My Story:

After waking up one morning with excruciating pain in my shoulder.  I went to several doctors and physical therapy over the next four months.  X-rays were taken that showed nothing.  After about two months I developed severe weakness in my shoulder and arm.  A large dent appeared in the back side of my shoulder as the muscles in my shoulder began to atrophy.  All the while expressing my concern that there was something more serious wrong.  I was repeatedly given pain and anti-inflammatory medication and told by the doctor and physical therapist that it was only tendonitis/ muscle strain.

After four months, in some ranges of motion I could not lift the weight of my own arm. I was very disheartened and demanded that I have an MRI done.  The MRI showed that I had a torn ligament and some muscles in my shoulder showed tissue changes indicating severe atrophy.  I was referred to a nationally recognized orthopedist that specialized in hand, elbow, and shoulder surgery.

I was told by an attorney I had gone to see that he was the best surgeon available.  He ordered a nerve test.  The results showed that in addition to a torn ligament I had a damaged nerve in my shoulder.  I was scheduled for two surgeries, one to free the nerve in my shoulder and one to smooth down a bone spur.  I asked the doctor if I could try physical therapy one more time to try and build my shoulder muscle back up without surgery.  He agreed and sent me back to the physical therapist for six more weeks.

In the meantime I began treatment with Dr. Nelson. At the end of the six weeks of physical therapy the therapist reported that I had made good gains in the first few weeks but had leveled off and he believed surgery would be necessary.  However, I felt that I was gaining strength.  It was very small, but it was happening.  In the first few weeks of my treatment with Dr. Nelson my eyesight improved to the point where I no longer needed glasses.  Even though I had just gone to the eye doctor and received a stronger prescription to wear all the time, not only for reading.  I also noticed that food tasted amazing.  I had bad experience with chiropractors and was very skeptical.  But these first developments gave credibility to Dr. Nelson and his treatment method.  So I decided to give him a chance.

When I returned to the surgeon he wanted to schedule me for surgery and explained, "If you wait to have surgery fibrous tissue will replace the muscle in your shoulder and cause permanent irreparable damage."  He continued."there are two ways you can deal with this, one is the ostrich technique where you stick your head in the sand and do nothing, or, you can do something about it."  What I understood him to mean was that if I did not have surgery immediately that my shoulder would be permanently damaged.  Yet when I asked if after the surgery my shoulder would recover?  He did not say I would recover but that I should recover.  And when I asked, "Doctor how much should I recover?" he replied. "More than you have now."  So even though he implied that surgery was my only option he would not say that surgery would fix anything.

Well, surgery was NOT my only option and I declined.  That was four months after the MRI, about two months after starting treatment with Dr. Nelson.  About eight months from the morning that changed my life.  Now it's been a year since that morning and with exercise my shoulder is up to about 60 percent from 2 percent and I thank God and Dr. Nelson I didn't have the surgery.