Good Physiotherapist for shoulder pain?

[dblaisde]

I have broken my right shoulder twice (thanks to osteoporosis) about 4 years ago. The pain is where a nerve enters a hole through the bone (or so it was explained to me by an Orthopedist). There's inflammation there which interferes with sleeping. I suppose I need a course of physiotherapy to make this problem go away permanently (rather than the occasional corticosteroid to treat the symptoms).

I need to find an orthopedist/physiotherapist combination in Thailand to diagnosis the problem and prescribe the correct physiotherapy and home exercises for it. I live in Bangkok.

Thanks in advance.

[Sheryl]

Don't assume you need physio unless an ortho specialist tells you so.

From what you say, there may be some nerve compression in which case surgery might be needed. Physio works wonders for problems due to muscle spasm, muscle weakness etc but is not going tio help if there is bone on nerve compression.

I suggest you start by consulting this doctor who is a top specialist in shoulders:

https://www.bumrungrad.com/doctors/Mason-Porramatikul

If he thinks physio is a good idea, have him write out what type of exercises. You can then bring this to the physio department of any hospital. I've heard positive things about the one at BNH hospital.

[dblaisde]

I suggest you start by consulting this doctor who is a top specialist in shoulders:

https://www.bumrungrad.com/doctors/Mason-Porramatikul

Mason is my bone guy in Bangkok and has been for about 8 years. But I'm only so-so happy with the advice he's given me. He seems to be a very good surgeon but doesn't know much about other aspects: for example told me it was OK to take my 1800mg of Calcium/Vit D in one daily dose rather than spread out over the day. I found out a year later this is dead wrong (Linux Pauling Inst. and others), that at any one time the bod can only absorb about 500mg max. He also didn't know anything about Vit K or MK-7, which prevent these heroic doses of Calcium from giving you heart attacks (by calcifying the aorta, which can happen if there's not enough MK-7 in one's system). (He also got pretty angry at me for pointing these things out, though I tried to be delicate about it.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K#Deficiency

His fellowships are impressive of course. Do you have other reasons for recommending him?

---

The reason I thought I needed the physiotherapy: I saw an orthopedist in San Francisco with a very good reputation who looked at this shoulder problem with xrays and an mri, and said that if I were going to be around for longer (I was visiting from Thailand) he would prescribe a course of physiotherapy (of some sort), but because of the circumstances I had to settle for a corticosteriod injection at the nerve/bone abrasion instead. (which helped for about 3 months).

Perhaps you're right, that I need surgery. I'll drop in on Mason in a few days to get his opinion. If it's surgery, I'll probably wait for my visit to the States.

As always, thanks for being around Sheryl!

Edited June 12, 2016 by dblaisde

[dblaisde]

Followup. Went to Mason. He gave me a cortisone shot. I think I got it wrong when explaining it to you. It's more likely rotator cuff tendinitis, not a nerve problem. Mason said rotator cuff exercises with an elastic band will probably help help.

PS Bumrungrad isn't getting any cheaper. Mason is now 1500B for a 20 minute interview and 2000B for a cortisone shot. Cheaper than the US anyway.