Looking for support to deal with Frozen shoulder

Have you tried any other therapies other than Physio?  Acupuncture, massage...try them out if things then don't get any better then start considering surgery.

Treatment can be painful, and at times you feel you are going 2 steps back and 1 step forward.  But find a good practitioner say start with acupuncture and give them 10 treatments before giving up.  If then your not getting better or you are plateauing add massage in to add a new perspective.  Or you can try both at the same time.  But try different things out, different modality's and practitioner's until you find one  that works for you.  Just because that one physio could not fix you does not mean someone else can't help you.  It can take 6 months of rigorus treatment to overcome frozen shoulder and avoid surgery.

Morning Joan

 My heart goes out to you, the accident must have been horrific, dealing with that and then the pain that comes later is horrid for you,

 i myself have been having treatment p/t for calcification, bone spurs and tendenitis in my right arm which is showing signs of frozen shoulder as its been so long waiting for surgery, i am a person that will push through most things (still worked whilst having cervical prolapse discs) and i do persevere using my light weights, and exercises, BUT the pain does not go, ive had 4 cortisone injections now the last being 5 jan, and happy to say last night i didnt need to take pain meds first time in months. the injections are the only thing that eases my pain, the restriction is still there if i push to far, but the constant nagging pain has subsided.I always said i couldnt /wouldnt have surgery on my shoulder and i would work through it ,,,, SOD that!!! im begging my gp to push my appointments through, you have to ask yourself can you put yourself through the misery of maybe years of treatment or get it fixed? visiting here helps to know what people are going through and treatments they try etc. chin up, bb

Hi Joan - I had capsular release surgery which in my opinion is far less barbaric and gets to the route cause of the problem. It's made a huge difference to movement and pain.

I researched options and for me that one was right.

You can see a specialist privately (about £180) then have treatment on NHS if private is not an option. I got a loan and paid £5000 to progress it quickly (2 weeks as opposed to 4-6months), which was worth every penny. We understand your pain, it's pretty unbearable, there is a light at the end of the tunnel I hope so much you can get there soon

Kind regards Karen 

Hi Joan I feel you pain Think long and hard before you have surgery. looking at this site it seems everyones experience is different. I think one thing we all agree on is how horrific the pain is.

I was diagnosed with frozen shoulder back in March 2014 . The pain was horrible and eventually the movement was that restricted i had to go on the sick . I was having heat theorpy and physio but the theropist after only 3 sessions said he couldnt help me whilst i was in so much pain. I then had steriod injections that helped with the pain but my restriction was still really bad. I eventually got to see a surgeon and requested a MUA he said he didnt recomend this as they tended tobe unsuccessful. instead he sugested a capsule release , by this time i was desperate so i had the OP on 28th October. The post OP was really painful and the intense physio was very intense. I felt like i had took ten steps back. eventually things got easier and i continue with physio . I am returning to work on monday after a 10/12 week recovery im not a 100% but feel that any further improvement in movement will be slow and take months. My phyisio has said its about strengh building now.

The point im making is that its a long arduous road to recovery no matter what treatment you decide and every person is different.

I have been told complete recovery may never happen but it can take upto 3 years.

I have had mua on both shoulders, the right one 3 years ago and the left one 3 months ago. The procedure is better now then when i had it done 3 years ago.  the best thing you can do is heat packs and walk your fingers up the wall. "That is called SPIDER CRAWLS" and if the shoulder vor arm breaks you will just have to wear a sling for 2-4 weeks but you will have more movement. If you have the surgery get your therapy started as soon as possible or it will freeze back up. Thats what mine did, they did not approve me for therapy until 2 weeks ago and didnt approve me for enough sessions. Heat packs meds and movement are the best things you can do, I wish you the very best you are a stong person to survive what you went through you will make it through this. :>)

 

Hi Joan ,so sorry you are having this problem.

it is truly horrible  on top of your accident and you will feel low but the pain side will leave and the stiffness will go ,you have to dig deep !!!

I am in the process of recovering from a FS I my left side ,felt really Happy then My dominant arm started getting similar pains ,I thought this can't be happening again ,I have had to cut my hours sell my manual car and buy an auto so far so good I thought.

i cannot put my uniform on without help blow dry my hair etc sleeping is a nightmare .

i know all these things pain killers help but I now have a bad stomach because of it !

you might ask what keeps me going ?

it will get better eventually with time stick in .

Katie X

Hi Joan,

I stopped spending time on this site now that my 2nd frozen shoulder is bearable but every once in a while I see a comment like yours and hope that my comment might help you realize you are not alone.  I'm surprised that a broken collar bone is more painful than a frozen shoulder.  I really didnt think there was much worse than a 'true' frozen shoulder.  My right shoulder was frozen for 2 years and I did not know what was happening the 1st 8 months.  Lack of sleep, movement and activity of any kind made me crazy to the point that I thought I was having a mini nervous break down and told my husband to keep the kids away from me until I got medicine to relieve some of the pain, calm me down and help me get some sleep!  So he did for 3 days!  I had to take Lortab for the pain, gabapentin for the nerve pain shooting down my arm constansly, xanax so that when I woke up in the middle of the night screaming in pain I could calm down quickly and go back to sleep until the next screaming session and I started on Paxil for the anxiety the pain and disabiltiy was causing me.  I went to a pain doctor and he told me that it is normal to feel claustrophobic (sp?) anxiety with pain and/or disablity.  That is exactly what I was feeling.  Meanwhile I went to PT and got weekly massages and it gradually got better.  Just as I was slowly getting off the meds my left shoulder started freezing!!!  I  opted out of MWA because it takes 3 months of therapy and I kept hoping that my shoulders would be better by then.  They do take longer than that but I dont regret not having surgury as I too was afraid of something breaking with the barbaric releases they perform.  I did notice that if I went even 1 day without doing my PT exercises the pain was even worse.  I am 90% better in the right shoulder and 50 % better so far in the left.  I need to copy paste this since this is about the 3rd time I have written my story.

I wouldnt do the surgery if I were you but only if you can do the PT, take meds and you believe that God is allowing you to go through this for a reason.  That's the only way I could stay sane!  Good luck.