New today. Happy New Year!

[teryllhorse]

I am a Nursing assistant working in a Nursing Home and My job is to walk and do Range of Motion 5x weekly to 20 patients.I had done this specific job for 15 years. My left Shoulder finally gave out at the end of Oct 2008. I did an L&I claim.The Dr. Referred me to Physical Therapy.
In the first week of Dec. I finally had an MRI because I was not getting better. It had revealed 2 partial tears and tendenosis. But nothing of the numbness, pins and needles in my arm. The Physical Therapy continues and the PT gal decided last week to use a neck traction which made my whole left neck and arm go crazy with the pins and needles. This week I thought it was going in a positive direction until the PT gal decided to pull down on my arm at the elbow and it went completley numb. She knew from the start it was a Brachial Plexus injury. She wants me to see the Doctor again and hopefully get another MRI or EMG. I'm starting to worry more and more. I want this to just go away.

[rbwalton]

Hi teryllhorse-
Welcome, but sorry to meet you this way. I am curious what you were doing when your injury happened. How did your arm/shoulder feel just before this? You say you have tendenosis- My problem started with tendonitis, a fairly severe case. But for me that went away after a few days, and my movement and strength in the arm returned only to fade away again 4-6 weeks into the injury. At that point, my scapula began to wing due to, I guess damage to long thoracic nerve. More than two years into it, I still have very little strength for extension of arm at the shoulder, and have continuous pain across my shoulder and into my neck. Have you had paralysis of hand or arm in any way?

At the time of my incident, I thought it was caused by my job in some way, but now they say it is more likely caused by a virus and that it just became noticeable at work because I spend so much time doing work. Or it could be hereditary. Doctors are not clear on causes sometimes.

For your MRI, try to get one of your neck. I did not get a neck MRI until my Qualified Medical Examiner suggested it as my workman's comp claim went over the two year mark.

And, good luck. I hope for you it turns out to be something else or that it does go away quickly.

Richard



> I am a Nursing assistant working in a Nursing Home
> and My job is to walk and do Range of Motion 5x
> weekly to 20 patients.I had done this specific job
> for 15 years. My left Shoulder finally gave out at
> the end of Oct 2008. I did an L&I claim.The Dr.
> Referred me to Physical Therapy.
> In the first week of Dec. I finally had an MRI
> because I was not getting better. It had revealed 2
> partial tears and tendenosis. But nothing of the
> numbness, pins and needles in my arm. The Physical
> Therapy continues and the PT gal decided last week to
> use a neck traction which made my whole left neck
> and arm go crazy with the pins and needles. This week
> I thought it was going in a positive direction until
> the PT gal decided to pull down on my arm at the
> elbow and it went completley numb. She knew from the
> start it was a Brachial Plexus injury. She wants me
> to see the Doctor again and hopefully get another MRI
> or EMG. I'm starting to worry more and more. I want
> this to just go away.

[teryllhorse]

I have been walking this particular patient for two years with no devices just holding onto her hand. She would push down on my arm as I pulled up. She leaned down quite a bit as I would do the same. She has Alzeimers, so it was always a struggle to walk her.

[teryllhorse]

I have been walking this particular patient for two years with no devices just holding onto her hand. She would push down on my arm as I pulled up. She leaned down quite a bit as I would do the same. She has Alzeimers, so it was always a struggle to walk her.
Yes, I do have a lot of weakness in my whole arm. One day its good, the next day it's not. The PT gal tapes my shoulder and that helps a lot.

[rbwalton]

Sorry if my questions seemed nosey at all. Your saying you had chronic tendonitis seemed go along with what you are describing as far as what you have been doing with this patient. Has your doctor agreed with the PTs thought that you have a brachial plexus injury? My doctors were very slow to agree with that diagnosis for me, even though they did not have any real idea what was wrong with me. I actually diagnosed my BPI with use of the internet. When I told them what I thought, they said “But, that does not match your symptoms.” Yes but what does? The thing was that they had not suggested anything to show they knew anything about my symptoms. They preferred to suggest I may have a form of muscular dystrophy. If they really thought about it, that REALLY did not match my symptoms.
So- Be careful with your doctors. Look around on the internet. But be careful out here too. There is a lot if info that may not pertain to you. Not all BPIs are the same. Not all BPIs that are the same will impact people the same way. Even when one person has two instances of a BPI, they can be different.



> I have been walking this particular patient for two
> years with no devices just holding onto her hand. She
> would push down on my arm as I pulled up. She leaned
> down quite a bit as I would do the same. She has
> Alzeimers, so it was always a struggle to walk her.
> Yes, I do have a lot of weakness in my whole arm. One
> day its good, the next day it's not. The PT gal tapes
> my shoulder and that helps a lot.

[teryllhorse]

You are not nosey. This helps to find answers. But I have to tell you that there is a difference between Tendonitis and Tendosis. Tendonitis is an inflamation to the tendons and Tendonosis is degeneration of the tendon fibers, an overuse injury, (a tearing of fibers). It occurs in people over 40.
I see the Dr. on Tues. the 6th. And will see what he says. I myself agree with PT that its BPI. And your right it is a slow process with everything. I hope you are on the road to recovery as well. I have worked with people with MD and MS. Wonderful people.

[rbwalton]

My shoulder MRI showed damage to my tendons, but they determined that this was not the cause of the problem with my BPI. It was just from 50 years of use. But my shoulder injury started with intense tendonitis. But even saying that is not correct as the cause since my shoulder issue had started a long time before I got the tendonitis.


> You are not nosey. This helps to find answers. But I
> have to tell you that there is a difference between
> Tendonitis and Tendosis. Tendonitis is an inflamation
> to the tendons and Tendonosis is degeneration of the
> tendon fibers, an overuse injury, (a tearing of
> fibers). It occurs in people over 40.
> I see the Dr. on Tues. the 6th. And will see what he
> says. I myself agree with PT that its BPI. And your
> right it is a slow process with everything. I hope
> you are on the road to recovery as well. I have
> worked with people with MD and MS. Wonderful people.