Machka 

Ice packs are my friend!

Have you ever looked into glucosamine?

kuan

Do you really have a separated shoulder for sure Machka? My wife and my ski buddy both had separated shoulders. My wife's is OK now, Grade III but my bud, hers is getting worse.

PatD

Natural remedies: Arnica montana, turmeric, bromelain. Zyflammend by New Chapter. Repair by Enzymedica. Maybe worth a look.

Machka 

Yep ... I've got a Grade II Separation. I have good days ... and bad days. The last 3 days have been bad days. I just can't get comfortable ... not when I'm awake, not when I'm sleeping.

They told me I came extremely close to cracking my collarbone, and extremely close to dislocating my shoulder ... I pulled all sorts of things, and my shoulder currently sits in an odd position, and is very loose. Clothing doesn't even fit right. And there's still some debate whether or not I've torn my labral (cartilage inside the shoulder) which is what holds the ball of the shoulder in place.

It's been 9 weeks and my range of motion has improved, but that's about it. I even had to quit one of my jobs because of it. Frustrating.

8Lives

I'm 47 for reference. I do a lot of yoga so generally I'm not masking symptoms, but I'll take 4-600mg before bed every so often. It seems helpful when I really hammered and the legs still have a bit of an ache in them.

But...Arnica gel available at you local health food store is the ticket. Natural, topical anti-inflammatory - works wonders.

kuan

Methinks you should start doing shoulder stabilization exercises now, even before you know for sure. I picked them up from the wife even though my shoulder is fine. That's the only therapy she did.

If you have a grade II then you could be all healed up in about a year.

bfloyd

Ice packs seem to be more painful for me, go figure

I just started looking more into glucosamine with chondroitin or msn. I have a thread started about them.

Machka 

When you use the ice packs, leave them on for max 10-15 minutes at a time. Any more than that and you can damage tissue.

manual_overide

I only use acetaminophen on occasion (strained back, migrain) and never to help w/ a hangover because i know my liver is working overtime to fix me, so I don't need to put any more strain on it. I never use it after riding. I usually just stretch and/or take a cold shower. I agree w/ Machka. Try to fix the problem first without resorting to pills. It seems like everyone is on some kind of meds these days. it's silly! I've got three medicines in my cabinet. Extra Strength Tylenol, some leftover cough syrup I think, and some mucus relief stuff from this past winter when I think I had pneumonia.

Of course I'm only 26, so whatever that means...

pamedic

I have transported a couple patients who have had this surgery performed where they go in through the back of the nose and microscopically remove the arthritis from the vertebrae in the neck.

bfloyd

Thanks, I'll try again.

wagathon

Like you probably, I've never been much of an "icer" or a "taper" but an ice trick I've heard about is to use a package of frozen peas