Planning your
first appointment

We need:

A referral from a healthcare professional (requirement of the medical council and your insurance company).

Any previous x-rays or scans.

We will want to see the MRI images typically on a CD provided by the unit where the scan is done. This is given to you not us (we get a report).

If you have not had any imaging done do not worry we will arrange scans prior to your visit based on your symptoms. This is typically an MRI scan of your shoulder but we may additionally scan your neck, get x-rays of your shoulder or chest, nerve tests if numbness or pins and needles is a significant problem and sometimes blood tests.

Some of these additional investigations are arranged after your first visit.

Plan to arrive 20 minutes before our appointment time as we will have forms for you to fill out and details to get.

Bring any details of your insurance plan.

Bring a list of your current medications.

We will need to know your past medical history ( often this is provided to us by your GP). We need this information to plan your treatment for example blood thinners – except aspirin – need to be stopped before any surgical procedures. If you need a general anaesthetic we need to know if you have any conditions that may make this a risk such as cardiac respiratory or bleeding problems.

Often we will inject your shoulder with local anaesthetic and steroid on the first visit. After an injection we recommend that you have somebody with you to drive home.

As part of the visit Mr Lunn will look and examine your shoulder. This means shirt and vest off for men. For women a halter top is ideal. We will need to look for muscle wasting, abnormal lumps or bumps and the position of your shoulder blade. We will not ask for a bra to be removed.

The patient only removes clothing if they are comfortable to do so.

Any person under age 18 must have a chaperone with them (ideally a parent).

If you wish for a friend or a family member to come into the consultation this fine and to be encouraged as another person will often remember more than yourself.

Whist we try to avoid provoking pain we will need to see when, where and how the shoulder is hurting you.