Does PT help at all?

Jill, first of all you probably don't have a frozen shoulder unless it was coming on at the same time as your arm injury. FS is a genetic condition and runs in families and it has the same patholgy as pyronies syndrome, Laderhoses condition and Duputrens contractures. It is self limiting and gets well except for just a few degrees of loss. The other conditions do not. So does physiotherapy work? The answer is yes providing the diagnosis is correct and in my view should be made by the PT.Nowadays the diagnosis is made by doctors and ortho surgeons who call every limited or apparent loss of range a FS. The pathology of FS and the other previously mentioned condition is similat or identical. The pathology of a post surgical or sprained shoulder is normal. Only see a PT who has a post graduate diploma in musculoskeletal conditions, ask .  I see all the weirdest treatments  mentioned on this subject some like a miracle some not. In a frozen shoulder or a sprained shoulder the capsule will show a capsular pattern and you wil lose range. If your therapist does not know this you are wasting your time. If truly frozen it talkes it's own time and treament, including heat cold acupuncture ultrasound and exercise are useless. The time best to treat is when you can lie on the affected shoulder. When the capsule is tight exercise treats the shoulder as a hinge instead of a joint which glides and spins. For my traumatised shoulders in the past I have after the first PT only seen manual therapists. I am cheap so always took my wife with me and she did exactly what the PT did she made sure my wife did it properly. It is not rocket science. And no heroics, forcing a tight capsule is just wrong. If you exercise forcibly with a tight capsule all you are doing is irritating the joint and moving the scapula.  In the UK, America, Canada, New Zealand and more  you  can find fom the associations   who the suitable PTs are. Don't settle for less. 

Yes PT has its benefits..its a slow process to recovery but you need 2 sessions a week to speed the process. .my PT gave me some thing like acupuncture too which also relaxed some of the tension around the frozen should..I'm still recovering. .so all the best

I do not believe in "no pain no gain" in this condition.  I did 16 sessions of PT, and standard physical therapy for adhesive capsulitis (FS) is to stretch and break the adhesions but I was always in more pain afterwards and could not function.  I finally discontinued it and have been going to a therapeutic trigger point massage therapist. Not only did she decrease the pain significantly, but she increased my range of motion--and all with gentle trigger point massage that made me feel so much better, decreased the pain, and got me off the painkillers.  I highly recommend it.  It also needs to run its course (this does not cure it) but it helps in your daily life.  

Hi Jill, 

I firmly believe PT is to keep us busy and does no good at all. I was in PT for over five months, it made my FS worse/more painful. I finally was able to see an Ortho recently and he was upset that my regular MD had me in PT. The Ortho said, no PT in the painful stage! Yes, it has to run its course. I do my own home excercises, very gently, and am trying different vitamins etc. this is a long process.

I am about a year into this FS and it's still the same. I am a Diabetic, so apparently FS usually lasts about three years for us. Hopefully, your shoulder will heal in about  a year or maybe two at the most. Hang in there! Glad I found this forum!

I was first misdiagnosed with a cervical and thoracic strain after an injury at work and was sent to PT without any further tests beyond a shoulder xray. It did absolutely no good at all. The only thing that helped was massage and guarding my shoulder. They finally sent me to a specialist that has been the sports medicine doctor for several high impact sports injuries in our state (Florida, USA). He said to me that very little is really known about FS because it's not considered a "glamorous" enough condition to study. In other words nobody famous has suffered openly about it and stimulated real research. He then told me that his experience with it is that it usually resolves in its own time but to wait to do PT until the thawing begins. And do NOT do anything painful. He stressed that every time I saw him. I asked about a cortisone shot and he said sure it'll help reduce the inflammation. That shot sure has helped! Getting sleep sure helps me more than anything. He told me to swing my arm back and forth, only as far as I was comfortable with, and it would eventually improve to the point that I could do it with some weight, and eventually all the way in a circle. I go to PT twice a week and have 5 more sessions before I am reevaluated. With w/c injury you are pretty much at the mercy of your doctor and the w/c insurance. I'm hoping for enough of an improvement that I can just do my therapy at home and the pain does not come back, even though I know I'm just in the cortisone pink cloud right now. I can hope! Obviously everyone has different results so there is no exact right way. I am in the medical field and I see people that have problems that I know I wouldn't be able to tolerate at the levels that they do. I've also seen people with very mild injury or problems and they are completely overwhelmed and unable to function. There is no one way.

I have just been diagnosed with FS that is in stage 1 after a clavicle fracture. I have been in therapy as had a lot of shoulder stiffness post fracture. Dr had told me I wasn't FS but was at risk. I was progressing with stiffness but then started going backwards and having more pain and started having arm pain as well. In total frustration went back to dr yesterday. He said it is now FS developing in the freezing stage. I have no doubt that is a correct assessment. He recommended gentle stretching in PT with gentle exercises at home. He stated strongly to not try to push through pain with exercises and to feel the stretch but stop with pain. Stated it will only make it worse. Also recommends to stay active. With the reading that I've done thus far I agree with that plan.

Appreciate this forum. It's informative and so helpful to hear from others who are going through this or have previously. Until you've been in those shoes...

Thanks for sharing your experiences