Cortisone, good or bad and has it helped your injury?

[ripper99]

Hello everyone, over the years I have has a lot of shoulder pain and I went and had a MRI done last year and they mentioned I had a partial rotator cuff tear that was very small and they also mentioned possible impingement.

In the past two years I have got a total of four Depo Medrol shots, the first two seemed to relieve pain for 2-3 months but the third shot seemed to get rid of pain for maybe two week and then nothing.

Yesterday I went and got another shot as the pain is very annoying, I have done all sorts of physio over the years and find most of the physio people are more concerned about how many clients they can squeeze into an hour slot than actually figuring out and properly getting you fixed.

I warm up religiously before workouts with my shoulders using bands and make sure I am warm before benching or doing overhead press and while I am doing these exercise I don't have pain but after I have bad pain.

I guess my worry is I have read Cortisone can cause tendons to rupture or get weak and wonder is it safe for me to get this injections a couple times a year or do most people highly advise against them.

I'm asking here because I am sure many have had Depo Medrol shots and can give me an idea whether this is a good idea or bad idea to be using them, doctors tell me they seen nothing that would require surgery at this time.

Age: Late 40's

I'm on doctor prescribed TRT for the last year of so and take 0.80ml split into two injections a week.

Eat healthy and train mostly doing 531 over the years.

Drink very little alcohol, maybe about 3-4 ounces of vodka every 2-3 weeks.

I eat about 9 fish oils a day, Vitamin D 2 pills breakfast/dinner, 1 Calcium pill, DHEA, NAC and a 81mg Aspirin


I guess my main concern with Depo Medrol is will it cause me more problems than actually helping, the doctors here basically have done the Ultrasound, MRI, Physio and they say non-surgical so the only relief I get is occasional Depo injection or I have pain killers prescribed for another injury I can take.

Thanks for any advice concerning the use of Depo Medrol, appreciated.

 

[Gunsmith]

I've have to have both shoulders scoped for AC impingement. While a cortisone shot in each did help for a while it will not do anything for the issue at had because the impingement (in my case) is arthritis buildup keeping undue pressure on the bursa in the AC joint.
the cure is to have the two opposing bones shaved to make relief for the bursa.

 

[ripper99]

Thank you Gunsmith, I've been in a lot of pain and I am gonna work at pushing them to do more to get this resolved.

Its been three days since the last cortisone shot and while it feels a bit better it still feels as though something is catching inside, feel it the most when arm is bent at the elbow and then as I lift my elbow to same height as the shoulder.

 

[Cobraman]

Cortisone helps w/ pain because it is a potent anti-inflammatory. Problem is that it destroys tissue. That is why they will not not do more than a few in a given time. It is actually used by some surgeons to break up scar tissue. There has been a push by some doctors to go away from this and do prolotherapy, platelet rich plasma injections, or platelet lysate. These 3 cause a controlled inflammatory reaction that forces a healing response. Be very careful with cortisone injections. A new wrinkle with cortisone is that some clinics use it, but in very small doses. In this way no destruction of tissue is caused. Regenex, a nationwide network of rehab centers, does it this way.

 

[chemical engineer]

It was a god send for carpal tunnel!!! I got it by incline bench press on a smith machine. That turning of heavy weight. I could not sleep and mouning in pain. One of the worst bouts of pain in my life. A shot in each wrist cleared it up. Will not to touch a smith machine to this day

 

[alluprbdy]

I had a severe Trapezius strain years ago when my boat got stuck in the creek to back to the house when we pushed the time a little to hard and the tide was too low. I pushed it in the mud for what felt like an eternity and woke up in intense pain. Luckily it was about 10 years ago when docs where easier get to help yah out. My doc shot me up once a week for 3 months and I never missed a day in the gym and it healed itself during that period.