A Procedure
I have a procedure on Monday.
The non-surgical orthopedist looked at my MRI and said there's quite a bit of inflammation in an area usually indicating some stage of frozen shoulder. She said it's highly unusual given my level of activity, but there you go.
What she recommended was a new procedure pioneered at the Cleveland Clinic called brisement (the link is to an NIH study published last year). Basically, after a nerve blocker, a small amount of steroid is injected into the shoulder, but it's done with a higher volume of salt water. This temporarily increases the pressure in the shoulder and creates space. After the injection, a physical therapist immediately manipulates the shoulder to permanently capture as much of the increased space as possible.
As it turns out, the orthopedist who pioneered the technique in Cleveland is now in NYC, and my orthopedist recommended him (he's a colleague).
Extremely low possibility of needing to do the injection more than once. Extremely low risk in general. General increase in range of motion of 15-20% almost immediately is to be expected.
It sounds too good to be true, but the study results are impressive and I'm very much looking forward to having it done.
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