After a recent trip to the doctor, I finally had a diagnosis: bursitis in the shoulder.
The strange thing is, it hasn’t actually been my shoulder that’s been sore. It’s been my arm.
I’ve been working from home now for about a year, and I suspected that intense mouse-work had caused the problems.
Diagnosis: Bursitis in the Shoulder
The first thing I tried was switching to mousing almost entirely with my left hand. This helped a little but didn’t solve the problem as I’d hoped.
The next thing I did was research how to set up my desk and chair ergonomically, as I knew that poor posture would not be helping. We lowered my desk, and again, there was some improvement but it still wasn’t the cure I’d hoped for.
So I trotted off to the doctor and following an ultrasound and x-ray I received the news: diagnosis bursitis. I’d never even heard of it! Think of it as RSI in the shoulder.
On Monday I was given an ultrasound guided cortisone injection, which works to ease the inflammation and therefore the pain, within 3 to 5 days (still waiting!).
At this stage the doctor advised me that mine was quite an old injury and I was sent for further x-rays to check for calcification. He asked, when I first started noticing the pain?
I thought it was only in the last few months, since I’ve been working from home. But the more I’ve thought about it, I realised I’ve actually been having problems for ages but didn’t twig that it was all related.
The Initial Injury
I think the initial injury occurred on Miss Almost-17’s 9th birthday, when we took her to Wet and Wild Waterpark. We had a great (and very active!) day, but that night I remember my arm and shoulder were in absolute agony. I scolded myself to remember that I wasn’t a kid any more and should be more gentle on my body!
Since then the pain has flared up increasingly regularly after:
- swimming;
- crocheting;
- working on jigsaws; and of course,
- working on my computer.
I’ve woken up at night many times with my arm in absolute agony, in addition to the usual niggling everyday pain, and pins and needles in my hand and fingers. For ages I’ve just put up with it, not realising there was anything serious going on, or that anything could be done about it. I’d just put it down to ageing (LOL).
Since the shot on Monday I’ve had moderate arm pain, and my face and chest flushed bright red (a common side effect of the cortisone injection). I’ve been taking anti-inflammatory tablets, resting as much as possible, and easing the pain with ice packs. I’m really hoping that now I’ve been diagnosed with bursitis, and treated, that things will get much better.
Will the injection work? I’ll let you know …
UPDATE: No, it didn’t work. I still have to be careful many years later.