Frozen shoulder - choices of treatment

I suffered for months with a frozen shoulder before going to see my GP, I too tried alternative private treatment but it only eased the pain for a day or so. My GP gave me pain killers which worked really well and set me up with a National Health Physiotherapist, if this failed I was to begin cortisone injections. The Physio was excellent, giving me exercises which I diligently followed, after one month I still could not extend my arm straight above my head,and I was told that I might never get full movement back, so I continued with the exercises and noticed that whilst on holiday and swimming every day full movement was returning. I kept up the swimming, twice a week, on my return home and thankfully after 4 months of physio and swimming I had full movement and no pain. I was really impressed with the NHS service, and unlike private treatments it didn't cost anything.

Thank you for your reply. I will certainly consider going to my GP if the other side follows the same pattern as my right side. I know not all GPs offer physiotherapy but it might be worth trying. I will also try and go swimming as often as I can - like you I would rather not go down the route of cortisone injections or surgery.

I was really anti-surgery until my FS started affecting my whole life and I had no choice left.

I couldn't get dressed without considerable pain, couldn't wash my hair, wash under my arm pits ... it was hell.

I had MUA (manipulation under anaesthetic) six weeks ago and the improvement has been amazing and now, at last I can function again.

I have to do fairly intensive physiotherapy and hydrotherapy and I go swimming almost every day to loosen it up but without the MUA I am sure that I'd still be unable to move it and still in terrible pain.

It's still uncomfortable and I've had to work hard at the exercises but it was a really good decision. I don't like anaesthetic and would, if it had been possible, have liked to have been able to wait it out, but the pain was so intense, and the inconvenience meant I couldn't work or do everyday things so I chose the operation.

It took ten minutes (literally) for them to 'operate' on my shoulder and I was only in the hospital for four hours.

I am so grateful to the NHS and to the specialist who has helped me. Frozen shoulder made my life hell!!

Hi, i have an app for an op in july to have my shoulder sorted. i've been suffreing with it now for months, and been off work since january 2012 ! It is so depressing, as you mentioned, you cannot wash/style yr hair, dress etc, and even my driving is restricted. wash very uncertain about sugery, but am thinking now anything to get my life back on track. Has anyone else found that yr shoulder is more painful in the cold damp weather?

Im suffering frozen shoulder from both sides and upper arms already 3 years. Fortunately, when I lied down the pain is gone. Fully agreed that the pain is getting worst during cold weather. Already spent alot of money hoping for the cure as is HELL however I refrain from pain killer. Acupuncture treatment after more than 10 sessions without any slightest result and currently under orthopedic treatment so far 6 sessions and I was told it takes time to see result. Anyone has any recommendation Im a Singaporean.

Hi David,

I live in England.

I had my shoulder manipulated under anaesthetic. It was completely frozen and affected my being able to go to work. I could not move my left arm at all and it was so painful too.

The operation has worked, I have had to work hard at physiotherapy and do lots of exercises to keep it moving but it is much, much better and I now have about 80% movement back in it.

I'd recommend this operation if you need to get your arm moving again. I couldn't wait for it to get better by itself because I have to be able to do my job.

It is a very painful condition. I had it for over two years before having the operation. I tried acupuncture which was expensive and did not work, I tried exercises to get it moving again but that had no affect either. I don't like pain killers so I didn't take any of these to ease the pain. In the end my only choice was the operation. I now swim nearly every day to keep it fit and moving and it has really made a different to my quality of life.

It is worse in the cold so I make sure I keep it wrapped up when I go outside.

I am suffering from my second frozen shoulder in approximately 5 years. The first time it was my left and lasted around a year. Like most others who have been unlucky enough to have this dreaded condition I spent money on trying every possible treatment because I couldn't get much help from my GP. Nothing worked. Eventually I asked to be referred privately to a rheumatologist who gave me a course of drugs and a cortisone injection followed up by intensive physio. This combination seemed to work - or maybe it was a coincidence and I was coming out the other side anyway! Nevertheless I seemed to recover completely and soon forgot all about what I had been through.

Unfortunately in November 2011 I began to suffer discomfort in my right, dominant shoulder so I tried to get something done about it quickly. By then I had changed my GP but still nobody was interested in my worries about my shoulder going into total frozen mode. Again I paid for physio myself but although this seemed to help with the pain initially it didn't stop my shoulder from completely freezing and this time the excruciating pain on knocking or jarring my arm seemed way worse than I experienced with my left shoulder.

