Computer use with Shoulder Pain

December 12, 2008 2:18 PM

I have been diagnosed with Brusitis and a bone spur on my non dominant shoulder (left), furthermore I have a torn rotatory cuff. I am slated for schedule for an arthroscopic surgery in a few weeks to remove the bone spur and other things. In the mean time how can I set my posture to help alleviate pain in my shoulder. My doctor said he can't recommend one way as everyone is different so I wanted to get some ideas. I have an adjustable chair that can go very above my desk or way below and it has arms and I've also purchased a MS 3000 Wireless Keyboard I can use if need be.
posted by dolemite01 to health & fitness (6 comments total)

I had a torn rotator cuff and nothing that I did relieved the pain until I had surgery for it and physical therapy. That was my experience. Have you asked your doctor if a cortisone injection would help your pain issue? An injection helped my wife with bursitis of the knee. I do not know if that relates.
posted by JayRwv at 2:40 PM on December 12, 2008

I receive a cortisone or lydacaine injection once per week while I wait for surgery.
posted by dolemite01 at 3:33 PM on December 12, 2008

I also have bursitis and a bone spur and a partially torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder. Cortisone shots and nearly constant icing were the only things that helped in the short term. I opted not to have surgery because the surgeon was upfront about the high likelihood for recurrence of bone spurs and bursitis in my case.

Months of physical therapy followed by routine exercise has mostly eliminated the discomfort. It comes back after mere weeks of insufficient activity and loss of muscle tone. Typing and poor posture are definitely aggravating factors. But that is because if I type for hours on end and resort to poor posture I'm probably working too much and not exercising enough. When the pain was really severe, typing was nearly impossible.

My best advice to is rest your shoulder for a few days by not typing (sick days?) and to ice down the shoulder regularly. An hour or more of icing should bring considerable relief.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 4:09 PM on December 12, 2008

I don't have any advice for pre-op pain, but my boyfriend had rotator cuff surgery just about a year ago and right before he went under the knife the anesthesiologist asked if he wanted an interscalene nerve block to help with the post-op pain. It sounded like a good idea so he got it. Well, he absolutely regretted it. His forearm had a weird tingly numbness to it that was very uncomfortable for a month or so after surgery. He was super pissed because he did some research and found that sometimes the numbness goes away in a couple of days and sometimes it never goes away. So do some research before you go in for surgery. It's totally possible that my guy just had a bad anesthesiologist, but after witnessing how miserable he was I feel obligated to pass this information on. The good news is he did all the physical therapy and had full use of his shoulder after about 6 months. The doctor said it could take up to a year to fully heal so don't blow off PT.

Also, order one of these and one of these (or something similar) post-haste. Your shoulder is gonna hurt something terrible for the first couple of days after surgery, especially if you don't get the nerve block. You probably won't be able to sleep laying down and you definitely don't want your shoulder to be able to move at all. A regular sling is not sufficient. Good luck.
posted by wherever, whatever at 7:41 PM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

If you're female, you may benefit from my ex's experience when she had her shoulder bone spur removed by outpatient endoscopic surgery. In her case it was nearly impossible to put on any kind of shirt after the surgery, which led to major modesty issues. It would have been great if someone had advised her to wear a tube-top for the surgery, then she could have just skipped the problem of dressing afterwards.

If you're male, well, be sure you're prepared with some big, loose shirts. Best of luck.
posted by JimN2TAW at 7:42 PM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thank you all for the comments, I plan to use a roll of these from the icing to that product on amazon. The pain is so bad that sometimes I'm willing to do the surgery myself.

Also I think I am going to pick up PT, my Dr. says there is spacing in the joint that can only be corrected by PT
posted by dolemite01 at 2:54 PM on December 13, 2008