Damaged Tendons (me not horse)

[navaho]

I damaged the tendons in both my shoulders before Christmas, stupidly slipped on the ice with the wheel barrow, instead of just letting it go i held onto it & now im suffering for it. Im struggling to lead the horses, muck out, do haynets, pretty much most things really. The doctor has said i need to stop doing so much, which is easier said than done. I cant take ibuprofen for the pain either as it cause me to have bad heartburn, so im on paracetamol's which dont really do anything. I feel really fed up, all my get up & go has got up & gone. I dont really know what to do about it, ive already been back to the doctor once & she said there was nothing they could do, i just needed to take it easy, which ive tried to a certain extent but they still hurt. Traveling in the car if i go over bumps it hurts, if my otherhalf hugs me it hurts & in the morning when i wake up im in angony Anyway, to the point of my post, has anyone else ever damaged their tendons & how long did it take to heal? Im sooooo fed up right now & just feel useless!

 

[Izzwizz]

If its like horses then they take a long time to heal. My mare injured her DDFT and if you follow the treatment she had as box rest, hand walking etc, then you really should take it easy as your Doctor says. Could you see a Physio, they may recommend swimming as exercise which can be done with the water taking your weight. As we approach summer your yard jobs will presumably lessen if your horse goes out 24/7, enabling you to rest more? Pity couldnt turn you away in a field for 12 months lol. If only life were that simple!

Hope you feel better soon. Soft tissue injury is literally a pain in the neck !!

 

[navaho]

Thanks for replying swimming is a bit of a no no for me as it plays hell with my knee. I honestly think im falling apart at the moment. I do try not to do to much, but haynets & mucking out have got to be done, i can wait for the horses to go out, which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks. Im just finding it all so frustrating at the moment

 

[aran]

Hello

Sounds painful!
5 months and still causing that much pain and limiting what you can do needs investigating.
Do you still have normal range of movement (can you lift your arm up above your head etc)?

Really you need an ultrasound on your shoulder to see which tendons/ligs you have damaged and how bad that damage is.
Shoulder injuries are really difficult. You need to not do too much but you need to keep it moving so that you don't get scaring and adhesions that could limit movement (as long as the shoulder is stable - xrays, ultrasound should tell you this).
They can offer you, if appropriate, injections into the shoulder to help reduce the pain and any inflammation.

Hope you get it sorted

 

[Allie5]

I'm a medic in the army so I'm going to put my professional hat on and say you "must" rest the tendons. They will take forever to heal if you keep pulling and tweaking them. However as a rider I know that we can't just stop caring for our horses! So... My advice is firstly do as much as you can to rest your shoulders. Get someone to help with heavy lifting/wheelbarrows etc. Try to limit mucking out/water bucket carrying. Second try heat/cold therapy. At night put a heat pad (hot water bottle or stick on heat pad) onto the site of the worst pain. Leave for 20 mins then swap it for an ice pack (do not place onto bare skin) do this routine for two cycles of each. This stimulates blood flow which will help with healing. Thirdly you need to go back to the gp and ask for stronger painkillers. Ibuprofen is NOT a painkiller. It's an anti inflammatory. It has a pain relieving effect as your pain eases as the swelling goes down. However it is not the only NSAID available (non steroidal anti inflammatory drug) There are others which will not give you heartburn. As to painkillers paracetamol is actually quite a powerful painkiller. The trick is to use it every 4 hours if your in pain or not. If you do that and find your still too uncomfortable you might need to try co-codamol (paracetamol and codeine) which is very effective when used with NSAID.
My lads refuse to slow down as well with injuries like this. The best you can do is make yourself comfortable and "try" to rest as much as you can!

 

[navaho]

Thankyou both got your advice all advice taken on board & will use as much of it as i can! Strangely enough i picked up some co-codamol from Boots earlier to try (spoke to lady behind the counter first though to see if she could suggest anything), so hopefully that will help.