<p>“Best thing was when one therapist strapped my arm with leather belts and pulled it way back using all her weight and backing up about 8 feet.”</p>
<p>One good stretch is to place your hand on the edge of a doorway with your elbow about the level of your ear and then lean into the door opening. This should give you a similar stretch though probably with less force.</p>
<p>One problem that weightlifters have is where they build up the muscles in the front (chest, biceps, pecs). There is a small counterbalancing muscle in the back. If the front muscles get too strong, then you can get this pull to the front around the shoulders which can cause problems over time. Stretching by pulling the shoulder back can alleviate the problems as can doing some weight training for the small muscle in the back of the shoulder. Any kind of rowing exercise (weights or rowing machine) will help the muscle in the back of the shoulder.</p>
<p>Jasmom - ouch, I remember those pain spasms. Not pulling corn, but just barely slipping on a patch of ice or some other sudden movement. Frozen shoulder is a bizarre and extremely painful syndrome.</p>
<p>There is another option not yet mentioned.
I had bilateral frozen shoulder a few years ago, first one side then a few weeks later the other. I got cortisone injections on each side, which helped, and did the exercises, which helped some (I was probably not the best patient with the exercises) and got PT, which helped a lot. Unfortunately, the exercises seem to work best in conjunction with PT, and my PT benefits ran out. Also, as a physician and a Mom working 50-60 hours a week, getting the exercises and the PT done was a real challenge. I didn’t like getting the cortisone injections either, painful and I was concerned about the long term side effects.
So my ortho took me to the OR and did manipulations under anesthesia, basically broke the adhesions. he told me that this was nothing you would ever want to watch, or ponder too long, rather brutal, but gave instant improvement, when followed with cortisone shots. I have about 90% of my prior range of motion, but I still cannot sleep on my stomach. The downside is that whatever improvement I got is probably the permanent state, I’m not sure how much additional PT or exercises can help if you don’t get a good result from the manipulation.</p>
<p>Oh, and it is very painful, right up there with childbirth and biliary or renal colic.</p>
<p>Two frozen shoulders here - at the same time! Had the same intensive PT with at home exercises everyone else has mentioned. The physical therapist also used ultrasound on my shoulders, which helped ALOT! Also took Aleve - 3 tablets 3 times a day (with food!). </p>
<p>The doctor told me that it would take half as long as I had had the condition to “cure” it. He was right on target. I had been dealing with it a year before seeking help and it took 6 months until I was pain free. If I overdo anything now, I do have it flare up - but NOTHING like the original episode. Also, doctor told me when exercising to never lift weights above my head again - so I don’t.</p>
<p>I had one when I entered my 50s and did all the physical therapy/ultrasound and it lasted about one year to completely go away. Then about 6 months later it hit the next shoulder. I didn’t do anything with that one and it cleared in about a year as well. I took advil type meds for both. I think the second one cleared a bit quicker because I knew the exercises to do and the process. I have always thought that it was hormone related.</p>
<p>I’m speechless in an odd sort of way–lol. The pain from a sudden movement just lingers and you get a bone-on-bone kind of pain. I see stars when that happens.</p>
<p>PT sessions include 10 minutes on a hand bike thing, 20 minutes of yanking and massaging the shoulder, 10 minutes of ultra-sound and 15 minutes of electro-shock. </p>
<p>In addition, when I get home I do a front arm extension up the wall, a side arm extension up the wall, some stretching with a towel pulling the right arm behind my back, pulling my right arm with my lefft arm behind my back, and finally grasping my right elbow with my left hand and pushing my right arm over the left shoulder.</p>
<p>The orthopedic surgeon wanted 4 more weeks of PT then he may condiser cortisone. </p>
<p>Heck, even using a backscratcher is dicey lol.</p>
