markjenn

I'm with the others - listen to your doctor and stop trying to second-guess him/her so much. It is customary, especially when a client expresses sensitivity to costs, to take a progressive approach to an injury like this: If the x-rays and symptoms don't indicate something requiring immediate intervention, first, try PT and anti-inflammatory drugs to see if you can get the condition to improve, then escalate to more diagnostic tools like an MRI, and finally start going to things like injections and even surgery. Yes, you can do the PT on your own and at home, but you'll likely get better results going to a professional, especially at the beginning as they'll show you the right techniques and have specialized equipment. Once you know what you're after, it is easy to replicate on your own. 12 sessions sounds about right initially. And MRI's are wonderful diagnostic tools - if you really want to get to the bottom of soft-tissue injuries, it is the weapon of choice.

Shoulders are finicky. I fell hard on my right side four years ago (classic low-side cornering on wet leaves) and it seemed to heal and be Okay for a couple months, then I developed a bad cause of "frozen shoulder" on my left side, probably related to favoring the right. It took 9-months of working with this with my doctor before it slowly went away. Two years ago, I crashed on a motorcycle and broke my right collarbone. I had it plated and it healed fine, but nine-months after the injury I started experiencing shoulder pain, especially sleeping at night or with any period of inactivity. I managed the pain for nearly a year, treating it with drugs, PT, x-rays, injections, and finally shoulder AND neck MRIs that indicated the problem was actually nerve impingement in my neck even though my pain was in the shoulder. I was about to get a neck injection when things slowly started getting better and over the course of a couple months of intensive PT, the pain went away all-together. My takeaway is that you need to be very patient with these things. That being said, if the pain is bad, getting the MRI right away makes a lot of sense.... I would if it is covered by insurance. I recall my MRIs were more on the order of $800 each, but I could be wrong. This is something you CAN "shop around" for.

- Mark