Neck and Shoulder Pain Update

seadoug

seadoug

Senior Member
Location
Texas
I mentioned a few months back that I've had chronic "stiff" and sore neck and shoulder pain that sometimes travels into my right arm. It started 5 months ago with my hips being stiff and sore after sitting for a while. That's gone, but it's moved up my body. I still work out with weight machines 5 times a week. I was referred to an Orthopedist and went to see him today.

He diagnosed me with a minor cervical issue that comes with age and weakened muscles. He laughed and called it a "pain in the neck". He prescribed two drugs, one of them a mild steroid, to be taken for a few days, then stopped. He said I could stop taking them until the symptoms come back. He is also sending me to a physical therapist who will instruct me as to exercises I can do to strengthen the muscles and alleviate the issue. I do sleep on an Osteo Cervical pillow every night and that helps.

I'm at the gym almost 2 hours when I go and walk at least a mile on the treadmill, so I'm very active. The pain isn't from working out too hard because even on days off the pain persists. I'm hoping for the best. It sure sucks to get older, even if you do everything possible to prevent it. I'm still grateful this is my only issue.
 

I can relate Doug. It is very distracting. I don't like it at all. I have to take Gabapentin. I also micro-dose THC which helps my pain. I don't take any NSAIDS. Stomach is sensitive. I tried physical therapy but it was too painful for me. It works for many who have neck and shoulder pain though. Some people use topicals. You have to research that, I don't use any, oh I used Capsasin for a while in the beginning when I was getting headaches in the back of my head. I used it on all the soar spots. It was interesting that if a place on one side of my head was soar, the very same place on the other side was soar too. Interesting.
 
Nathan said:
@seadoug, I am right there with you, the chronic stiffness and soreness has been in my life for 10+ years. Yoga and Taichi are my self-prescribed physical therapy. I also do a lot of self-medicating as an adjunct to my physical movement work. Like @Paco Dennis I don't take any NSAIDS, but do use alcohol and THC(Sativa) for relief.
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Thank you, Nathan. I am going for my first physical therapy session next Thursday so I hope to learn some new exercises to relieve the pain and stiffness. The medication the orthopedist gave me seems to have worked, but he said to stop taking it after 4 days and take it again if the symptoms come back.
 
Paco Dennis said:
I can relate Doug. It is very distracting. I don't like it at all. I have to take Gabapentin. I also micro-dose THC which helps my pain. I don't take any NSAIDS. Stomach is sensitive. I tried physical therapy but it was too painful for me. It works for many who have neck and shoulder pain though. Some people use topicals. You have to research that, I don't use any, oh I used Capsasin for a while in the beginning when I was getting headaches in the back of my head. I used it on all the soar spots. It was interesting that if a place on one side of my head was soar, the very same place on the other side was soar too. Interesting.
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Thank you!
 
seadoug said:
Yes, much improvement after the medication. Going for physical therapy next week. Thanks for asking!
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Good to hear you're getting some relief from the pain, hope the therapy helps you deal with it and lessen it also. You're more physically fit than many seniors, including myself, but when you get long in the tooth sometimes you get some little unwanted reminders. Of course to me, you're still a spring chicken. 😉
 
seadoug said:
I mentioned a few months back that I've had chronic "stiff" and sore neck and shoulder pain that sometimes travels into my right arm. It started 5 months ago with my hips being stiff and sore after sitting for a while. That's gone, but it's moved up my body. I still work out with weight machines 5 times a week. I was referred to an Orthopedist and went to see him today.

He diagnosed me with a minor cervical issue that comes with age and weakened muscles. He laughed and called it a "pain in the neck". He prescribed two drugs, one of them a mild steroid, to be taken for a few days, then stopped. He said I could stop taking them until the symptoms come back. He is also sending me to a physical therapist who will instruct me as to exercises I can do to strengthen the muscles and alleviate the issue. I do sleep on an Osteo Cervical pillow every night and that helps.

I'm at the gym almost 2 hours when I go and walk at least a mile on the treadmill, so I'm very active. The pain isn't from working out too hard because even on days off the pain persists. I'm hoping for the best. It sure sucks to get older, even if you do everything possible to prevent it. I'm still grateful this is my only issue.
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You are going to have to make some changes with the weight machines, @seadoug! I have had cervical issues for over 20 years, and the pain traveled down my arm no matter what I did. I learned that if this continued, the muscles in my arm would slowly deteriorate. So I made some changes: I had to stop lifting weights because they were aggravating the issue, and that helped. I changed my pillow. I did not take any steroids or pain killers, but Tylenol whenever I felt pain. I also used Vitalzyme which helped.

So I recommend you stop using the weight machines. Your neck is probably sore or stiff because it is inflamed. By the way, Physicial Therapy only aggravated the situation for me. So after one visit, I stopped. With the methods I used, I was able to get relief within a couple of months. Knock on wood, it's been 20 years, although I continue to have herniated discs in my neck, I rarely have pain any more.
 
seadoug said:
I mentioned a few months back that I've had chronic "stiff" and sore neck and shoulder pain that sometimes travels into my right arm. It started 5 months ago with my hips being stiff and sore after sitting for a while. That's gone, but it's moved up my body. I still work out with weight machines 5 times a week. I was referred to an Orthopedist and went to see him today.