<p>My orthopedic surgeon gave me one shot of cortisone and 3 weeks of PT. The improvement that I got was incredible. Being a therapist myself I laughed at going to one but I found that having someone work on ME this time was great. A friend now has a frozen shoulder and has been taking oral steroids for weeks with little improvement. I recommend the shot.</p>
<p>Wow, this is really a ‘your mileage may vary’ kind of thing. I just finished an hour of PT with my physio guy. He has been working on this frozen shoulder for 5 weeks and I’ve got most of my range of motion back. </p>
<p>The other shoulder was frozen (not as badly) a couple years ago, and it took the physio guy longer to get that one working properly. Swimming helped a lot.</p>
<p>I hate doing the home exercises, but they really do help. (A word to the wise-- being on crutches does not help a frozen shoulder. Seemed to make it a lot worse, as the arm didn’t have a chance to move very much.)</p>
<p>Your right Karen, “your mileage may vary”, I have a familial tendency toward “stiffness”, I don’t think the collagen in my tendons is as “stretchy” as some other peoples’. When my Dad was a svelte 150 lb, 6’4" army recruit who had worked on a farm all his life, he still couldn’t touch his toes, even after all the workouts and calisthenics. When I was a kid in high school, I could run laps for hours, and I could touch my toes and put my hands flat on the ground, but if I ever missed more than a day of stretches, I could barely get below my knees. I’ve always wondered if this played a role. I have had several other bouts of tendonitis in different places, including a bad one in my right wrist that only healed after a got a new ergonomic piece of equipment at work - so I truly think there is something different about my tendons that make them more susceptible to abuse and disuse. I try now to do some simple stretches at least a couple of times a week, and that and advil seems to help.</p>
<p>If standard western medicine isn’t helping or you feel impatient with the long time frame proposed, I’d definitely consider acupuncture/massage and consultation with a good yoga instructor. I had significant prompt relief for a chronically bad shoulder after some chiropractic/massage tx and returning to regular yoga.</p>
<p>“The doctor told me that it would take half as long as I had had the condition to “cure” it.”</p>
<p>My PT said I was lucky that my frozen shoulder developed very quickly and that I sought help within a few weeks. Delaying treatment allows the scar tissue to develop and causes you to lose strength in that arm - both of which make rehabilitation take longer.</p>
<p>Me too, me too.<br>
How funny - I even thought about starting a CC thread. Mine started last October and was initially diagnosed as rotator cuff syndrome. I was told to stay off the computer. I had to buy a new desk and chair that were at the proper height for me. I went to PT for 2 months. After no improvement, and took myself to an orthopedic surgeon, who diagnosed frozen shoulder. He said what many on here have also said - that it isn’t clear what causes it - perhaps a virus, perhaps auto-immune. He said treated or not, it tends to go away in 2 years. He also said many end up with it coming back - in the other shoulder. He said we would work on pain control and range of motion (ROM), with pain control being our primary concern. </p>
<p>He said some have little ROM but no pain, aren’t bothered by it, and require less treatment. He also described the manipulation under anesthesia that was a last resort option. He said some of his patients have expressed a desire for a support group - for people who have trouble reaching cabinets or putting on deodorant or buckling their own seatbelt!</p>
<p>I got a cortisone shot, which was excruciating. He said it shouldn’t hurt, but because my shoulder was so inflammed, it did. After the pain subsided in a day or two, I had remarkable improvement in range of motion. I went to PT for another 6 weeks - different therapist this time. With the rotator cuff diagnosis, the effort had been on increasing strength, and stopping at the point of pain. With the frozen shoulder, the goal was ROM, and pushing through the pain. The new PT was much more brutal.</p>
<p>After 6 weeks or so, I asked to stop PT, and did. I felt I could do the same stuff at home. At my last check up, the doctor said I was doing great on my own. I have about 85% ROM. I recently joined a gym to try to keep up the momentum. And I take a lot of ibuprofen. It definitely goes in waves, some days better than others, but at least it hasn’t been waking me up nearly as often (hollering, so my H wakes up, too!)</p>
