I hope this isn't too OT, but this is related my ability to alert riders behind me about debris on the road.
About a month ago I was diagnosed with rotator cuff tendinitis/tendonitis (spelling varies) in my right (dominant) arm. The pain feels like a very bad bruise, right at the base of my deltoid muscle about halfway between my shoulder and elbow. The pain started out of the blue when I raised my arm to get something. It has not improved, and in fact has spread a little to include "twinges" of pain above and below the original site.
The doc (an excellent orthopedic surgeon who did both of Hubby's shoulder replacements) told me to take 2 Advil 2x/day and avoid any activity that causes pain. I took the Advil for about a week, then stopped because I felt no relief. I have a very conservative view of taking meds and prefer not taking such large doses for very long, so I started taking 1 or 2 a day. Still no relief, so I started ice packs which do help but it's hard to keep an ice pack on my arm every hour while at work.
Since this is common in 50+ folks, I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this and can offer any advice with respect to where to best seek treatment --- e.g. orthopedic doc vs. physiotherapist --- and how long it took to heal.
I have a similar pain in the same place plus rotator cuff aches too . Have had it on and off for decades.
The pain is not continuous and comes and goes. Worst at night. It does best when it's well exercised. I have to be careful in my weight training to do it regularly and if I do gap it, to build the weights back up up slowly. It's definitely a damaged tendon in my case, or was some years ago. I'm skeptical your doctor really knows with out at least an mri.
It could be a congenital problem. Mine was and it was operated on some 12 years ago as the mri showed a damaged tendon which the x-ray missed. The mri didn't reveal the extent of the damage. The tendon was sewed up.
For some strange reason a nylon/Velcro armband around the forearm just below the elbow of the type to mitigate tennis-elbow mitigates the pain of the rotator cuff/mid-upper arm. Go figure. I wear the band cycling and weight training or while doing any heavy work around the house when I get a flare up. It's gotten worse with age so I may have to see about another mri.
First though, I've got this book on order:
http://www.amazon.com/Treat-Your-Own...1080797&sr=1-1
It's apparently poorly written and poorly organized, but it's helped a lot of the reviewers. I always do the self-help before letting the medical types have a crack at it. Generally that works very well.
Each case is different and diagnosis with out an mri or operation to look inside is not all that reliable. However, Keeping the area exercised is generally more effective then letting it atrophy. Also, the perceived location of the pain is sometimes not the location of the actual damage.
Al