Shoulder Pain - need help

[Kinki]

Hi ladies,

I'm 12 weeks preggo and thought I'd be terribly indulgent and get a massage yesterday because I have chronic lower back pain, aching shoulder blades and neck (and rotator-cuff tendonitis which is causing some misery). BUT the masseur seems to have made the pain worse, to the point where I woke up this morning at 3am sobbing because of the pain (I couldn't sleep and husband massaged my shoulders but that didn't help v. much)

I can't stand the thought of being in pain my whole pregnancy (I know, total wuss-bag), and the physio can help, but it's still agony to sleep. I know I can't take tablet voltaren & diazapem (which I usually take for my back pain) but can one use voltaren gel in pregnancy or does anyone have any ideas (or a referral for a GOOD massage therapist in the inner north of Melbourne?????)

Sorry, this is long and very early in the day for a whinge.

[monique]

I had some back pain later on in my pregnancy, which made sitting up (particularly at my desk at work and in the car) extremely uncomfortable and sometimes very painful.

I ended up going to see a physiotherapist who generally helped to loosen up my muscles, especially the ones under my shoulder blades, which were causing the most trouble. They would start by piling up pillows under my hips and chest so that I could lie on my tummy (absolute bliss) and leave me with heat packs on for about 15mins. Then she'd do the physio, I'd have a massage and then some more physio. They also showed me some exercises to do at regular intervals throughout the day to stop me from tightening up. I also used a heat pack to help loosen things up. After about 3 weeks (6 visits) things were much better.

Have a look in the yellow pages under physiotherapists - that's probably your best bet to find one local.