Posted , 16 users are following.
I have a question-I was wondering if anyone else with Frozen shoulder-if when They do exercises from the physical therapist-if it aggravates their shoulder and makes it worse after exercising.It seems that any time I do my exercises my shoulder has more pain.Thank You
2 likes, 36 replies
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sheila43293 judy1970
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Yes, it agervated mine. But, lots of ice helped bring down inflammation. I've been dealing with mine for over a year and a half. Still have a lot of pain daily. Some days are better than others.
debbie38108 judy1970
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kelly_26541 judy1970
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Yes! It’s absolutely excruciating. My ortho recommended PT and I started going and every time they added on new exercises even though I told them I was in unbelievable pain for up to 2 days after (more pain even than the constant pain of frozen shoulder) I read up on it and talked to a few PT friends of mine and basically they all said whether you do PT or not you’ll end up with the same results. It’s just unfortunately a long road with frozen shoulder...I don’t think it’s good to keep it completely immobile but there is no way I’m going back to that hell. I feel like the PT’s I’ve been to have no concept of the pain this really is. I’ve been taking CBD oil, magnesium, MSM, joint supplements and hyloranic acid and this has helped. Oh and massage trigger point therapy. Good luck!
sheila43293 judy1970
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I've been dealing with it for over a year and a half. The pain is everyday. Some days are better than others. I push through the exercises. I've had steroid injections they helped at first but the last 2 not so much. The pain has gotten so intense again I'm desperate for some relief. Trying another injection. Always feels like my shoulder is popping out of pocket and that just intensifies the pain. Just want to give up. Mine was due to an auto accident.
avril64366 sheila43293
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I to suffered from this, for months. Please don't give up, go to your GP and ask for a referral to have a hydro injection, I had mine done in May. Was 80% pain-free within 10 days also I can now raise my arm above my head without pain.
barbara20948 judy1970
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Yes, for me PT was hard because they would puch my range of motion more than I would puch myself at home on my own. They always wrapped my shoulder in ice packs for 15 min before I left each time to keep the inflamation from the session down. The pain was worth it to me. I had MUA and getting my range of motion back was so hard after losing so much muscle from not using my arm for months. So, PT for me was about muscle building to stretching and reaching. Best of luck to you.
judy1970 barbara20948
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barbara20948
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sheila43293 judy1970
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I do my excersizes regularly. But it seems to take one wrong move and the pain gets pretty intense. I ice it on and off all day. When it feels like it pops out of socket it's unbearabley bad. I just wish I could get to be more manageable
debbie38108 sheila43293
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sheila43293 debbie38108
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I was just taking something out of the oven and the pan slipped tried to catch it. Just human reaction. When I pulled my arm back it was unbearable. Just doing simple every day thing. And yes doing nothing isn't good either. It's so frustrating.
hollyhere judy1970
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Hello Jude,
I had (still have) frozen shoulder in both shoulders. Yes, it is horrible. I found that PT made it much worse. It was pain and torture (PT). I think they truly thought it was helpful, but it was making my range of motion worse. I went back to the orthopedist who injected Cortisone under x-ray. That worked. It took the inflammation down, so it decreased the pain. I am on year two - YES year TWO. I don't have full range of motion yet, but I am getting there. Now that I don't have excruciating pain, I can actually do the stretches. I have PT bands and do them on my own. I also make Turmeric tea as turmeric is suppose to lessen inflammation. I don't know if it worked but I liked the taste of it and it is soothing. Best of luck! Holly
Constantine585 judy1970
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I can guarantee you one day doctors will realize prescribing PT is wrong for this disease and they will stop. We should be on medication. Medication that as of yet does not exist. But that's what we should be on to stop what I can generally describe as a genetic failure of some kind, like any other disease.
We should consider ourselves lucky this isn't Parkinson's or ALS or MS. But I believe it is somewhat along those lines, albeit of a much more benign order. Yes the pain is horrible, and this whole experience is frustrating to no end. I have two frozen shoulders. It's been over two years for my left shoulder. But we should still count our blessings because I can tell you there are sick people out there suffering much, much worse than we are, guys.
Please hang in there, everyone! Hopefully we can all stay strong and remember we aren't alone -- there are others like us out there.
Love you guys.