<p>I second the swimming–though at first I couldn’t swim at all. As you get better, there are these weighted gizmos you can put on your hands to make it a little harder and improve your strength. </p>
<p>But I also found that the SAUNA was great–especially during early stages. The heat relaxes muscles so I could move my arm into positions that I couldn’t usually do. So, I could increase the range of motion with much less pain. If anyone else has access to a sauna, I heartily recommend it.</p>
<p>It’s good to know that I’m not alone! Mine developed last fall – I reached for something in the back seat and felt a pain that easily equaled unmedicated labor. To complicate matters in my case it is in my dominant arm and I have lymphedema in that arm as a result of breast cancer surgery, so no heat treatments, no cortisone shots, etc. My lymphedema therapist (an OT) has worked with me on range of motion exercises (ouch, again) and it is slowly coming back, but I often wonder if it is just the time passing rather than the painful stretching, that is helping.</p>
<p>Me, too, me, too. I took myself to the PT about a month ago, have been struggling since last summer, when I stopped being able to sleep on my left side. The PT taped it, which was great, until we took the tape off, and after being skinned alive, we know that is not an option. After 11 sessions with PT, tomorrow I go to the internist who will order an MRI, and then we will see what needs to be done. UGH. Yesterday the pain was coming in my left arm, on the side toward the front at the deltoid attachment, and it felt like someone was whacking me with an axe…intermittent, nothing triggering it…awful pain. If I pull my shoulders down, it helps, but it wears me out and I cannot breathe, unless I remind myself to do so. This is not for the faint of heart…!</p>
<p>Two frozen shoulders here too. The first one developed after a break. Lots of PT … and a guided cortisone injection (fluroscopy) done by a physiatrist was the magic bullet. About a year later, the second one froze for no apparent reason. Again, lots of PT and a guided injection - did not do the trick - finally surgery by an orthopedic surgeon specializing in the shoulder - adhesive capsulitis release and manipulation. More PT after the surgery was necesitated. I have almost complete ROM on that arm but still a bit of pain from bursitis.</p>
<p>As the PT often told me, “Ice is your friend.”</p>
<p>The pain was bad enough but not having ROM was the pits!!! I couldn’t zip my dresses, putting on winter coat was a comedy sketch in itself. I would sweat bullets if someone offered to help, because naturally they would hold the coat in such a manner that it would be impossible to move my arm. But worst of all was the toll booths. Even when both arms were working properly it is tough for me. But to have the left arm out of commission and desperately try to throw with the right caused many traffic jams. At my worst, I would have to open the car door and place the tokens right into the basket.</p>
<p>I remember being on a train to NYC and trying to lift my luggage to put in the rack above the seat - that was impossible. Luckily, I always managed to find someone nice enough to help out. </p>
<p>Yes, this is a condition that cries out for a support group.</p>
<p>Mail boxes, TP holders on the wrong side, clothes which fasten in the back, bank drive throughs…I am having shooting pains just thinking of all those obstacles. The good news is that I no longer carry out the trash or recycling, and my back is just fine since I gave up vacuuming. There are advantages.</p>
<p>Kiri - you remind me of a story. A few years ago when I was suffering from a disc problem in my neck, I ran into a friend in the airport and we learned we were on the same flight. She was very sore, recovering from a breast biopsy. We got seats together and boarded the plane. We were feeling very sorry for ourselves and didn’t feel we could put our carry-on luggage in the overhead bin. Up popped the man across the aisle to help. He had one leg!</p>
<p>During the worst of the pain, about 15 years ago, D was 4 and loved to have me push her on the swings in the playground (are you cringing just thinking about it??). Of course, that was completely out of the question. So, a good thing that came out of that was that she had to learn how to pump her legs and propel herself. So I got to sit down at the park. On thinking about it, I believe I would rather have pushed her than deal with the shoulder agony…</p>