Does physical therapy work?

 Your insurance should cover physical therapy. You might have a co-pay for each session. You should check your insurance company regarding your physical therapy benefits. Physical therapist will set up a home exercise program but there are some things that are  done in the clinic. Example ultrasound and in some cases manipulation of the shoulder. 

I guess it depends on each person if it works. My surgeon said for me that PT wasn’t going to help until after surgery (9th December) I do find that PT or osteo helps for short term relief. It doesn’t help movement rather the pain which is really bad as I have FS in both shoulders. 

Good luck, try everything to see what works best for you. 

my frozen shoulder started more then a year back first  4 months were horrible no way to sleep and lost 70% movement in my shoulder and once i was diagnosed with frozen shoulder my doctor started giving me heavy pain killers which had side effect  up to developing ulcer and next stage was to give injection of pain killer direct into the shoulder i did my own diligent research and neither took pain killers orally or direct in shoulder also  i had to deal with pain that was my choice rather then getting side effects of pain killers here is what i did which worked for me

TO SLEEP  WHAT I DID

 put one pillow for my head and next to it i put another pillow i made the cavity between both pillows i sleep on my right shoulder as my frozen shoulder is right in hand  i place my hand between the pillows and put another pillow between my upper legs as when you have pillow under your back it starts to ache  the pillow helps to keep back pain less.and i used hot and cold bottles alternatively  but cold bottle not more then 10 minutes u be the judge which helps hot or cold but do not use a lot of the bottles as it might escalate the pain 

TREATMENT FOR FROZEN SHOULDER 

bought door pulley rope for exercise and used that ($10)  kept my hand in shoulder sleeve all day for one month to release strain on shoulder 

took mustard oil and olive oil and black seed oil in equal amount and mix them and then warm it to the bear able level and did massage at night before sleep daily at least 45 minutes after 2 half month it started to get better and at this moment i have gain 80 % movement still %20 to go . still working on it

without pain killers or injections or physical therapy expensive sessions

bottom line do your own diligent research  and make your own decisions as it is your shoulder and you know your body response yourself decisions is your be your own in charge of your shoulder and make decisions on your on after doing your own research and know your symptoms 

that is  my advice 

what i did for me i told you in detail

thanks hope it helps u

 

Mine started freezing in April.  Totally frozen 0% range external and 15% horizontal range about 3 weeks agog. PT did nothing for me, the pain was way too severe to tolerate.  I had MUA about 3 weeks ago... this is when you need PT... to get that shoulder moving.  They can move it and mobilize the joint, you won’t be able to do that on your own if you have the right PT.  Call around... not all are created equal!!!!   Lots and lots of PT...  a good one will Work with you, mine does.  And you will still have to do it at home.

    Everyone has their own opinion on what to do... what works for someone probably won’t work for the next guy...  

Get a good orthopedic surgeon, one who specializes with shoulder injuries if you don’t already,  good luck to you!!!

PT made my shoulder worse at the onset of Frozen Shoulder.  Don’t do anything that hurts. You’re in enough pain. 

I watched some toutube videos on gently stretching a FS,  used a few  suggestions.  Read some of the older posts here, we’ve all been given such different information from our doctors. Frankly,  the doctors don’t know how to treat this, so listen to your body. If it’s painful, don’t do it.  Be careful and hope you feel better! 

If you have frozen shoulder therapy will not help.  You need to have the shoulder manipulated to break up the restriction. 

15 minutes with the doctor and my pain was gone. 

He rotated my arm / shoulder every way possible.  Then it was fine. 

He said you won’t be back.  It’s been two years. 

Hey there. Im like you had few probs with shoulder pain july. I ended up pushing exercises too mush and resulted in bursitis (unbelievable pain) had injection end of october with good relief of pain......but now barely any movement and diagnosed with frozen shouder. I have had 3 PT sessions spaced out 2 or 3 weekly. Main advice given is these exercises need to be done at home and as small improvements appear thats when I go back and see PT to check movement and not cheating! and also for them to look at reeducating me and my muscles so I can continue at home. I use ICE packs repeatedly throughout the day (even take one in lunch box for 20 mins at lunchtime work). My pain is much improved although mot gone totally. My range of movement is slowly improving with active assisted exercises. Hope this helps

 

My shoulder started freezing in July as well. I have just hit the frozen stage. The pain is still there but not as bad. No more gasping for air and almost blacking out from pain if I accidently bump it! My GP gave me a referral for PT. I went 6 times in 3 weeks. It was no help at all and actually made my pain worse!  It would 

actually make me feel sick about an hour after I left the therapy session and it would last well into the

next day! I asked the physical therapist if he was pressing my lymph nodes and draining them because I'd get nauseous after each session. He said he wasn't, so I'm not sure what exactly was causing me to feel queasy but it was bothersome to add that on top of the chronic pain! I decided to go to an Orthopedist and get his opinion. He told me not to waste my money on anymore PT until I hit the thawing phase. He told me he would order PT for me once I hit that stage, which he said could take awhile. He said not to stress much about it now and do what makes it feel best - even if that meant doing nothing with it! That's what I've decided to do. That was about 5 weeks ago. Like I said, my shoulder still hurts but not near as much as before ... actually most of my pain is in my shoulder blade and my bicep, my actual shoulder doesn't hurt much anymore. It feels more tender and tight than painful. I think the pain in my shoulder blade is from compromising my movements and posture. I wish I had just gone straight to the Orthopedist and saved myself the time and the money ( over $700) for the PT. Live and learn, I guess! I know many people on this site have good success with PT, but I just didn't work for me. I hope you start feeling some relief soon. It was just a couple weeks ago that I was unable to sleep at night because the pain was so bad. What seemed to help me some with the sleep was to basically build a cove of pillows that surrounded me. I put firmer pillows on the bottom layer and then add softer pillows stacked 2 high around my arms and under my head. I always liked sleeping on my left side ( my affected side) before FS and I found that if you lay on your back and kind of position your back just a bit tilted in the direction of the affected side and have the pillows pushing up on your back you can position your head like you're actually laying on your side and also prop pillows under the bad arm/shoulder and it actually worked pretty well for me! It was so nice to finally get to sleep on my bad shoulder and I was finally able to get more than 2 hrs of sleep! 

Hang in there! It's hard to live with this but I'm listening to my Dr and others on this forum. We will get through this! My Orthopedist told me that he tells his FS patients to work with time frames of seasons instead of weeks or months! My hope is that by next Christmas I will be well into the thawing phase... which gives me some peace.