The Agony of the Shoulder Pain Pump Patient

Telford, PAMichael F. says he is not positive that the use of a shoulder pain pump caused his shoulder injury, but he is worried that it may have. He had shoulder surgery in 2008 and still suffers pain in his shoulder—pain that is affecting his ability to work and his ability to sleep. He says if he had known more about the shoulder pain pump, he would not have used it following the surgery. Unfortunately, he did not know a lot about the pain pump when the surgery was performed.

Michael says it all started just before his surgery for impingement syndrome. Michael had a torn rotator cuff that required surgery.

"As I was getting prepared for surgery, my surgeon wasn't sure if my insurance covered the pain pump," Micheal says. "The assistant said I was covered and the doctor said that was good because I would really need it to get through those first few days. After the surgery, I was glad to have it because it did help with the pain.

"Now, I have sharp, shooting pains when I'm standing still and I can't sleep because I toss and turn all night." Michael says a relative alerted him to an advertisement on television regarding the shoulder pain pump and he decided to contact an attorney because he is concerned his shoulder may get worse.

"I'm an auto mechanic. I use my arms and shoulders everyday. I need them for work."

Michael says his surgery was performed on September 14, 2008. It was done on his right shoulder and he is right handed. He has had pain in his shoulder since the surgery.

"The pain comes and goes," Michael says. "Right now, it is early after the surgery, but I am worried that it will become progressively worse down the road. I wonder if the pain is related to the pain pump. Yes, I have weakness in the shoulder. I can't do what I used to be able to do with it. I have difficulty lifting things. I have a much more limited range of motion in the shoulder than before the surgery. I would say that I can move my left arm straight up and down above my head, but my right arm is only at 85 percent.

"The surgery solved a lot of my pain problems, but I still have ongoing sharp, shooting pain and difficulty sleeping at night since the surgery. I have seen the doctor on follow-up visits, he said it would get better as time goes on, but I'm worried. The pain seems to be more so when I'm standing still at times. I noticed the sharp, shooting pain coming and going and I'm starting to get concerned that the surgery didn't take or something is going wrong.

"It's starting to affect my work."

Shoulder pain pumps have been linked in a recent study to postarthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis (PAGCL), a condition marked by the breakdown of cartilage in the glenohumeral joint, which joins the arm and the shoulder. It can be extremely painful and in some cases requires further surgery. Symptoms associated with PAGCL include popping, grinding and clicking in the shoulder, extreme difficulty moving the shoulder and pain and weakness in the shoulder.

"I thought at the time [of the surgery] that the pain pump was a good thing," Michael says. "I didn't know whether or not it was approved—if I had known about it, I would have asked not to have it used. I wasn't really given options to have it or not. I was just told that the insurance would cover it and so they used it."