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Results of frozen shoulder

Posted , 7 users are following.

Divita
Divita

I had surgery oct.22 2015 went thru physical therapy for six weeks I had a follow -up the resuls I developed frozen shoulder my therapist tried to help release the scar tissue as I was lying on therapeutic table had tears and jumping on the table like a fish out of water .so I am back for six more week and then I have to make a diddissition to have surgery or go for round three is very painfuland it limits your life style .my injury is work related and it's along f

Story ,my question to the shoulder does anyone has experienced neck pain due to shoulder ?and scapula. .pain. doctor is not convinced my neck is not related he is with owcp ,my injured shoulder is my left and my right shoulder pops ,hurt s posabiliy tennis elbow due to over use.

0 likes, 32 replies

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  • terry74787
    terry74787 Divita

    Posted

    Any chance you are eating or drinking anything with a man made sugar called Erythritol.  TRUVIA IS 99 % Erthritol. It is used in Zero Water and in many many other products.  This turned out to be the source of my neck and shoulder spasms. In about two days they were gone after suffe I got for 4 years before I quit after chancing to see this info on line. Good luck to you!
    • maria58274
      maria58274 terry74787

      Posted

      Oh no, not another artificial sweetner issue!  Probably not the right forum for this discussion but aspartame gives me palpitations and it's becoming increasingly difficults to find soft drinks without some sort of artificial sweetner.  I know we should cut down on sugar but I think we risk giving people something with potentially worse problems.  

      Divita - I have on occasional stabbing like pain, on my lower neck, where it meets the shoulder, just to the right of my spine on the frozen side.  I'm also prone to getting a stiff neck which I think is caused by doing things awkwardly due to the frozen shoulder.  Are you sure that over-agressive physiotherapy isn't actually making things worse?

    • Divita
      Divita maria58274

      Posted

      Hello Maria .thank you for responds .I think she could add to my discomfort as well she is brutal but she said no pain no gain I don't think she cares about my age I am 60 and can't expect to bounce back in 18 hours of Thearapy 3x a week I'm not young and can't have the same results of a young person .she want to be a hero .take care
  • claire50742
    claire50742 Divita

    Posted

    Divita, the physio I see has requested MRI and other imaging - the result he has found shows that my frozen shoulder is due to the cervical spine issues (my neck) and therefore the two are interconnected. The actual frozen shoulder is also known as adhesive capsulitis - it means that when you move your shoulder, the scapula is 'stuck' and moves with it. That is why you get pain in your shoulder blade - after all it isn't meant to move like that normally. This is how it has been explained to me. While the causes of frozen shoulder are a mystery, many believe that it radiates from neck issues. I have severe facet hypertrophy, it means my vertabrae are causing the nerves to my shoulder and arm to become trapped. This results in sharp pains in my arm, frozen shoulder and all sorts of other pain that sends me into orbit!

    I have had cortisone this week into the bursa. This has relieved some pain but masks the cause. (Something my physio is not happy with toa certain extent)

    I hope this helps you to understand your condition a little more.

    Claire

    • Divita
      Divita claire50742

      Posted

      Thank you Clair. For such wonderful information. If you don't have a shoulder condition /frozen shoulder and have not experience the pain that we have gone thru is easy for thearapis to make say oh you can do it the answer is no I can't but they have a goal to send you back to work I am thru workmans comp and that is another pain as well .I am going to see a private Dr. And have h order a MRI for my neck .as for now the Owcp nurse and ortho surgeon can swear that is not related and workers comp won't pay for it confused and upsettig
    • claire50742
      claire50742 Divita

      Posted

      you are welcome Divita, I am glad it has helped you to understand it a little more. Yes they have a goal to get you back to work, but it is a largely misunderstood condition. If you read up on it, there is a wealth of information out there. My Dr has no idea in reality. I tis my physiotherapist who has really helped me to understnad why I have a frozen shoulder and what can be done to help me. 

      The main thing is to keep asking questions and not to give up. I can imagine the trouble you must be having regarding workers comp. The problem is, most articles you read relating to medical conditions relate frozen shoulder to surgery, post op etc. So I would try to find someone who will be willing to say that the two problems are linked.

