my right shoulder muscles have been hard as a rock since 2001, you can bounce a quarter off them pretty much anytime, the trigger points (lidocaine) I had done in 2005 helped quite a bit (after the initial pain) but wore off over time. My left one has never been as bad but has tightened up quite a bit as my symptoms went bi-lateral about a year ago. This is one of the things I am hoping my ADR surgery next week will help. I use Thermacare patches quite a bit the heat seems to help relax the muscles, I don't like to use the muscle relaxers on a regular basis. Sometimes they are so hard that it actually hurts to try to massage them.
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Timeline:
1988:sprained neck roller skating
1989:dislocated neck in a freak accident
1993:MVA
1995:diagnosed with bulging disc C5/6
2000:disk herniated
2000-2004:multiple treatments including nerve root block, trigger point injections, epidural steroid injections, pt
2005-2008: pain meds and muscle relaxers only
ProDisc-C replacement on c5/c6 11/18/08
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