I dilocated my shoulder on 2/15/07,I went to an orthopedic surgeon and he says I have a tear in the?

Question

rotator cuff.I start physical therapy tomorrow,and hear it's gonna be tough.I still am in alot of pain.My question is,should I take something for pain before I go?My doctor is out of town so I can't ask him. Any ideas?Thanks

Answer 1

We always told our patients that it was OK to take some ibuprofen at least 1/2 hour to 1 hour prior to therapies. You just need to let them know what your pain level is without the medication. Use the 0-10 pain scale with 10 being the worst pain ever. Taking the ibuprofen prior to therapy helps relieve some of the inflammation before and during therapy. This allows you to get the most out of therapy and also helps prevent further damage to tissues that are already inflamed. Most of our patients were already on a schedule of medications for pain and inflammation prevention. You should make sure to discuss this with your doc. The docs I worked with would put the patients on ibuprofen 400-600mg every 6 hours or naproxen 500mg twice daily. These meds are hard on the stomach though and need to be taken with some food. Talk to your doc though, who can recommend the right med for you.

Answer 2

In my professional opinion (as a physical therapist) there are pros and cons to pre-medication prior to PT sessions.

PRO: you can tolerate the initial evaluation which consists of an interview, medical history review, musculoskeletal examination, and the beginning of an exercise program (if the PT starts one then).

CON: pain medication masks pain. Pain tells PT what is wrong. If there is pain - there is damage. This lets us know specifically which structures are involved and what we need to do for treatment.

I had a patient come in with a low back spasm and he was heavily medicated. During the initial evaluation - everything was painfree and fine. I found no problems. This was a problem since the findings during the evaluation are written up in a initial report which gets sent to the doctor and the insurance company. If there are no problems then there is no justification to continue PT.

So my recommendation is this . . . take something (Aleve, Ibuprofen) and not vicodin or whatever else your prescribed. Tell the PT at the first session of what you took so they can at least document it. Also let them know what you are prescribed. Ask them what they prefer for you to do for the remaining sessions.

One more thing - - - if clients are heavily medicated and on cloud 9 (as was my previous patient) should they be driving to the PT sessions? Makes me wonder . . .

Also good luck with P.T. - don't be too nervous. Rotator cuff rehab is not a new concept for us. Just be patient and don't rush it too much. The rotator cuff stabilizes your shoulder - you don't want to push it too hard and compromise its function. Your PT will help you through - ask questions and be proactive.

Answer 3

If you still experience significant amounts of pain, I anticipate that your pain meds (your doctor should have told you what to take) will lessen your pain, but not completly obliterate it...giving your therapist more than enough infromation to carry out the assessment. So go a head and take whatever he/she gave you...didn't give you anything and they are out of town? You might be able to discuss with your regular doctor what can be prescribed or what types of over the counter meds are appropriate for you.

Sometimes, we need to know where the pain is with certain tests, but I anticipate that there will be plenty of infomation for the PT to digest...plus, we already know what is wrong. The situtation may be different if you did not have any tests and the PT was trying to figure out the source of pain. Instead, your session tomorrow should be an opportunity for the PT to take some baseline measurements, discuss with you how this problem is affecting your day to day function and establish a goal and treatment plan. The real "therapy" will probably begin at your subsequent sessions...and yes, a pain control plan will be needed if your pain interferes with the treatment plan for PT.

You will probably also want to use a cold pack after your session tomorrow...discuss it with your PT

Answer 4

Did the doctor not give you any pain meds? If not, ibuprofen (Advil) will help some with the pain and inflammation. The best thing would be to ice it (not more than 15 minutes at a time). Once you are at physical therapy, the therapist will best be able to tell you what will work best in your situation. Good luck

Answer 5

First, locate your cousin an legal professional who will receives a commission on condition that he/she wins the court docket case. next verify your cousin archives an motive to sue rapidly. in the states, you have 2 years after the incident to record your motive. meanwhile, examine the overall performance information for this wellbeing care provider. Get copies of all her wellbeing care provider's and scientific institution information bearing on this surgical operation. talk with the scientific institution the place the surgical operation grew to become into carried out. they do no longer decide to be sued so possibly an administrator might have the means to mediate with the wellbeing care provider. i do no longer understand if Australia has socialized drugs or inner maximum wellbeing care. Write a letter to the scientific wellbeing coverage business company if the care is privatized. Write a letter to the supervisor of the national equipment. Ask for suggestion or techniques approximately her case. they might have the means to place stress on the wellbeing care provider to repair the blunders or assign a extra powerfuble and worrying wellbeing care provider to redo her surgical operation. detect a discomfort sanatorium and make an appointment on your cousin. a minimum of she gets some non everlasting alleviation from the discomfort. in the experience that your cousin has different wellbeing circumstances like diabetes that would reason her to heal extra slowly, she could see her wellbeing care provider for suggestion on the subject of the therapeutic technique. Does Australia have a victims' fund? if so, she will prepare for repayment from the fund.

Answer 6

you should be able to take ibuprofen before your pt visit and still be able to tell the therapist when its hurting you. the ibuprofen is to help alleviate your constant nagging pain. the pain the therapist needs to know about is sharp stabbing pain that occurs during the course of the manipulations.

Answer 7

Ask your physical therapist if they can recomend something. call early to give your self plenty of time for any pain med to start working.

Answer 8

feel free to take an an ibuprofen before the pt session- it won't interfere with anything. ignore those people who tell you that the therapist needs to know when you're hurting. that's not true.

Answer 9

pain has been a trigger for me.dont use narcotics;its better to feel pain then addiction,you dont need to learn the hard way like i did. good luck.

Answer 10

No because when the P.T. asks if it hurt you might not feel the pain.