leland@snowmass (Lee Woodbury) (10/24/86)
A friend who is a manic exerciser (swimming, running, aerobics, weights, etc.) began experiencing pain in her shoulder about a month ago which has continued and become sharper. The pain inhibits some movement of her arm; e.g., she can't bring it up all the way over her head or touch the middle of her back. An osteopath, whom she has seen for other reasons and whom she trusts, first thought it was tendonitis and treated her with acupuncture. The acupuncture, besides being painful itself (it don't matter what anyone says, sticking needles into your body hurts!), made the shoulder pain worse. (Or perhaps more accurately, the shoulder pain got worse after the acupuncture.) Anyway, the osteopath now believes it's a calcium deposit, and is discussing treatment first with anti-inflammatory medicine and, if that doesn't work, with cortisone shots. My questions are, what's a calcium deposit, what causes it, why does it hurt, and what makes it go away? Can anyone out there provide information? Many thanks. Lee Woodbury -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ARPANET (or Internet): leland@CS.COLUMBIA.EDU USENET: ...!seismo!columbia!cs!leland BITNET: leland%CS.COLUMBIA.EDU@WISCVM USmail: 457 Computer Science Columbia University New York, NY 10027 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
osmigo1@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ron Morgan) (11/08/86)
In article <3573@columbia.UUCP> leland@snowmass.columbia.edu (Lee Woodbury) writes: >A friend who is a manic exerciser (swimming, running, aerobics, weights, >etc.) began experiencing pain in her shoulder about a month ago which >has continued and become sharper. The pain inhibits some movement of >her arm; e.g., she can't bring it up all the way over her head or touch >the middle of her back. An osteopath, whom she has seen for other >reasons and whom she trusts, first thought it was tendonitis and treated >her with acupuncture. > >Anyway, the osteopath now believes it's a calcium deposit, and is >discussing treatment first with anti-inflammatory medicine and, if that >doesn't work, with cortisone shots. > >My questions are, what's a calcium deposit, what causes it, why does it >hurt, and what makes it go away? Can anyone out there provide > >Lee Woodbury I had a very similar case a year or so back, when I was lifting weights and playing a LOT of tennis and swimming. It was tendonitis. There are four tendons attached to the tip of your shoulder that run down and over the outer shoulder. When one of these gets stressed in some way, tendonitis can easily result. Your friend is putting a HEAVY load on those tendons. Let me say first off that I am VERY picky about who I let work on my joints. Injections, etc. are made into the sac enclosing the joint, and the slightest infection can result in *amputating* the limb. I've seen it happen. If I saw the *slightest* indication of less-than-perfect competence on the part of my osteopath, I'm getting out of there FAST. I don't know exactly what your friend's osteopath told her, but I find it pretty scary. First of all, "-itis" means inflammation. Bursitis, appendicitis, et. al. Such an affliction should be easily visible with X-rays, and the logical treatment would be anti-inflammatory injection, not "sticking needles in you." A calcium deposit is just that. A deposit of calcium (bones are made of calcium) on a bone surface. If there's a "lump" of calcium in a joint, it will naturally create painful binding or friction when the joint is moved a certain way. Don't ask me why he is going to "try" anti-inflammatory treatment for this. Again, a simple X-ray should disclose something like this. I'd tell your friend to find another osteopath before she ends up losing her arm. R.A. Morgan -- osmigo1, UTexas Computation Center, Austin, Texas 78712 ARPA: osmigo1@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU UUCP: ihnp4!ut-ngp!osmigo1 allegra!ut-ngp!osmigo1 gatech!ut-ngp!osmigo1 seismo!ut-sally!ut-ngp!osmigo1 harvard!ut-sally!ut-ngp!osmigo1
levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) (11/10/86)
