So, after months of ignoring the pain in my right shoulder, I finally went to get it checked out. I’ve had pain off and on for months. I thought the three month break I took from working out while my trainer was on maternity leave would totally resolve it. Instead, it just flared up worse than ever when I started up again in January. The massive amount of packing and box lifting I needed to do while we were getting out of Phoenix just exacerbated it.
When it went from hurting while I was using it, to just plain hurting all the time, I finally had enough. Saturday my arm throbbed and my hand felt numb. I went online to look up the orthopedic center my mom visited for her broken elbow, intending to schedule an appointment. Instead, I found they offer an orthopedic version of urgent care. I showed up ten minutes after they opened at 8:00 on Sunday. There were at least six people in front of me.
After a relatively short wait, I was seen by a lovely doctor who poked and prodded me, asked questions and ordered x-rays. My final diagnosis – tendonitis. Which is a huge relief. I went through the same thing with my left elbow, which lead to my first experience with acupuncture. It was totally healed after five weeks of twice weekly treatments. I called a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinic on Monday morning and was able to get an appointment immediately.
I had an intense hour session, followed up by cupping. So now I look like I was attacked by a giant octopus. I’m going back on Wednesday and intend to continue three days a week for the next 2-3 weeks. Hopefully that will knock it out. Fortunately, my trainer is headed out of town today for the next few weeks, so I can just focus on healing. Gardening season is right around the corner and I need two functioning arms. Fingers crossed.