Gym workouts and frozen shoulder
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hello,
I am new to the group. I have a frozen right shoulder which started about 8-9 months go (Nov 2014). It has steadily got worse with severly reduced movement, pretty much constant minor pain in arm/shoudler/neck and the occassional short term severe pain when I 'catch' it.
I am keen to rejoin a gym and was wondering if anyone has any tips on what exercises / weights to do and which to avoid.
PS I had a frozen left shoulder in 2011/2012 - it has pretty much totally recovered although the movement of my left arm is still a little bit restricted.
Thanks,
Gerry
Scotland
0 likes, 12 replies
snakewalk
Posted
Sorry - typo in above post - I meant Nov 2013.
Gerry
mariah8282 snakewalk
Posted
have you had an EMG (nerve testing) done?? the pain extending from your neck should and arm sounds similar to what I was having during my first frozen shoulder and we discovered through the nerve testing my nerves had been damaged during frozen shoulder manipulation. I'm hope thats not your case but just thought I would bring it up...
snakewalk mariah8282
Posted
I have had no physio on my right shoulder yet so not sure the nerves could have been damaged. However the FS in my right arm feels a lot different to when I had it on my left side. When I had it on my left side the pain was never constant (like it is now). Thanks
hilary36369 snakewalk
Posted
snakewalk hilary36369
Posted
Your post was very interesting and I am glad things are improving for you. My position is that I am a full time mature student with very limited income. My GP told me that I could self-refer for physio, but there is a 3-6 month wait and it tends to be once a week. When I had physio on my left shoudler 2 years ago it consisted of one short session, after which the therapist gave me a sheet of exercises to do at home...which I rarely did.
I think what I need is just a list of 'safe' exercises I can do at the local gym - not aimed at my shoudler, but like you, aimed at other areas (core, abs, legs, maybe biceps etc) that I can do without being in pain because of my shoudler.
Gerry
tasha78763 hilary36369
Posted
Jmarie hilary36369
Posted
hilary36369 tasha78763
Posted
hilary36369 Jmarie
Posted
hilary36369 snakewalk
Posted
I absolutely understand about the limited resources. And I agree that safety is paramount in whatever training you do (either with a trainer or self-directed), as AC is an illness, our body and our whole inner health is disrupted and compromised and we must take extra special care of ourselves at this time as we are vulnerable. Our capacities are limited and we are having to get used to living with a huge amount of pain and disability with mostly very little preparation and very little recognition and meaningful help. I have had to be very mindful and also assertive at times about what I can and cannot do in a training session. But yes, I consider myself incredibly lucky to have an opportunity just at the moment to invest in this training. It costs me $150 per week for the three sessions ($50 per session) and my trainer is very generous with his time so I am very lucky indeed. I have borrowed money from my family to make it happen, but I will get back to work sooner this way and will move forward with better health eventually. I could tell you all the exercises that I have been doing, but if you have trained before perhaps you can work out your own program. It's so important to listen to our body and our shoulder all the time for what works and what doesn't on any given day. There will come a time when I will have to cut back my sessions and work on my own program. There is no doubt though that the training sessions have moved me forward a long way in a short time. Once again good luck, and you know, even if you just visit the gym and hang out and do a little bit here and there it might be inspiring and will probably be healing and helpful if you like feeling strong.
edgar313 hilary36369
Posted
I thought I had read everything about frozen shoulder until your post. As similar to you about 12 years ago I had FS in my left shoulder and fortunately it went away just naturally after some 8 months or so. Two and half years ago I developed FS in my right shoulder and for the past many months have been doing physio - only stretching without much advancement Fortunately I no nonger suffer the excruciating in the upper arm ...the pain disappeared after a treatment called hydrodilitation. At my next visit to physio I will ask for strengthening exercises... if it seems to work for you maybe for me
hilary36369 edgar313
Posted
I visited my physiotherapist today, and she was telling me that during the last 3 years she has become convinced that a strengthening approach rather than a stretching approach can be very helpful for AC. And in fact she really feels that a strengthening approach is what she now wants to recommend to her AC clients. She was agreeing that my shoulder is making great progress with the strength training. She has also noticed that with other AC clients the stretching approach seems to aggravate their shoulder and sends them backwards rather than forwards. I can certainly say that a stretching approach gave me more pain and made my shoulder want to retreat and freeze more, and that alternatively, the strength pathway has seemingly given my shoulder something to bite onto and chew. Even when it was not my shoulder that was working, it felt like the shoulder could benefit from the good work that was happening in the rest of my body. Finally the shoulder started to sort of settle and get calmer and less painful and a little bit of strength started to come back into the shoulder and arm muscles and it began to feel like it could join in on some activity again. I have not pushed it to do what feels too uncomfortable, and if I over work it and if it gets strained or sore or achey I just back off and let it settle again. Once it calms down again I start including it gently in ways that feel positive and empowering. The bicep muscle loves to bite into a bit of strengthening almost as a way of squeezing back into life. As I said earlier it can feel thrilling for the shoulder and arm muscles wanting to activate without pressuring them beyond what feels right. From what I have read about AC this is something that might come more naturally in the 'frozen' and 'thawing' phases. Having said that, I wonder if my general strength training, the endorphins, the good body hormones and chemicals that exercise generates, and the muscles I am building have all contributed to, and have encouraged my shoulder to start a healing process and move in that direction. It does feel that way. It is still very slow but it's moving in the right direction along with the added benefits of better general health and more motivation to eat well, etc. and of course the less nagging and extreme pain and the higher quality sleep helps hugely. I think for me it is all feeding into itself in a big whole person loop. I'm interested to know how you go with exploring this pathway so please keep us posted if you try it. Thanks, Hilary