<p>I would have to say that I am unfrozen now,even though my left arm has about 10% less range of motion. In November, I switched from doing the PT exercises to light weight training exercises, because my poor little arm was like a noodle. I had no strength and no tone in my left and very little in my right. I feel so much better;I feel like I’ve been let out of jail. But I must say that this experience has affected so much more than my shoulder. The pain, the sleeplessness and the lack of mobility was extremely depressing. I felt my physical abilities were shrinking, and I couldn’t do my normal exercise routine. I couldn’t do Pilates, because of the excruciating pain. I couldn’t walk the treadmill, because holding on to the bar began to hurt my arm after a very short time. This led to weight gain, which I think exacerbated my menopausal symptoms. I’ve never been a malingerer, and I hated my body betraying me like that. I am grateful that I had a lovely physical therapist, and I’m so glad that this ordeal is over, but I have a lot of work to do to repair my body, and to regain a positive outlook. Best wishes to any of you that are dealing with this. Your responses were very helpful to me.</p>
<p>Thank you for bringing back this thread. I recently developed problems in my left arm and was diagnosed with tendonitis. I will be starting PT in the next week or two. At this point, I do my best not to use the shoulder AT ALL because pretty much any action causes pain now :(.</p>
<p>I’ve been meaning to post. After several months of frozen shoulder, with constant pain and very limited activity, I bit the bullet and made an appointment with an orthopedist. I was worried that if the other one went, I’d really be in trouble. He diagnosed the frozen shoulder, said that it was uncomplicated with no rotator cuff involvement, and prescribed PT (3x/week) and one week of Alleve. The Alleve quickly reduced the pain, and by the end of the 2nd week of PT it was completely gone. I was surprised at how quickly my shoulder improved. My PT regimen may have been different from others’, though. Several of you have mentioned that your arm is weak. I have been doing quite a few strengthening exercises along with the stretching exercises, including some with weights and bands. There has also been heat, the arm bike, prickly electrical stimulation, “massage” - rubbing of the affected shoulder, and range of motion manipulations by the therapist. After 4 weeks I went to 2x/week. I have not been very good about doing exercises at home. At this point, I am pretty much back to normal. I’m quite flexible, and my right arm is not where my left arm is, but I have more range of motion than most people. I am probably going to go just one more week and then try to do the exercises at home.</p>
<p>My affected arm is noticably stronger now. I picked up my computer bag when I traveled this week, after not having used it for over 4 weeks, and I had to open it to make sure that my laptop was inside.</p>
<p>Interesting that your PT uses heat…mine does not recommend heat and uses ice massages instead. He does this for me at the end of every visit and also has me do them between visits via frozen water in a paper coffee cup. I have had this condition four times over the past ten years, always in the right side and the ice (and exercises, Aleve, ultrasound stimulation) seems to get me over the worst of it within two weeks. Early on, I went for the injections as well but it really didn’t help me that much. My PT also does manual massages after the range of motion improves. They hurt like heck at the time but make a huge difference by the next morning…guess being kinked up from the pain/stiffness can also make full recovery feel like a very slow process. YMMV</p>
<p>sylvan, my sympathies…good luck with your therapy and best wishes for a rapid recovery!</p>
<p>I think I am about 98% back to normal. No pain at all and I can’t think of anything I can’t do as well as I used to do except a little extra extension when I stretch for something. I also did not use heat with the PT. Exercises, including stretches and strength training, PT manipulation and then ice packs for cool down at the end, was the general PT protocol that I followed.</p>
<p>I think that heat loosens things up but ice is better for inflammation. My joints and tendons feel looser in warmer weather and tighter and stiffer in colder weather but cold is better if something is inflamed.</p>
<p>A good story on shoulder problems: a friend was in an accident - he was on a motorcycle and a minivan heading in the opposite direction made a left turn right in front of him - speed limit was 40. He was partially crushed. This was back in the spring. He just had his final shoulder surgery to reattach three tendons in one shoulder. He already had surgery on the other shoulder and in several other parts of his body. I recall seeing him in the gym just four months after the accident and we were very impressed. He was doing weights and running though I think that he was experiencing some pain while working out. It’s pretty amazing what modern medicine and taking good care of your body can do these days.</p>
<p>I always had heat for 10 mins at the beginning of a PT session and ice for 10 mins at the end.</p>
<p>Argh. Just back from the orthopedist, and 4 years after having frozen shoulder in my left shoulder, I now have it in my right shoulder. Back to PT for me. The only good news is that this time I will begin PT before the shoulder is entirely frozen.</p>
