I've had some shoulder issues for a few years. Nothing too bad, just some small popping, grinding type stuff. Slight pain after work outs. But my shoulder popped on bench the other day.

I went and seen a doctor and got an Xray. She said it could be some type of tear and maybe some early arthitus. I have a MRI Monday. Until then, can someone decode this letter I got.

"There is a 2 mm sclerotic round density at the cervical neck of the proximal right humerus. The bone density, joint space and alignment are otherwise normal. There is no fracture. The surrounding soft tissues are normal.

Conclusion:
1. No actue abnormality
2. Possible benign bone island at the surgical neck of the proximal humerus.
3. Not mentioned above however on the ap veiw with the humerus internally roated, there is slight subluxation of the distal clavicle relative to the acromioclavicular joint. Correlation at this site is recommended. I could not exclude a subtle ligamentuous injury at this site.

Info regarding the sclerotic round density.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/...387758-overview

The other bit about the subluxation means that the acromioclavicular ligaments may be lax, and therefore your AC joint is unstable. There are different grades of laxity. When ligaments become "lax" at the enthesis, popping sounds are usually heard. These may get progressively worse as time goes by and are generally referred to as "overuse injuries".

To be honest even if it is a subluxation, the ligament signaling may appear to be completely normal on MRI, it's better seen on Ultrasound but even then it's easy to overlook things.

Either way, you can do a bit of palpitation where the clavicle and the acromion process meet and if it's tender that's a sure sign that there's an issue there. Although there may be no tenderness at all, which would be a good thing.

The MRI should tell you more either way. Let us know what you find out, and how your Dr plans to handle it. All the best.

I didn't know an MRI would be so expensive. I have insurance, so I thought it would be some what reasonable. They wanted 836 dollars to do the MRI. I can't afford that. Especially since they would probably say something like " You suffered a small ac joint tear, I recommend that you take anti inflammatory and get some rest"

My shoulder feels better now anyways. I already spent about $70 dollars, not counting the money I lost missing work to go to the doctor. So basically it takes almost a grand just to get a picture of your shoulder. That's crazy.