processes, cooling off the "inflammatory" process. Icing is so powerful it was used as an anesthetic for amputating legs during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia. Treatment for shoulder pain evokes passionate opinions and is full of diverse options. As a person with short patience for pain or for any little tendon or muscle problem that interferes with my doing my exercises I am more aggressive in my approach. But I do the other stuff also. I try and make my recovery in free style less harmful to the rotator cuffs. I will avoid all butterfly till March. I will do a specific weights program for the shoulder. But I have a personal view that the cortisone on the inflammatory process is as if you had excised the offending tissue with a scalpel, giving time for the good tissue under to grow strong. Call it empiric treatment: if works, therefore it is good. The supposedly harmful side effects of cortisone on the cells or cell membranes is more theoretical than practical, and would also be an effect after many, many infiltrations. So, if you can get a magical injection that will let you keep going pain free for a long time, give it a try.
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Former Member
But Jim, icing is contradicting your own statement, you are interfering with the natural healing processes, cooling off the "inflammatory" process. Icing is so powerful it was used as an anesthetic for amputating legs during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia. Treatment for shoulder pain evokes passionate opinions and is full of diverse options. As a person with short patience for pain or for any little tendon or muscle problem that interferes with my doing my exercises I am more aggressive in my approach. But I do the other stuff also. I try and make my recovery in free style less harmful to the rotator cuffs. I will avoid all butterfly till March. I will do a specific weights program for the shoulder. But I have a personal view that the cortisone on the inflammatory process is as if you had excised the offending tissue with a scalpel, giving time for the good tissue under to grow strong. Call it empiric treatment: if works, therefore it is good. The supposedly harmful side effects of cortisone on the cells or cell membranes is more theoretical than practical, and would also be an effect after many, many infiltrations. So, if you can get a magical injection that will let you keep going pain free for a long time, give it a try.