PS- I do realize though that for some reason some people do respond to PT. One guess I have as to why it works for some and not others is because a lot of the people it works for probably don't have a true frozen shoulder. As for the others who actually do have a frozen shoulder and PT does help them, it would not surprise me in the least that adhesive capsulitis has several subsets and disease types and each type must be treated differently. Certainly, we know there are varying levels of severity just from anecdotes, but I would imagine that this isn't a one size fits all disease in the slightest. Unfortunately, finding out PT stinks for your shoulder can only be discovered the hard way.
CynCash Constantine585
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Constantine, I agree with you. I also have two frozen shoulders. I believe that the best thing to do, at least for me, is to manage the pain the best I can and wait it out. I have a very wise physical therapist who told me not to let anyone push or force it in any way, that it will heal in its own time, even if that means a couple or a few years. I am a year in on my left shoulder and a few months on the right. The left is much, much less painful than it was at the beginning and range of motion is slowly but steadily improving. The right is still in the painful freezing stage, but now at least I am having some less painful days.
I heard one woman refer to it as a scab rather than as adhesions to be broken up. Stop picking at the scab (exercising the shoulder) and it will heal and reabsorb itself into the body when it is ready. It has clamped down most likely from some sort of autoimmune response but it will heal and thaw. I believe that medical professionals are beginning to make a connection between FS and hormones, and also autoimmune disorders.
My PT told me that she has patients who had FS years ago who now have complete range of motion and no pain, whose frozen shoulders are a thing of the distant past.
Here's to holding the vision that we all return to pain-free, mobile shoulders and arms very soon!
Guest judy1970
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judy1970 Guest
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Guest judy1970
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My experience with the exercises and P.T. and the pain is that you will regain your mobility far sooner than if you simply mope about and do nothing.
Guest judy1970
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Judy,
Additionally, P.T. was for me and many others a hugely important means of recovering from Frozen Shoulder far sooner than without P.T.
The P.T. loosens up and stretches the Frozen areas.
If the whole process of P.T. is simply too painful and bothersome for you then you should strongly consider M.U.A. aka Manipulation Under Anesthesia.
M.U.A. will accomplish all of the positives of months of P.T. but it will be accomplished without the many trips to the P.T. facility and without all the painful stretching and exercising that is inherent in P.T. for Frozen Shoulder.
The Orthopedic surgeon will pull and stretch your arm in various directions and positions and thereby stretch, tear loose and break up the part of your shoulder that are bound up and frozen due to adhesive areas.
You will never feel any of the dreaded pain because when the doctor stretches out your frozen arm all of the tearing and breaking up of the frozen areas occurs while you are anesthetized.
With M.U.A. you will "never feel a thing" and when you awaken from the anesthesia you will have regained nearly all of your former normal movement.
You will still have to do some P.T. right away for a while to ensure that your arm remains unfrozen---but you will be essentially unfrozen and on the mend.
I did not have M.U.A. but it was the next step that my doctors had advised. I chose to endure and embrace the P.T. and the concomitant, implicit and requisite dreaded pain.
By simply thinking positive thoughts about how the discomfiture of P.T. is bringing about healing I was able to recover my normal movement in a greatly reduced amount of time relative to the normal length of arm immobility and near paralysis normally associated with Frozen Shoulder.
My advice to you if you are discomfiture and suffering averse is to talk to several Orthopedic surgeons about undergoing M.U.A.
I believe that M.U.A. is the best course of action and if I have Frozen Shoulder again I will absolutely have M.U.A. as soon as my surgical team recommends it.
Hope the best for you and stay positive!
barbara20948 Guest
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CynCash judy1970
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I completely agree with you Judy. My physical therapist believes that you shouldn't experience more pain with exercises. Once the pain is pretty much gone, in the thawing stage, that is the time to do very very gentle stretching. Normal daily activities will begin to bring back the range of motion.
I am speaking from experience. I have two frozen shoulders, one a year in and one about three months. I found that any exercises greatly increased the pain on the first one, so I only moved it as much as I could without pain in normal daily activities. Now a year later, it is very much improved both in pain and range of motion. Not a hundred percent yet, but much, much better. I am following the same path with my second one, which is still in the painful freezing stage. The fact that my first one is healing so well without doing any specific exercises gives me the confidence I need to know that, for me, I am doing the right thing by basically being patient and waiting it out.
There is a great blogpost you may want to look at, it helped me a lot. It's called My Frozen Shoulder Story dot blogspot dot com. I had to write that out because links are not allowed in this forum. I think that you will find that article very informative.
Here's wishing you, and all of us, the very best in our speedy recovery from this strange disease!
judy1970 CynCash
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