As an active person who injures easliy, I have some advice on how to heal.
I also have had shoulder problems including surgery to take out calcium build-up in the tendon and I also have PF. The other day, after wrestling with my son (he is a small 10 year old with 2 years of Judo), my shoulder locked up because I irritated the joint.
What I have learned is that if I lightly exercise the non-injured parts of my body, the injured parts heal much faster, as opposed to exercising (PT) the injured area or just resting.
Also, once you have injured your neck or shoulder try to avoid activities that make you hold it still such as computer work or long drives in car.
In my opinion, the key to healing muscle injuries is blood flow. If you hold a muscle tight the blood can't flow throufh it easily.
Light aerobic activity on the non-injured parts does the trick.
Moving muscles is pumping blood.
The natural tendancy is to hold the injured part tight to prevent further injury. This is fine while your hunting wild Bore and Dinosaurs but afterwards you need to lighten up.
My recent shoulder pain started last friday and now I'm lifting light weights again (very light 2-5 lb). I never used to recover this fast if at all but now I do.
The pain to my shoulder was quite high so I iced it that night and rested it off and on with a sling(alternating ice with light warm-ups). Then, I went for long walks, rested, and then did light aerobic activity, being careful not to irritate or protecively hold my shoulder (ice inbetween) . Within 2 days my shoulder was ok to start light warm-up type activity. Maybe I got lucky this time and the injury was minor but the same rules apply. Rest and ice are imnportant but keep the rest of your body lightly active.
Of course this is only my opinion for chronic muscle pain sufferers.
The rest of the world will recover without all the fuss.
My first shoulder injury was 6 months of PT then surgery, then 1 year of PT.
Of course it was more severe but my approach was all wrong.
Slings or supports help shoulder relax, and aerobic activity (not on the shoulder) get it healing. Take the sling off and on at last once an hour to help keep the shoulder limber.
The following advice is tricky in practise, but be careful not to tweak an injured area when exercising while simultaneously trying not to lock it up (thighten it up). Activity must start out very slowly and work up to a very light warm up(ice afterwards when done).
Test your limits of motion very gently and make sure you stay away from these limits. Re-check them as you warm up. They will get better.
In the past, I was not so careful (tough guy) and paid the price.
To help heal things I take 3000-4000 mg of Vitamin C (ester type) a day (samll doses through-out teh day). If you read the other stuff under "Gordon" you will see the other things that might help.
Remember:
You know your body better than anyone else, so trust your instincts, and then take it easy, but once your rested up keep moving something!
Good Luck
sfr-qbu-pqh-vty29.as.wcom.net 02:21:22