Back pain(doctor/nurse experience please respond)?

My mom has a pain on her left shoulder blade on her back. She says its her muscle but she can't even lift her arm up, not even halfway. She says it burns and is a sharp pain. Maybe on her nerve? She didn't lift anything heavy, it just came on by itself and took her to her knees it hurt her so bad. Is this only a tight muscle or could it be more serious b/c she has a few places on her back like this?

She should make an appointment to see her physician as soon as possible. Based upon the limited range of motion of her arm and where you describe the pain, it sounds very likely that she may have torn her rotator cuff. The primary muscle of the rotator cuff is the supraspinatus muscle and when it is torn completely, you can seldom lift the arm very high. Many people tear this muscle with no identified trauma and if she has had chronic shoulder problems this is even more likely. Also, if the rotator cuff is not torn, she may have a frozen shoulder "adhesive capsulitis". This problem usually onsets in females between the ages of say 45-65 and is highly prevalent with people who have diabetes but can occur with anyone. Usually a frozen shoulder is slow to onset but I have had many patients that have had onset over night. Regardless of the information I have given you, the first thing you should do is set up an appointment to see your physician. A formal diagnosis should be made only after a thorough orthopedic evaluation as there are many conditions that could case the symptoms that you describe.

Sounds like damage to the rotator cuff. Which is muscle and tendons that move the arm at the shoulder. Have her see a doctor asap and have it evaluated. There is a surgery that can be done to repair it if it is not too badly injured. The surgery is same day home or maybe overnight stay but total recovery will be about 6 weeks and inviolve physical therapy.

Good Luck

I am not a doctor or nurse, but I don't expect there are many real doctors or nurses on this site. They are way too busy However,

your mother has symptoms of a rotator cuff injury or possible tear. She needs to see her physician to get this area checked. They will do a MRI on that area and can discover a tear, or arthritis or spur formation. I know this because I had a tear first on the left side, which was repaired and a year later, had another tear on the right side, which was also repaired. My shoulders now feel better but it takes a lot of physical therapy after surgery to heal properly.

Good luck to your mother. Please tell her to see an orthopedic doctor.