Checking out a shoulder problem

I have been dealing with pain behind my right shoulder blade for a while (probably over a year). It is aggravated when I lift heavy stuff with my right arm -- it feels like lifting pulls one bone away from another bone and a nerve gets trapped between causing a lot of pain. The only things that relieve the pain are anti-inflamatories (like Ibuprofen) and putting pressure on the spot beside/behind my shoulder blade. Carl can do it with his knuckle, but to avoid him having to put pressure on it for a long time, I have found that lying on a tennis ball also does the trick -- I put the tennis ball into a knee sock, and can hang it down behind my shoulder and get it positioned appropriately as I lie down.

When I had frozen shoulder a few years ago, I waited until we were going to be somewhere for a few weeks to seek treatment -- since they often want to do physical therapy, it is better to have some time to get results. Since we're going to be in Show Low for about 2 months, I thought this would be a good time to try to get it taken care of. I called and got an appointment...

... I went to Summit Bone and Joint to get a diagnosis.

I found it interesting... when they sent me to an exam room, the lady said, "Our hallways are named after animals, please go to Squirrel room 5."

Sure enough, there was a Bison hallway...

... and an Eagle hallway!

I had gone in indicating I had a shoulder problem... but when the lady was doing X-rays, I realized that I really was not having a *shoulder* problem. When I talked with the doctor, he said that it is pretty common when people are having a neck / upper back problem, that they identify it as a shoulder problem (so I am not the first!). He prescribed physical therapy for about 6 weeks -- hopefully that will get a handle on the problem.