Carson Palmer's status still unclear

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer left Denver on Monday morning with significant improvement in his right throwing shoulder, according to the consultant who treated him last weekend.

Greg Roskopf, the founder and CEO of Muscle Activation Techniques, worked with Palmer from Friday to Monday and saidthere was "pretty significant" improvement to the nerve injured in Week 1 against the San Diego Chargers.

Palmer threw during the open portion of practice for the first time since re-aggravating the injury two weeks ago. He was listed as limited on the team's injury report after not practicing all of last week.

Palmer and Cardinals coach Bruce Arians both hope the quarterback can be back to practice Thursday or Friday, but it'll depend on how his arm reacts to Wednesday's session.

"I just have to be able to throw a ball," Palmer said. "Let loose and throw it hard. That's basically it."

Whether Palmer can play Sunday, however, is still undetermined. Roskopf said Palmer will visit him again Friday for another evaluation.

Roskopf said he used a palpation technique to stimulate the sensory receptors in Palmer's shoulder, enabling him to reconnect the communication between the muscles and the nervous system -- essentially igniting the nerve.

"It's woken up," Roskopf said. "It has to wake up and stay awake."

Palmer told Roskopf that he threw 40 to 50 passes Tuesday, but he hasn't suffered a setback yet. This week will be a tricky balance for Palmer and the Cardinals' training staff, which is trying to increase Palmer's workload each day while not overworking the shoulder.

"It's a very delicate line," Roskopf said. "If he exceeds his tolerance level at the time, then it almost puts it back to sleep. It shuts it down again."

Roskop said a Cardinals' physical therapist accompanied Palmer and will monitor the quarterback's shoulder this week.

"If he doesn't have any setbacks through the week, I think he's on his way," Roskopf said. "I never know how well somebody's doing until they throw themselves into the fire. He left doing so much better.

"... Nerves are tough. They regenerate slow when there is nerve damage or a nerve injury like that. It's a slow process but this is what should help speed that process up."