<p>^^^ It sucks to have frozen shoulder. I had it on the right about 20 years ago and on the left about 10 years after, and thankfully have been free of them for this time. Both times PT did the trick. I was highly motivated to get better when they said I’d need surgery.</p>
<p>I feel your pain . . .literally. After rehabbing my right frozen shoulder for about 10 months about 3 years ago, I am now in the process of dealing with the same thing on my left side. Unfortunately, when the symptoms first appeared last March, I thought I could rehab it on my own, and dragged out all the old exercises from last time. It got progressively worse to the point where I was getting just a couple of hours sleep a night and I finally when back to the orthopedic surgeon. He confirmed my self-diagnosis but wanted me in formal PT so that I could be pushed beyond my comfort level. I’ve been in PT now 3x week for 3 months and although I do have better vertical range, the rotation (external and internal) still stinks and the muscle/soft tissue pain around my shoulder, scapula and upper arm is pretty significant. We’ll see next week when I have my follow-up appointment. I shouldn’t have waited, especially with my non-dominant arm. I’m really hoping surgery is not the suggestion.</p>
<p>This seems to be a semi-permanent thread. My sympathies to all! PT worked wonders for my frozen shoulder. If I get it again, I will go in right away rather than waiting a year.</p>
<p>I still have about 75% range of motion, so I am really hoping that helps the recovery process. When I started PT last time my shoulder was almost completely frozen and I could barely lift my arm, so PT was a long haul. runnersmom, we are mirror images of each other. Dudedad, I’m definitely motivated to avoid surgery. I agree NYMomof2, there seem to be a lot of us afflicted by this strange disorder.</p>
<p>As I wrote here earlier, my left shoulder was frozen a few years ago and I spent about 18 months in PT. A couple years later, my right shoulder seemed to be starting the same thing. Upon the advice of my Pilates teacher (yes, I know…not a doctor) I stopped using my arm entirely and bombarded myself with homeopathic remedies - Traumeel and Arnica - every 4-6 hours, for several days. To my astonishment, I recovered. So either I wasn’t getting a frozen shoulder at all, or it worked. Worth a try maybe.</p>
<p>Here’s hoping for speedy recovery to current frozen shoulder sufferers. I have been 100% for quite a while now and want to give you hope that this is not a permanent condition. I am so glad I did not give in to surgery as time and keeping up with the exercises seemed to do the trick for me.</p>
<p>kathiep, the left shoulder (frozen 4 yrs ago) is now back at 100% after about 4 months of PT so I’m hoping that turns out to be the case for my right shoulder now as well. Puzzled, 18 months of PT?! Wow, I felt like 4 months of PT was endless. First PT appointment for this round is today.</p>
<p>jrpar, I think the fact that you saw the doctor quickly will work in your favor. By the time I got to PT this time I couldn’t raise my arm at all. I now have probably 75% of normal vertical range, but the rotation is maybe 30%. On top of it all my insurance company denied all my claims initially because they said I had used up lifetime PT benefits for this condition. I had to inform them that it may be the same condition but the other shoulder. Sure hope this is the last time for this, because I’m just about out of PT benefits for adhesive capsulitis!</p>
<p>My first frozen shoulder responded to physical therapy but it took over a year of going twice a week. My second frozen shoulder got progressively worse from physical therapy. I finally got relief from acupuncture. Also not a quick fix (been going for 8 months so far) but a life saver. Pain was relieved early on and mobility is almost back to normal now.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how to find a good acupuncturist? I’d like to try it for another condition.</p>
<p>Is it possible to get frozen shoulder twice in the same shoulder? </p>
<p>There is a history of 6 frozen shoulders between me and my sisters!</p>
<p>jrpar - you’re right that 18 months of PT is a lot. I started with twice a week and finally was down to once a month. My PT was a genius and I’d have him work on other little aches and pains toward the end. I finally stopped going after arriving at his office once and finding someone else there at the same appointment time. Turns out the other patient had made a mistake but I told him that if he was in pain, he could take the appointment. He said he was fine and I said I was too. We kind of looked at each other sheepishly and I realized that even though the PT made me feel great, I had to stop. Incidentally, my insurance didn’t pay for any of it!</p>
<p>Emmon, my first PT session made my shoulder much worse so I had a single injection of steroids into it before going back for more treatment. That made a huge difference. </p>
<p>[Intraarticular</a> Corticosteroid Injection for the Treatment of Idiopathic Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder - HSS](<a href=“http://www.hss.edu/conditions_intraarticular-corticosteroid-idiopathic-adhesive-capsulitis-of-shoulder.asp]Intraarticular”>http://www.hss.edu/conditions_intraarticular-corticosteroid-idiopathic-adhesive-capsulitis-of-shoulder.asp)</p>
<p>Puzzled, My Ortho didn’t recommend the injection at the time. I stuck with the PT for several months and continued to get worse. The pain was relentless. That was not my experience the first time where PT slowly gave me full mobility back.</p>
<p>NYMom, I found my acupuncturist by word of mouth…a chance conversation with a friend. Not sure where you are in NY but he is on LI if you are interested.</p>