He diagnosed me with a minor cervical issue that comes with age and weakened muscles. He laughed and called it a "pain in the neck". He prescribed two drugs, one of them a mild steroid, to be taken for a few days, then stopped. He said I could stop taking them until the symptoms come back. He is also sending me to a physical therapist who will instruct me as to exercises I can do to strengthen the muscles and alleviate the issue. I do sleep on an Osteo Cervical pillow every night and that helps.

I'm at the gym almost 2 hours when I go and walk at least a mile on the treadmill, so I'm very active. The pain isn't from working out too hard because even on days off the pain persists. I'm hoping for the best. It sure sucks to get older, even if you do everything possible to prevent it. I'm still grateful this is my only issue.
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I'm glad you got a diagnosis and are getting the treatment you need Doug. Best of blessings with the process and I hope you will be relieved of those pains. Your workout routine is amazing! Just curious...how long did you have to wait to get am appointment with the Ortho?
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I'm glad you got a diagnosis and are getting the treatment you need Doug. Best of blessings with the process and I hope you will be relieved of those pains. Your workout routine is amazing! Just curious...how long did you have to wait to get am appointment with the Ortho?
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I was referred to the Ortho by my PCP after my physical. It only took a week. Thank you for your thoughts!
 
@seadoug I had shoulder pain for a long time and finally went to P.T. for it when I could get on Obamacare. I was insurance-less prior to that year. The P.T. really did help but I was frustrated about my therapist's lack of instruction on ways I could avoid the pain in the future with any self-treatments he could suggest.

I finally figured out that perhaps sleeping on my side was making matters worse, so I got a foam topper for my mattress. That seemed to help. Then eventually I switched to a memory foam mattress and that has helped the most!

I should probably still be in P.T. for my shoulder. It flares up. But I have also found stretching exercises like "Aging Backwards" help with it. I'm not against P.T., but I also feel like a big baby by going. I feel like, "It's just a shoulder. I should be able to fix this." Broken leg, no. I will need help for that. But it's just a shoulder. If it's not dislocated why do I have to seek P.T. for it once a week? I'd much rather have P.T. fix my knees!

Anyway, good luck and maybe go to a sleep store and try out some memory foam mattresses if you don't already have one.
 
Sure the lasers would help you a lot. Its just too bad they aren't covered by insurance. A friend that golfs a lot got a personal one. The same one I have that does 4 modalities including ultrasound. They are so good for a multitude of issues but just aren't covered.

The laser treatments with the big lasers are so expensive they are out of reach for most seniors I'd guess.
 
I am glad to hear from another regular gym person. I have recently switched from focusing on weights for strength to focusing on stretching. I am kind of excited about this change getting me the results I want.

This youtube may be helpful for those dealing with neck pain.
 
VintageBetter said:
@seadoug I had shoulder pain for a long time and finally went to P.T. for it when I could get on Obamacare. I was insurance-less prior to that year. The P.T. really did help but I was frustrated about my therapist's lack of instruction on ways I could avoid the pain in the future with any self-treatments he could suggest.

I finally figured out that perhaps sleeping on my side was making matters worse, so I got a foam topper for my mattress. That seemed to help. Then eventually I switched to a memory foam mattress and that has helped the most!

I should probably still be in P.T. for my shoulder. It flares up. But I have also found stretching exercises like "Aging Backwards" help with it. I'm not against P.T., but I also feel like a big baby by going. I feel like, "It's just a shoulder. I should be able to fix this." Broken leg, no. I will need help for that. But it's just a shoulder. If it's not dislocated why do I have to seek P.T. for it once a week? I'd much rather have P.T. fix my knees!

Anyway, good luck and maybe go to a sleep store and try out some memory foam mattresses if you don't already have one.
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Here is an explanation of how a sleeping position can cause a neck problem.

 
Vida May said:
Here is an explanation of how a sleeping position can cause a neck problem.

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Vida May,
Thanks for sharing the video. I have watched Bob and Brad for a few years now and these guys do a really good job of explaining the problem, as well as the solution. I have suffered with a pinched nerve in my rotator cuff area and initially it was very debilitating. However, after doing lots of research I have found that something as hanging from a "pullup bar" has helped tremendously. In fact, I sort of confirmed this strategy from watching Bob and Brad's video, which talked about how to heal from this type of injury.

Using the pullup bar and proper sleep positioning has helped to drastically improve my condition, prevent surgery and provided much-less pain filled days.
 
bt25 said:
Vida May,
Thanks for sharing the video. I have watched Bob and Brad for a few years now and these guys do a really good job of explaining the problem, as well as the solution. I have suffered with a pinched nerve in my rotator cuff area and initially it was very debilitating. However, after doing lots of research I have found that something as hanging from a "pullup bar" has helped tremendously. In fact, I sort of confirmed this strategy from watching Bob and Brad's video, which talked about how to heal from this type of injury.

Using the pullup bar and proper sleep positioning has helped to drastically improve my condition, prevent surgery and provided much-less pain filled days.
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I will tell my sister who is dealing with shoulder and neck pain.

I have been a fan of Bob and Brad for a few years.
 

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