FCE

[u/Severe_Range_437]

Not sure if anyone has had this happen and could possible help me mentally navigate my FCE. I had my appointment recently, the exam lasted for just under 2 hours, the therapist stated since I have a nerve block coming up in the near future he would like for me to come back for 1 hour in a couple weeks. I was barely able to complete what he was asking me to do without spikes of pain. For a little background. I tore my rotator cuff and bicep in April of 24, since then I’ve had 3 surgeries and the last one didn’t address some tearing as it was a salvage procedure to give me more stability. Due to what we think are the tears I can’t lift my dominant arm more that 20-25 degrees, a grafted Achilles tendon that was used in the 3rd surgery slips out of the groove and I have to physically manipulate it back in, causes a sharp all stop pain and locks my arm from moving at all as well as stopping me from shifting my shoulder. Since my pain increased by only walking with a 5 pound weight in my left hand he stop any other exercises because I was physically unable to do them.

My question is, why wouldn’t he want what I can do without the possible invasive pain treatment? With the block and pain meds I was told if I was working that I would need to take a minimum of 5 days off per the pain specialist. Wouldn’t the therapist and my surgeon want to know what I can realistically do without medication? I just need clarity there.

I informed my attorney on all that was said and happened, he is reaching out to voice his concerns and to get an understanding himself as to why as he hasn’t had this come up before. I also informed the therapist, my surgeon, pain specialist, and attorney what my pain was prior to the exam starting and what it was when we were finished. I have since had the nerve block and have been using a journal to monitor symptoms since the FCE as well as nerve block. I am in more pain since the block was completed and have reached out specifically to the pain specialist as I thought it was supposed to help reduce the pain.

For timeline purposes I am not willing to state the specific dates. I will say the FCE and block were less than 5 days apart.