Go back to the index and click on my DIABETES link for more information on September 1998, at which time I found out I am Diabetic by having a huge, sweet milk shake (and no food!) for lunch... after which my sugar shot up, I got dizzy while riding my motorcycle, and woke up in the hospital

Nothing was broken, but I was bruised and sore all over... and had to take strong pain pills for almost a week to be able to move. My small amount of shoulder pain was virtually unnoticed with all the other pains, and "mostly" went away after awhile (by the time my shoulder really began to bother me, in the summer of 1999, I did not associate that "new" pain with the previous year's fall)

Jump forward to November 2001... shoulder is sore ALL the time, with limited movement... but I still did not make the connection to the 1998 accident, thought it was either just getting old, or was a case of Adhesive Capsulitis such as explained at An Orthopedic Site and which had been discussed by many people on the Diabetes newsgroup (it seems that high blood sugar may be one cause, or at least a contributing factor, to this problem)

As a last resort before the procedure described at the above link, I went to my Chiropractor (Dr Gibbon in Washougal WA 360-835-3150) and found out that my "unscheduled dismount" back in 1998 had given me what is commonly called "Hockey Shoulder" or... my shoulder was very sligthly dislocated and then LOCKED in that position, causing muscle stress and nerve pressure

After "popping" my shoulder straight (an adventure in itself... but THAT sharp pain soon subsided, at least somewhat, and I could move my arm, albeit with residual pain that will last for several [6-to-8] weeks) I was shown a series of exercises designed to strengthen muscles that had not been able to work properly for over 3 years due to the dislocation

That Friday evening
Shoulder is sore, but I can (carefully!!!) move it in ways that had not been possible for almost 3 years

Next morning, Saturday
Woke up with a REALLY sore shoulder, but that is only to be expected after muscles and nerves that had been "locked wrong" for 3 years were popped back to their correct locations

Sunday morning
I know the stretching exercises are going to help with my shoulder's long term rehabilitation and, eventually, pain free movement... but right now they HURT and I continue to wake up each day with residual pain... oh well, I guess 3 years of a joint and muscles being "locked wrong" really is going to take the 6 weeks (or more) the Doctor told me... but since this daily recital of pain is a bit depressing, I'm going to just go about life and write again in a week (or maybe even just wait until all the pain is gone, and report the time)

Saturday a week later
It's a good thing the Dr told me it would take a long time for my muscles and nerves to adjust to being "realigned" or I would be wondering why I still had pain a week later. The exercises hurt, my shoulder is sore "most" of the time (I do have a few, scattered moments during the day with NO pain, which is an improvement) and the constant pain has me worn down and tired. I'm hoping a weekend of just the stretching exercises, but no heavy work, will bring even more pain reduction.

Hopefully, it won't take the entire 6-8 weeks for the residual pain to go away, but at least I am now able to (carefully) move my arm

Friday two weeks later
This falls under Too Much of a Good Thing!
I was feeling so good by Tuesday, doing the stretching exercises, that I OVER did them, and woke up Wednesday morning with a really sore shoulder. It is really hard to tell with pain, but this one "feels" more like I simply pushed my limits too far, too fast, rather than the "hit a wall of out of alignment" pain I was feeling before. Plus, my shoulder still moves through the full range of movement, just with a lot of pain. Sigh... you'd think I'd know better than to try and rush things! Now I just have to remember to "go slow" and not try and get well instantly

Friday three weeks later
Well, I was partially wrong in what I thought
I went to the Dr this past Tuesday, and found out that what happened is that "somehow" I "rotated" a vertebrae in my neck, which put pressure on a nerve, and that pressure caused both pain and weakness in my arm. One quick and painless "pop" and most of the pain went away (still some residual for a few days) and the strength came back to my arm almost instantly. I still have stretching exercises to do, to get my muscles back to normal after 3 years of being in the wrong position, but at least I seem to be back on track toward a pain free shoulder

Monday after 2 more weeks
Pain came back, so off to the Chiropractor again, and again the vertebrae in my neck had shifted and was pinching the nerves... but this time I asked the right question (or understood the answer better) and came away with some idea of what is happening... since my right side was "out of kilter" for so long, I now have a neck muscle that does "something" to my neck when I lift heavy objects (such as delivering a box of copy paper) which pulls the vertebrae out of alignment (sorry I can't be more specific, but as soon as the Dr begins with the medical names for what connects where, I "glaze over" and understand about one word in five) so the solution, until my right side adjusts to being correctly aligned, is actually rather simple... tilt my head a bit to the left to compensate when I have to lift somethhing heavy

PS - hindsight is always 20/20 vision, but I find it amazing (and still somewhat painful, at least for a few weeks) that I functioned for over 3 years with a dislocated shoulder, even if only "slightly" dislocated like happens to Hockey players on a "body check" into the sidewall

March 23, 2002
After several more Chiro visits, over a total of just about 5 months, to continue the work of breaking my shoulder loose (I did, after all, have a "small" case of Adhesive Capsulitis) I now have almost full motion in my shoulder, even though that motion is still with some amount of pain in a couple spots, but I continue to do stretching exercises and hope to, someday, have full motion with NO pain