I decided to try once more to get my GP to help and, lo and behold I count myself tremendously lucky. She found me an appointment with an orthapaedic shoulder specialist at a private hospital but it was an NHS appointment. I only had to wait two weeks to go. Two weeks later I underwent MUA treatment in the private hospital but on the NHS. I was dreading it because the idea of having your arm forced into every direction - tearing the scar tissue in the process - was frightening to say the least, even when done under a general. It is only three days since I had the procedure but I was amazed at the results on the first day. The consultant and then the physio come round shortly after you wake up and make you put your arm above your head etc. I couldn't believe that I could do it! I am feeling very positive but all the advice says that this isn't an instant fix. I have to do 10 different exercises five times a day and each one has to be repeated 10 times. I am now incredibly sore even taking the prescribed painkillers every 2 hours, i.e. paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine. It is a very tough regime but I am determined to win through because I must retain the movement that the manipulation has provided. During the MUA you are given a steroid injection into the joint which helps with the inflammation but I still have background pain although the debilitating pain I was suffering from before has disappeared thankfully. I suppose it isn't surprising that the exercises are very uncomfortable. Not only am I stretching the damaged tissues but I am using muscles and tendons which have not been used to doing much over the past few months.

I hope to report that I am well on the road to recovery within a few weeks but if anyone else has experience of this treatment and can tell me how long it took them to retain reasonably normal, pain-free movement, I would be very interested in hearing from you.

Good luck to everyone out there with this condition, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!

I am also suffering from frozen shoulder and two weeks ago underwent capsular release surgery, I can say that so far so good, it's not an instant fix but the 24 hour pain has gone and the pain I'm in at the moment is nothing compared to what I have gone through. My shoulder started to get painful about a year ago but I thought I had pulled a muscle as I'm a photographer but about 7 months ago it started to freeze Nd I could not even touch my face it was so bad, I underwent physio acupuncture and my shoulder was trapped up and nothing he helped. It is the worst thing I have had to endure and would not wish this on my worsed enemy, I have not

Slept properly in months and would just sit and cry many nights not knowing what to do with myself. I went to see my consultant today and he is very pleased with my progress although I think I still have a long journey ahead, unfortunately my other shoulder (right) is going the same way and he performed some tests on me and confirmed this, I'm a bit embaresed to say that I burst into tears the poor guy did not know what to do with. E but was so kind and helpfull and is going to give me a cortisone injection to see if we can nip it in the bud so to speak. I totally sympathise with anyone who is suffering I opted to have the surgery as I was already a year into my sentence and I just. Old not face upto another 2 years waiting for it to unfreeze. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. And good luck to anyone who is suffering and I hope you recover soon.

It's now 12 days since my MUA and my shoulder definitely feels looser. I have maintained the amount of movement gained from the procedure but my shoulder is very sore and I still get referred pain down my arm and across my shoulder and up my neck. I think this is aggravated by the physio but have been told that the muscles need to be stretched back to their original length - disuse makes them shrink and buckle; they will also need to be strengthened by exercise. I'm reporting my experiences because I have been so frustrated by the fact that no-one has told me what to expect. I was totally in the dark about the stages in the treatment and how soon I could expect to see an improvement. I kid myself that I don't need the painkillers because it's so much better compared to before and immediately after the MUA. However, not taking them does put me off the exercises because the stretching is quite hard - I need to hold each one for 30 seconds which is like torture.

Anyway, I hope this will help someone else who is going through this. Best of luck to all you fellow sufferers!

Hi judyb, gosh it's hard isn't it? Had physio yesterday and can hardly move today, worst it has been since the op, I had capsular realease surgery which is keyhole surgery where they take away all the inflamation, is this the same as yours? like you I did not know what to expect but was told it was a quicker fix but no magic pill. Trying very hard to stay positive, back to taking all the meds regularly today as I'm in discomfort and pain and very stiff. as I said before my other shoulder is going the same way and found myself tangled up in my clothes this morning while trying to get dressed. Couldnt even use my good arm, Also trying to stay very calm and relaxed as I think the more stressed you are the worse it is. Anyway thanks for posting healing vibes sent your way.

Hi Summeralex. Yes, really hard but it sounds as though you are worse off than me. This is my second but not sumultaneously, what a nightmare for you, I feel so sorry for you and am not at all surprised that you get depressed!! Someone at the hospital was having both shoulders treated with the MUA whilst I was there. This procedure isn't quite the same as your treatment. With mine they literally pull your shoulder into all it's rotations whilst you are under a general anaesthetic. This means that the adhesions are torn and stretched inside the capsule. Then they put in a cortisone injection to help with the inflammation whilst it heals. Apparently it isn't necessarily successful, it might just refreeze. It's also extremely painful for the first few days (and still is pretty sore). I don't think there is an actual cure and they don't know what causes it either. I thought I'd had a frozen shoulder once years ago when I fell on it ski-ing. I couldn't lift my arm properly for a few weeks but it got better quite quickly. This is completely different isn't it? The problem is that no-one who hasn't suffered from it really knows how bad it can be so explaining how hard it is to cope with day to day work, family and social stuff is hard for most people can comprehend. Anyway, let's hope we are both on the mend and that your other shoulder can be treated early to stop it going the whole way.

PS: I hear that swimming can be really helpful. I wish I had tried that when I knew my shoulder was getting worse and worse but before it eventually froze completely. Everything else was a waste of time and money but the cortisone has always been helpful in my experience.

Good luck Summeralex. Let me know how you get on.