In article <4271@ut-ngp.UUCP>, osmigo1@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ron Morgan) writes: >>Anyway, the osteopath now believes it's a calcium deposit, and is >>discussing treatment first with anti-inflammatory medicine and, if that >>doesn't work, with cortisone shots. >>Lee Woodbury >Let me say first off that I am VERY picky about who I let work on my joints. >Injections, etc. are made into the sac enclosing the joint, and the slightest >infection can result in *amputating* the limb. I've seen it happen. I thought that kind of thing happened mainly back in the time before anti- biotics (but that was also the time before cortisone shots, too, wasn't it?). Is it still common? It seems to me that getting a cut on one's finger could also result in losing one's arm, but that the chances would be slim. What happens in these cases? Why do antibiotics fail to work in these cases of the "slightest infection"? >the *slightest* indication of less-than-perfect competence on the part of my >osteopath, I'm getting out of there FAST. I don't know exactly what your >friend's osteopath told her, but I find it pretty scary. >R.A. Morgan -- ------------------------------- Disclaimer: The views contained herein are | dan levy | yvel nad | my own and are not at all those of my em- | an engihacker @ | ployer or the administrator of any computer | at&t computer systems division | upon which I may hack. | skokie, illinois | -------------------------------- Path: ..!{akgua,homxb,ihnp4,ltuxa,mvuxa, go for it! allegra,ulysses,vax135}!ttrdc!levy
jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) (11/12/86)
In article <1306@ttrdc.UUCP> levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) writes: >In article <4271@ut-ngp.UUCP>, osmigo1@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ron Morgan) writes: >>Injections, etc. are made into the sac enclosing the joint, and the slightest >>infection can result in *amputating* the limb. I've seen it happen. >I thought that kind of thing happened mainly back in the time before anti- >biotics (but that was also the time before cortisone shots, too, wasn't it?). >Is it still common? ... The articular surfaces of a joint should be smooth to get good motion at that joint. If an infection does settle into a joint, it can make those surfaces quite rough, causing permanent loss of some or all freedom of motion. A classic example is a knuckle infection after a fist fight, especially if the knuckles impacted human teeth (which are about the dirtiest place in the world.) Fortunately, the body's immune system usually manages to keep infections from getting rooted in. This is hampered if the circulation of fluid through the synovial capsule and back into the rest of the body is blocked. Amputations? Yeyah, they happen. I have no feeling that they're common, and no numbers at all. -- Joe Yao hadron!jsdy@seismo.{CSS.GOV,ARPA,UUCP} jsdy@hadron.COM (not yet domainised)
osmigo1@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ron Morgan) (11/12/86)
In article <1306@ttrdc.UUCP> levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) writes: >In article <4271@ut-ngp.UUCP>, osmigo1@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ron Morgan) writes: >>Injections, etc. are made into the sac enclosing the joint, and the slightest >>infection can result in *amputating* the limb. I've seen it happen. > >I thought that kind of thing happened mainly back in the time before anti- >biotics (but that was also the time before cortisone shots, too, wasn't it?). >Is it still common? It seems to me that getting a cut on one's finger could >also result in losing one's arm, but that the chances would be slim. Let me state first off that I'm not an expert in medicine, although I've spent many years working in hospitals and other medical settings. The above infor- mation was given to me by two experienced Registered Nurses, both with Master's degrees. The "little cut on the finger" is a surface accident. It doesn't approach any critical tissue areas, and can be easily cleaned and treated. In the case of a shoulder injection for tendonitis, however, you're talking about infection starting up 2 or 3 inches beneath the skin, directly *ON* the joint's moving surfaces, in the immediate vicinity of major CNS objects, bone marrow, etc. Systemic infection is clearly a possibility, including the lymph apparatus. If you've ever had this done, you might have noticed (I hope) that before making the injection, they scrubbed the **** out of your entire shoulder area with an iodine formula, instead of the usual alcohol swab. This is why. Another reason I was alarmed at the post was that he treated apparent tendonitis (remember, "-itis" means "inflammation") with acupuncture, with no results, and then, upon switching to a tentative (sigh) diagnosis of "calcium deposits," decided to use anti-inflammatory drugs for the CALCIUM DEPOSITS! Am I in error, or is this physician bananas? Ron Morgan Communication Disorders Univ. of Texas @ Austin -- osmigo1, UTexas Computation Center, Austin, Texas 78712 ARPA: osmigo1@ngp.UTEXAS.EDU UUCP: ihnp4!ut-ngp!osmigo1 allegra!ut-ngp!osmigo1 gatech!ut-ngp!osmigo1 seismo!ut-sally!ut-ngp!osmigo1 harvard!ut-sally!ut-ngp!osmigo1