Silvermoonlock

Has anyone experienced this? One day I realized I couldn't lift my right arm because it hurt too much. I went to my primary care physician, who referred me to an orthopedic surgeon, who referred me to a physical therapist.

I am currently going to physical therapy 3x a week now. Have been going for 4 weeks and have made improvement in range of motion, although reaching behind my back is going slow.

The PT does some odd things with my rotator cuff to extend range of motion. Sometimes it feels like he's exerting 2 types of opposing pressure on the joint ouch.

Anyway, if you've experience frozen shoulder or know someone who has, how long before an acceptable range of motion was realized? (I can't even sleep on my right side now).

thank you!

swimcatsmom

I had this a few years ago. I think it lasted well over a year. What ended up helping it was a massage. I was away for the weekend and decided to have a massage. I told her the shoulder was bothering me and she masseged that area a lot. Shortly afterward the pain in my shoulder got so bad it made me nausious. I had another one shortly after and suddenly noticed I could raise my arm which I had not been able to do in a while. Might be worth giving massage a try.

jonri

I had one. I got the cortisone shot--just once. It was a miracle. Gave me about sixty percent of my normal range in less than a minute.

I also was in physical therapy. I went for about 5 months ( twice a week early on; once a week later) and got back to about 90-95%. I was VERY good about doing the exercises every day. I got sloppy about doing the exercises after therapy ended and went a bit backwards. Started them up again. Am now back to about 90%. I still can't grasp my left arm at the elbow behind my back with my right hand without experiencing pain. Also have some trouble doing zippers up--I'm right handed. (It's been about 10 months since the problem started.)

Cure rate depends on underlying cause. It is quite common in diabetics. (I'm not one.) For them, it tends to be a reoccuring problem.

fireandrain

(Tries to raise hand) Me too!

I got a frozen shoulder last year, and also went to a physical therapist. Both she and my doctor (and my Internet research) told me it can come on suddenly, with no known cause, and take 18 months to 2 years to go away. I was stunned. 2 years!!

I saw the PT twice a week for 6 weeks, and then religiously did the exercises -- at first twice a day, then once a day, and now maybe 3 times a week. The pain is almost gone and I can sleep on my left side again. I can swim. But getting dressed is still awkward, and I can't unhook a bra -- not even close.

Massage didn't help me, and my PT said the shots would be really painful. I hit a plateau after 9 months, and went to a trainer at my health club. He gave me a bunch of weight-lifting exercises that helped a lot -- really strengthened the arm and shoulder and brought back more motion. I think my shoulder is still "stuck" but at least I can lift the arm and don't feel much pain.

munchkin

Just came back from a session of being poked with long thin needles (acupuncture). The treatment works but I need to keep up with the exercises and spend less time on the computer.

intparent

Me, too, silvermoonlock. Mine started the day after I got my flu shot last fall. Left shoulder, so I ignored it for months as I am right handed and couldn't affort the PT fees on top of tuition payments Finally went to the doctor about a month ago, she said the flu shot probably hit a tendon, which became irritated. Then when favoring the shoulder due to the tendon injury, it developed into frozen shoulder. I'm in my 4th week of PT. They do ultrasound (very soothing!!) and massage, along with stretching. And of course I have daily exercises. It seems to be working, I would say I am about about 70% of full range now.

I read that it is more common in the left arm. My physical therapist thinks this is because most people are right handed, so we are more likely to ignore issues in the left arm until it gets severe (which is often apparently how it starts). I don't know if he really knows what he is talking about, though (he said he was guessing). Seems like it would be easy to verify this theory by studying whether it typically develops in the "non-dominant" arm for right and left handed people.

The guy who sits next to me at work had it a few months ago, also.

klri

I had it and it lasted about a year. I didn't have the time to go to therapy so I just endured the pain and sure enough it took its course and went away on its own. I am not so sure that was the right thing to do.

