The MRI I almost didn’t get

Content note:
This story includes discussion of persistent pain and experiences of medical dismissal.

For years, I had persistent shoulder pain.

I did everything I was told to do.
Physiotherapy. Acupuncture. Stretching. Strengthening. Yoga. Rest. Ice. Heat.

Every appointment ended the same way:
“Keep strengthening.”
“It’s probably muscular.”
“There’s nothing structurally wrong.”

Eventually, I saw a sports medicine physician. She ordered an X-ray. When it came back clear, she echoed what I’d been hearing for years — there wasn’t anything of note. I just needed to strengthen more.

I asked about an MRI.

She dismissed the idea. She was fairly certain it wouldn’t show anything meaningful.

I left feeling defeated — but not entirely convinced.

At the time, I was seeing a massage therapist who had decades of experience. He wasn’t alarmist. He wasn’t dramatic. But he told me he had seen presentations like mine before, and sometimes they turned out to be more.

He encouraged me to advocate for myself.

So I made another appointment.

When the sports medicine physician again told me that strengthening was the answer and there wasn’t much else to do, I paused and said, as respectfully as I could:

“In the name of ruling everything out, could we please just do an MRI?”

She hesitated. Then she agreed.

The MRI showed a labral tear.

When I returned to her office, she seemed almost sheepish delivering the results. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon.

I remember feeling two things at once: relief and validation.

Relief that there was finally an explanation.
Validation that the pain hadn’t been “in my head.”

This experience didn’t teach me to distrust physicians. It taught me something else.

Sometimes symptoms are subtle. Sometimes imaging doesn’t seem urgent. Sometimes clinicians make reasonable calls based on probability. And sometimes they make mistakes.

It taught me that persistence matters.

Asking again matters.

Requesting one more layer of clarity — calmly, respectfully — can change the course of care.

Sometimes advocating for yourself isn’t about confrontation.

It’s about staying steady in what you feel in your own body.