I
will speak about shoulder pain only from personal experience. I have
injured left and right shoulder in the past, most recently having a
bicycle fall riding downhill on ice trying to avoid an attacking,
barking dog that sent me sprawling with the arm stretch ahead to
break the fall and avoid a broken neck. After 6 months that shoulder
is still occasionally sore. At least it wasn't really dislocated when
I fell on my left side. I just ignored the pain and prayed that it
would get better. I had a kind of intuitive response that told me it
wasn't dislocated and wouldn't require unafforable medical treatment.
When
that shoulder joint pooped a couple of days ago it might have reset a
little. One can't be sure about those injuries without being a
physician. As the ancient adage goes a worker gets better or worse,
and if he gets to worse he does, c'est la vie.
The
other shoulder has a much longer history of injury for comparison.
Long ago I carried halved pieces of 3/4” plywood atop a should a
long way up a trial through muskeg in the forest. Making numerous
trips I discovered that carrying wood atop a shoulder with an arm
wrapped around to hold it in place wasn't a good idea. I sort of
pushed the arm a little way down away from the shoulder. Because it
hurt I went to a chiropractor a couple of times and it got better for
a while.
I
was also giving instruction to reset the shoulder myself when it kept
detaching itself down from its proper place in the socket. I would
lean the elbow on some solid object and push the arm back up. That
worked somewhat, and thus for many years I went on that way. I hope
this helps-one ignores the pain and maybe uses an aspirin or two
rarely-be careful about that.
About
15 years later riding a bike down the Atlantic Coast to Florida I
started having new problems with that shoulder. I was riding a racing
type bike instead of a mountain bike and the geometry of the arms and
shoulders is different. That narrower angle can cause an already
injured shoulder to get worse. I imagine it is like tearing some of
many ligament-strings away. By the time I got to South Florida the
shoulder had become an embarrassment.
Using
the public library in one city the shoulder joint started making loud
popping noises every few minutes. I tried to act like nothing was
happening, yet people looked at me curiously.
So
in a few days I woke up from a tent sleeping on the ground and walked
away about ten feet when perhaps the most painful episode I had ever
had occurred-the pain in the shoulder was about twice that of a
dislocated disc-really sharp. I went back to the tent and just
couldn't go anywhere that weekend. Not being able to afford a trip
to the physician I went over the weekend with the arm stretched
straight out and used about 30 or 40 aspirin a day-also not a good
idea. The pain was surreal anyway.
Monday
I went jogging down highway A1A over the bridge in the heat and
humidity to make an appointment some friends had set up for a visit
to a chiropractor. That chiropractor reduced the pain about 30 to
40%. yet of course the pain didn't go away. It was persistent like a
hurricane that only slowly recedes. Eventually I caught a bus to
Texas and slept out with the cactus and fire ants. I have one vicodin
tablet and a lots of ibuprofen, and eventually the pain reduced.
Later
next year I caught a bus to Montana for painting and slept on an air
mattress reducing the pain in the shoulder-that helped a lot.
So
in my opinion reducing shoulder pain with natural remedies may not
work for all kinds of injury. I might have torn a rotator cuff
although it seemed like a dislocated shoulder (it probably wasn't).
Statistics for torn rotator cuffs are that after two years the pain
levels are about the same as if one didn't have immediate surgery. I
believe the surgery probably would have been a better choice. The
shoulder still pops out a few times a month, thought the numbness in
the fingertips went away long ago.
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