      For pain relief I have used hot water bottles, ice packs and tens machines (these can be rented from chemists/pharmacies). I walked around with mine in my pocket and cranked it up as the pain hit. On reflection, the cortisone has helped considerably with the pain - it is easy  to forget how much pain we put up with.

      THe Dr who gave me the cortisone was horrified that I had been left like this for 7 months and explained that the longer it is left, the thicker the scar tissue and the more difficult it is to treat. (I iwsh he would tell my GP that!)

      Wishing you well.

      Claire

  • terry74787
    terry74787 Divita

    Posted

    My first frozen shoulder was so bad I could not even begin to do most of the movements they demand in PT. I had orthoscopic surgery and then did the therapy. It was brutal. St. Louis Cardinal football player was in therapy for the same surgery and he almost hit the therapist stretching us out. Not a condition for men. Women tolerate pain better for sure!  
    • Divita
      Divita terry74787

      Posted

      Good evening Terry.. How long was your surgery? I had the same surgery done orhoscopic .I did a set of six weeks of therapy and this is my second round six weeks if it doesn't work orthopaedic doc he recommend surgery
    • terry74787
      terry74787 Divita

      Posted

      Do u mean how long was my PT?  It was 16 years ago but my pt was aggressive. I came home with a chair that moved my arm up above my head and then down and sat in it for 8-10 hrs a day the first week. After that I went to put three times a week and did at least an hour of exercises at home two times a day every day. I'm remembering about 2 months of pt but exercises at home went on for a while. I got full range of motion back. As long as you are improving don't understand why they would operate again. Can't try a therapeutic massage therapist to try to break up any scar tissue that is trying to reform?
  • hope4cure
    hope4cure Divita

    Posted

    Divita,

    i was was diagnosed with frozen shoulder. It is a build up of collagen like tissue in the facia tissue thru the tendons and joints that are the flexable areas that provide range of motion and movement. 

    I also had fingers frozen with the same collagen build up . A injection of Xiaflex opened my fingers and removed the collage build up in the facia area of the the palm area and joints in the fingers. Now I can use my fingers again.

    This drug is in the pipe line 4 treatment 4 frozen shoulder. Soon it will be approved thru clinical studies.It's a protein which only attacks the web type tissue that causes frozen shoulder. See a link online for more info.

     Hope this will also be approved for ur country soon.

    biggrin

    • Divita
      Divita hope4cure

      Posted

      I am truly happy for this site we have all experience this painfull problems with frozen shoulder wish is not fun and our doctors well I should say mine is not being coropertive with the issue that it does travel with the frozen shoulder and neck ; and scapula I am getting angry. I feel my Dr .doesn't want listen to me and I worried .is like jump OK how high
  • tina61247
    tina61247 Divita

    Posted

    Hi digital ,

    you seem to have a great physio.I live in the states. Thank you for all your information. I feel like I have been given the runaround for so long. First they thought it was my neck because my left on eighth all the time right down to my hand the MRIs showed bulging discs no nerve impingement.I spent eight weeks there. Then they said it was shoulder issues it took forever until I finally  send me to physical therapy. This physical therapist subspecialty is shoulders. My frozen shoulder supposedly started in June 2016. I only started getting treatment for this three weeks ago.  They gave me Cortizone for pain in my arm but not in the shoulder joint two months ago they never gave me Cortizone the shoulder joint and now they say it's in such a frozen stage that the Cortizone won't really help now. My physical therapist is telling me this is the worst case of frozen shoulder he has seen  but I do not want surgery I do the exercises that he gives me I am in a lot of pain it's change my life completely I don't even leave the house anymore I can't seem to get comfortable I sit for a while I laydown for a while with ice I walk around the house a little bit I feel like I'm just going crazy. I feel  that nobody really knows what they're talking about and I don't even know who to help me anymore. If I were to go to five different doctors I get five different opinions. I asked my fizzy oh the last time I went if he ever helped anybody like me who had it is bad as me and he said  honestly no I just cried. I've tried acupuncture I tried massage I want to stick with the physical therapy even though he says he doesn't think it's going to work but he also says he would never do the surgery either and I don't want to do the surgery because I arty have an arm that Aches and I have a lot of nerve pain in my upper shoulders and my neck and I just found out that I have a Tuan rotator cuff that needs repair and my right arm and I have tendinitis in my right arm. I keep trying to find the answer to this one question if I don't have the surgery on my frozen shoulder even though it's supposed to be so extremely bad will eventually thought if I just do the physical therapy the best I can and ice it and do what I can do will it eventually far even though it takes a long time because I do not want any nerve damage especially since I can be only cope sometimes . Claire I know you are not a doctor but anything you have to offer I would be greatly appreciative thank you so much. Wondering if anybody out there has been told that they have one of the worst frozen shoulders anyone has seen but they still were conservative use physical therapy and eventually it got better even if it's a long time on it's own I know surgeons like to do surgery so I don't even trust doctors anymore to be completely honest thank you for any help.

