6/27/2018
Today was my first visit with the Chiropractor specializing in Airrosti. This first visit was 1 hour in length with the 1st 30 minutes with the Dr. and the 2nd 30 minutes with the certified recovery specialist (like a PTA). Typical welcome telling me a bit about who he is and asking how I'm doing. Then he proceeded to do some range of motion and pain level tests.
1. Raising my arms from my sides going straight forward to above my head.
2. Raising my arms from my sides going out to the sides to above my head.
3. Raising my arms from my sides going in between to above my head.
4. Arms bent at my sides at a 90 degree angle and then rotating my hands outward and inward.
5. Arms bent with elbows raised to shoulder level at a 90 degree angle and then rotating my hands up and down.
6. Placing each hand behind my back with the back of my hand touching the small of my back and then raising my hand up my back as far as I could comfortably stretch it.
Next were strength tests.
1. Arms bent at my sides at a 90 degree angle and then rotating my hands outward while he provided resistance.
2. Arms bent at my sides at a 90 degree angle and then rotating my hands inward while he provided resistance.
After the above movements he concluded that I might have an impingement in the back of my shoulder joint possibly caused by some trauma during one of my BJJ grappling sessions. Before telling me this, he also told me that most likely due to my age (44 years old) and my history of BJJ training that I most likely have some level of arthritis in my shoulder joints.
His recommended treatment was to treat the soft tissue around my shoulder and rotator cuff area and upper triceps. He then started with some deep pressure myofascial release which felt like a deep tissue massage on my shoulder. It was uncomfortable but not unbearable. He focused on the back of my shoulder and the upper triceps. There was only one part that was close to being unbearable and that was when he did the subscapularis in my armpit. That was painful.
Once that was completed he had me standup and do the first 3 movement tests of raising my arms in those 3 directions asking me if my pain was better. It felt the tiniest bit better or the same as it was difficult to tell but I did know it didn't feel worse. Next he took me to another room called the recovery area where I met with the certified recovery specialist. The CRS pulled up a schedule and showed me the available times to choose from for my next 3 visits which was the amount recommend by the Dr.
Recovery treatment:
The certified recovery specialist handed me a lacrosse ball and showed me 4 exercises to do with it for the next week.
1. Supraspinatus:
He did not tell me how long or how often to do this but from past physical therapy sessions it is usually around 1 minute so that's what I'll be doing.
2. Posterior Shoulder:
Rolling back and forth against the back of the shoulder.
3. Triceps release:
4. Upper traps:
Leaning in towards the wall. Place the arm behind the back to stretch and go deeper or let the arm hang down towards floor.
Overall impression:
I'm willing to give this a serious try. I was somewhat skeptical coming in but so far it has been very much in line with regular PT sessions I've had in the past for my spondylolisthesis and for my shoulder. The model of interaction and follow up with me as the patient has been good. All the paperwork I had to fill out was done completely online and was easier and faster then your typical dr. visit model where you fill out actual papers. The online forms were easily accessible from my mobile phone with no issues logging in and filling them out. The certified recovery specialist who walked me thru the lacrosse ball exercises said I would immediately get an email from him with all the exercises explained and videos demonstrating the movements to help me at home. As stated, the email with videos were in my inbox before I walked back to my car. I had 4 videos showing me what we had just done in the therapy room. Something else I appreciate is that they have a patient portal website that you login to on your phone and it shows all your information - when your visit was, upcoming appointments, links to your exercises videos and more.
2nd appointment is next week.