I remember looking it up on line and seeing that the cause is unknown and the duration is the 18 months to two years as mention by fireandrain. I hope it never comes back.

jasmom

Yep. Never heard of frozen shoulder until I had one. Did PT which improved range of motion. However, I reached a point where I couldn't sleep because of the pain, and PT just seemed to be irritating the shoulder. Had a cortisone shot (thought I would die, boy did it hurt) but the pain eased. Now range of motion is probably 95% or better.

franglish

I had two of them. One in each shoulder. The first one, right side, took about a year, including six months of PT twice a week. This included manipulation, cortisone shot (which did absolutely nothing), heat therapy...Gradually went away. Second side a little less time, and I did the exercises on my own, very religiously, and it also went away gradually. I had almost zero range of motion in each arm at the worst, and now, about fifteen years later, I still don't have 100%. I agree with jasmom-- about 95% range of motion is back now.

I can honestly say it was the most excruciating pain I have ever felt, and I gave birth naturally. It was horrible. Both times. But it did eventually go away.

intparent

I wouldn't rank it as bad as natural childbirth (or a kidney stone, have had both ). But it hurt a lot.

franglish

OK, maybe not quite, but the pain of childbirth lasted a day or so. This lasted months...

Puzzled88

My frozen shoulder started in December 2008. I did a lot of research and decided to have a single cortizone injection, followed by physical therapy. You might want to read the study done by the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York - they found that a single injection cut the recovery time significantly. Before I had it, I thought "frozen shoulder" was just a term like "bum knee" or "bad back." I was surprised to learn that it's really called Adhesive Capsulitis and it's a very strange condition. My doctor said to imagine the inside of the entire shoulder "sack" inflamed and looking like a bag of red jello. As the inflammation dies down, the jello turns to scar tissue - sort of like a crunchy spider web. Obviously, you don't want to be permanently frozen so you absolutely have to get it moving. The cortizone seems to allow the physical therapist to do that. I'm still going to therapy once a month, 17 months after the initial onset. While my left shoulder now moves much like the right one, it feels very different - it grinds and crackles. I'm told it may do this always. Good luck.

BCEagle91

The rotator cuff is an extremely complex piece of machinery and there are all sorts of things that can go wrong with it. My wife has had problems with hers in the past and has gone for various kinds of therapy including electrostimulation. I think that she doesn't have problems right now as she hasn't complained about them. The original cause was shock from chipping ice.

I have lots of tennis player friends that have had rotator cuff problems. One of them is playing left-handed because he doesn't want to go for surgery. Another was out five months with surgery. Some give up.

The book: The Seven Minute Rotator Cuff Solution Book does a very nice job explaining how the shoulder works and the kinds of damage possible. It also provides stretching and strengthening exercises to help certain kinds of problems.

Massage usually helps where there is scar tissue. Breaking it up can relieve pain that's been around for a long time. There are a few stretches and exercises for prevention of rotator cuff problems too. You can find the stretches and exercises on the web.

NYMomof2

I don't know whether I had frozen shoulder - I never went to a doctor - but I had a sudden shoulder problem several years ago that lasted for about 10 months. I had pain and very restricted range of motion. I could not lift my arm above shoulder level. My husband would rub it for me, and it would feel a bit better. A couple of times I had a professional massage, and that helped a lot - for a while. Nothing helped for very long, and I was working up to going to a doctor. I started taking medical-grade fish oil capsules (omegabrite.com) on general principles, and to my surprise the shoulder problem faded away after several weeks of the capsules. I think that it worked by reducing inflammation. My shoulder doesn't hurt at all, and my range of motion is excellent, 99% of what it is on the other side. I am quite limber, after years of ballet.

I had another strange problem once, that I thought was in my hip joint. When I sat cross-legged on the floor, one knee would be up high. It felt as if the problem was in the joint, but it turned out to be a trigger point in the muscle. I went to an excellent massage therapist when visiting my mother, and for some reason I mentioned the hip problem, saying that I was sure it wasn't anything she could help with. To my surprise, she put her hands on a couple of places, and told me to try sitting cross-legged when the massage was over. Suddenly my hip was normal again. What she does is called trigger point therapy.

BCEagle91

I have a friend that's trying trigger point therapy out of a book. I don't think that his results have been that good - he might be better off with someone that knows what they are doing.