Team Leader answers:

You could have muscle strained around shoulder & elbow region. A muscle strain is an injury to either a muscle or a tendon, the tissue that connects muscles to bones. Depending on the severity of the injury, a strain may be a simple overstretch of the muscle or tendon, or it can result in a partial or complete tear.

On how to diagnose, you have diagnosed yourself by raised up elbow above head & push toward back. You will feel pain around deltoid muscle due to overstretched of inflamed muscle. Another sign of sprained shoulder is swelling around shoulder.

Early treatment of a sprained shoulder can help to speed recovery and minimize the symptoms & signs. Here are a few simple treatment steps to follow should you sustain a sprained ankle.

1. REST – Take a few days off of your routine exercise. I.e., do not use your dumbbell. You don’t have to be inactive, but be sure the shoulder is being rested.

2. ICE – This can be done several times a day for 15-20 minutes. This will keep the swelling to a minimum. Do NOT ice for more than 20 minutes, it will do more damage than good. Please use a small tower to cover the ICE before you place it onto your shoulder. (to prevent direct ICE burn to your skin).

3. COMPRESSION – Use compression when elevating a sprain or strain in early treatment. Using an Ace bandage, wrap the area overlapping the elastic wrap by one-half of the width of the wrap. The wrap should be snug, but not cutting off circulation to the extremity.

4. MEDICATIONS -
(i) NSAIDs pain killer. Here is a list of NSAIDs for you to choose.
- aspirin Salsalate (Amigesic)
- celecoxib (Celebrex),
- diclofenac (Voltaren),
- etodolac (Lodine),
- ibuprofen (Motrin),
- indomethacin (Indocin),
- ketoprofen (Orudis),
- ketorolac (Toradol),
- nabumetone (Relafen),
- naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn),
- oxaprozin (Daypro),
- piroxicam (Feldene),
- sulindac (Clinoril),
- tolmetin (Tolectin), and
- mefenamic acid (Ponstan)
I suggest you take mefenamic acid. This medicine should be taken with or after food to help reduce irritation to the stomach.

You do not need a MRI scan to diagnose fracture bone. If pain persist after 2-3 days of NSAIDs medication, you may consider to do a X-ray. (to check for any potential fracture).