Neil,
I read your blogs on the shoulder. Fantastic work. I used to play professional baseball 15 years ago. I tore my rotator cuff in college and spent six months rehabbing it back to form. I designed my own regimen complete with tubing, weights, stretches etc and it worked fantastically.

I’ve recently injured (have pain in the front of my left shoulder- feels like the front-side) and am having trouble defining what the issue is. I will try to diagnose and rehab first before xray, mri, cortisone etc.

The pain occurs when when I extend my left arm across my body and slowly move it upwards in that position (not right against my body as in the typical stretch you would do with that motion) but just slightly off my body. In the same position and turn my hand inwards (supinate) (the shoulder area is painful). The other painful movement is the golf swing. When my left arm is dead straight (as in when the club is parallel to the ground) is when it seems to be aggravated.

I can’t tell whether it’s my AC joint, Glenoid Labrum, or Subscapulerous tendon, or possibly something else.

It’s been around for a while, I don’t think it’s tendinitis as I don’t use it all that often. I’ve stretched, ice’d, tubed, painkillers etc but it doesn’t seem to go away.

From my definition, does something stand out?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Dave Doherty

Dave, the most incriminating thing you note is that the shoulder hurts more when you bring your arm across your body (as in your golf swing). This, it turns out, is an incrimination test for the AC joint. My guess is that based on the data you provide, you seem to have an inflamed AC joint. I would suggest you see an orthopedic surgeon who can more closely examine it and possibly treat it with a cortisone shot. You might (repeat, might) be a surgical candidate too. Often there is a relationship between the Acromion, the AC joint and the distal third of the Clavicle that a surgeon can treat by excising much of the bone to give more vertical dimension. Nevertheless, I think your best bet is to see a doc and perhaps look at an MRI to get the full picture.

Thanks for your kind words about the blog!

Neil