    • claire50742
      claire50742 tina61247

      Posted

      Oh Tina, Reading your message I could cry. You sound in as much a state as I was a few months back. I was walking around the house all night in tears, the pain was terrible. I honestly wondered what I could do with myself. I read up on the condition (I was learning as much as I could because I had just finished my degree in education therefore I knew I needed to be informed). Like you, I wondered how I could have a condition that even baffled the Drs. I changed my Dr because I was disgusted with his attitude "You are letting the pain get to you" and handed me a script for antidepressants - which I put in his bin and walked out.

      The cortisone has proved magic! It has not freed my shoulder, however, the lack of pain has made my life bearable. I can do normal stuff, even sit at my sewing machine now for more than 10 minutes. My neck still aches and I still wake up sore but the pain goes quite quickly. I would try cortisone into the bursa first which may offer you some relief.

      I am in Australia and I have found at my old age, that it is OK to demand a specific treatment rather than be guided by Drs all the time. I hasten to add that I would always ask advice and research - but I have had to FIGHT for MRIs and ultrasounds. I have had to demand Xrays. My physio has been amazing, pulling our models and showing me how the neck and shoulder work. He explains EVERYTHING. 

      I also used Tramadol as a pain relief - I no longer need that since the cortisone shot.

      I am waiting a few weeks to see how it goes, but I will be booking myself in for hydrodilation and cortisone. There is another thread on this site that details the procedure and apparently it is painless. The Dr who did the first cortisone on me last week told me the thickness of the scar tissue was terrible because of the length of time I had been left without treatment. HOWEVER, it has worked, so please do not be put off. Have a look around and see if you can find someone who will give you a cortisone shot. THEN, research to see if you can find someone to do the hydrodilation.

      Let me know how you go Tina, I am certain you will find some relief. Wishing you well.

    • maria58274
      maria58274 claire50742

      Posted

      As the hydrodilatation includes cortisone, I think you could go straight for that, if you can.  At the very least, you are getting a cortisone injection directly into the joint, where it can do it's best.  I read that the best results for hydrodilatation are when it's done early - but my shoulder was well and truly frozen when I had mine done.  For some people the mixture of saline and cortisone, injected in under a a certain amount of pressure, is enough to expand the joint enough to totally free up the adhesions.  Though this wasn't the case for me (maybe too frozen) my movements have been slowly and steadily improving over the 6 weeks since I've had it done and best of all, I've been pain free - and you can imagine what a relief that is!

      I too was dead against any invasive treatment - and wouldn't consider an operation.  Physio wasn't making a huge amount of progress and despite the gentler approach here in the UK, it would sometimes make it ache more.  I only decided to try hydrodilatation when it was recommended by my physio - I'd got to the point where I couldn't stand the thought of the continued pain and was also worried that my other shoulder was going the same way.  The thought of 2 frozen shoulders was frightening, so I decided it was time to try to get it better.

      I was extremely nervous about the procedure - but I needn't have been - at most there was a little discomfort, not pain.  The injection is guided by ultrasound, so goes exactly where it should and is preceded by an injection of anaesthetic.  The whole thing was done and dusted in about 15 minutes and I was free to go home.  I'd have no hestiation of having it done again, should my other shoulder go the same way.  The jury is till out on that one - some days it feels tight and a little achey and I think it's going but others it feels OK - time will tell.  I'd recommend trying the procedure to anyone, before considering the more drastic option of surgery.  I'm not sure how widely it is available though, especially in the US.

      I do wonder about the agressive "no pain no gain" physio advocated by some - it seems more prevalent in the US.  It seems counter-intuative to me to tear at inflamed tissue that needs time to heal.  My physio favoured gentle stretching and stregthening excercises (which I'm still doing), stopping when it hurts.  

      Good luck Tina - I hope you find some relief soon.  I have heard cases of people getting through frozen shoulder with no treatment at all - for most cases it will eventually get better.  Let us know how you get on.

    • Divita
      Divita maria58274

      Posted

      Maria. This information is very helpful. Last night.I was in a very discomfort mood my injured left shoulder feels heavy and tight including my scpula very annoying discomfort. My arm the it felt like little fluttering .has anyone experience this feeling Im just going thru the first stages .I very concern if the next six week of Thearapy what if I don't get full range I motion .and feside not to have surgery donewill the sergon proscribed Thearapy till it unfrozen .I am thru worker s comp I am a CNA I love my job working with veterans (Hospice) and I would like to go back to work .I will be visiting my sister in Florida already booked a couple of therapy sessions my sister recommended I see her orthopedic sergon .I llive in San Antonio for m
    • Divita
      Divita

      Posted

      Sorry Maria .accidentally push the press the key .A I was saying having a private doctor check my neck my scpula and hopefully he can reconnect this issues with my neck as well .

      Tina

      I hope your going better today

    • tina61247
      tina61247 claire50742

      Posted

      Claire, Thankyou for your empathy it means more than you know!! And everyone else on this board my heart goes out to you as well. I asked for ultra sound guided cortisone in the joint here in US everyone said it's too late for that you are too bad it won't work now . My primary said he would do shot in his office but knows nothing about ultrasound guided injections. Seems U.S. Is behind in this. You said get shot in bursa ? Not to sound stupid but that's different from joint right. Also shot I get cortisone in joint if doctors won't do it under guided imagery? Or when movement is so small and pain persistent can it still work? Sorry Claire so desperate! Wishing you the best!
    • claire50742
      claire50742 tina61247

      Posted

      Hi Tina,

      Yes the bursa is different, it is the sac that often fills with fluid and can be excrutiating. My Dr prescribed one under guided imagery because - well who knows why he did?!! But, having said that, it has given me SUCH relief from pain. It also gave me the time to find someone who will do the hydrodilation plus cortisone. As Maria said, it is possible to have just the latter. There is no real benefit it having the 2, it just happened that way for me. What it also did is prove to me that they are painless! Mind you sitting waiting for it I felt sick with worry, ending u telling myself it could not be more painful that the actual frozen shoulder. What I will tell you is my shoulder was so scarred they told me I may get no benefit fromt he shot - BUT I DID! So I say go for it if you can, but please, from what I have read and from what others have said, it should be done under guided ultrasound for it to "hit the spot" as it were. Here I want to add Tina, this is just my opinion, I am only a lady who has similar symptoms to you, I am no expert. I am repeating what I have learned and what I have been told by my physio. 

      If I were in your shoes, anything that has worked for others would be worth exploring and I would not be put off by someone telling you that your shoulder is too bad for treatment, they told me the same thing and I have just done some gentle yoga exercises, made my grandchild a little dress at my machine (couldn't sit down for more than 10 mins last week) and blow dried my hair! I can't put my arm behind my back or do up my bra - that's the next move. I am in no pain as I type. 

      Worth thinking about? Call around and see if there is someone there who will do the shot under guided imagery Tina - surely there must be someone - are flights cheap to Australia?!!?! You are welcome!

    • maria58274
      maria58274 tina61247

      Posted

      Claire is right, whether you have hydrodilatation or just a simple cortisone injection, it is best done guided by ultrasound to ensure it gets to the right place.  I've heard some bad stories about GPs with little or no experience of it, giving shoulder injections.  At the very least a cortisone injection will give you some pain relief, which you clearly need.
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