Newly diagnosed frozen shoulder - advice needed

I wasted a whole year and money on physio for medication, chiro and physio and deep tissue massage. I was finally fed up and went to an osteopath who teaches physio type exercises and does more than chiro.  for half the price. that combined with SHOCK WAVE THERAPY saved my arm.  frozen shoulder usually takes years to heal. I am moving my arm after 1 month of intense therapy.  a bit pricy but so worth it getting the mobility back. please look into it. there is not a lot out there on it but I am working with the top specialist in canada about it.  I am not taking any medication although prescribed. when doing the therapy you cannot take anti inflammatories.  I bought Bell roll on pepper cream which helped and put heat.  cheers. 

Well I went to the new physio yesterday and felt he is someone I can work with.  He is a very down to earth older guy who seemed to know his stuff and without offering me false hope, was very suppportive.  He did some manipulation - especially on some pressure points and showed me some gentle excercises to try to strengthen my muscles.  He did seem to think I was an ideal candidate for Hydrodilation and said he could recommend someone good who could do this.  I wanted to avoid anything invasive, if at all possible so said I'd think about it.  

After Googling Hydrodilation, I'm more confused than ever!  Have found everything from descriptions of how effective it was, through opinions that it's no more effective than cortisone injections and even others suggesting it could cause joint damage.  There seem to be so many differing opinions on the effectiveness of all the different treatments for this condition that it's difficult to know where to turn.

Better news is that I think I may be heading into the second stage of this condition.  In the last week I've had less aching during the day and when it has ached, it has been less intense.  I've even managed a couple of not perfect but semi decent night's sleep with the help of a V-shaped pillow I bought (from Dunelm) and co-codamol.  I'm sleeping propped up on my back with my bad arm on a soft feather pillow that I can mould around my arm.  I've never liked sleeping on my back but have got used to it.  It still hurts like hell if I knock my arm but other than that seems more managable, day to day.  Not so good news is that I've had odd aches in my other arm - don't know if this is just that I'm over using it to protect my bad arm but it is worrying.

I'll do some of the suggested (gentle) stretching and strengthening exercises  - I was told to stop if it hurts.  I have another appointment with the physio in a couple of weeks time and see how that goes.  Any thoughts on the Hydrodilation would be welcome.

I saw the consultant on Wednesday.  After hearing my story, doing an examination and ultrasound, he agreed I have a classic and well frozen shoulder.  He also agreed the hydrodilation was a good course of action for me.  His clinic boasts a 70% improvement in movement and 90% improvement in pain releief for the procedure, which is reassuring.

I'm booked in to have it done on the 14th December - I could have gone sooner but needed to arrange a day when my daughter could drive me, as you're not supposed to drive yourself home afterwards.  Than goodness for Bupa - if I'd had to rely on the NHS, I'd still be on the waiting list for physio!  I have a physio session booked a few days later but hope I will be able to contiue to exercise on my own, at least for a couple of weeks after, as we're then into the Christmas holidays.

I'm a bit nervous - but relieved to be having something done with a good chance of a positive outcome.  I think I'm past the most painful stage of my frozen shoulder but still have that dull background ache (especially if I overdo things) and it's always worse at night.  I'm looking forward to the day I can sleep on my side once more!

I'll let you know how I get on with the hydrodilation.

Hi, 30 years of bad backs, chiros of varying skill. Watched 2 friends with frozen shoulder debilitated for 2 years each. Spoke to another at work who had a heavy handed chiro renowned with success, written up in newspapers. treats people from far and wide. I was diagnosed 2 days after xrays, ultrasound. The radiologist said 3 yeats to get better. No damage to cartilage or bones after bad fall off ladder 3 months ago but massive bruising and agony as the arm bound up. Drugs ineffective and reacted to 2 types.

I'm 2 days into my own treatment and will keep informing. I've seen people so debilitated I wanted to cry. There is nothing like the sting of over stretching and the spasms with this. At night with the 2-4am wake up call now I attack the pain head on. Generally the hand is tingling, acute pain higher up keeps me awake for 2 hrs. Your body is trying to build scar tissue and bind up for protection. The theory is to reprogram it. find the source of the pain in the shoulder and begin massaging the area. Once fluid, find the pressure points of muscle that are bound and begin squeezing them out. Hard, with your thumbs. They'll be like tennis balls. Even touching them at first can be daunting. My muscles had balls of tightness that were bound. Just keep massaging squeezing the tight spots and massaging. I have done 2 nights and been more pain free during the day. Movement has improved and now I,ve begun using my arm as much as I can. All day when I get pain begin massaging as hard as you can. There are spots in the deltoid that affected my headaches, follow transferred pain to the source. Put as much pressure on it as you can bear and them massage it out. Heat from my palm is enough to bring relief and to warm an area for massage. Under the scapula there are spots that affect pain in the arm. Keep working on the source.

I will update this thread and let you know how it goes. I believe in this because this is how I self regulate my bad back. I am trying to keep my arm moving all day to rebuild the atrifies muscles, just rotating, testing how far it moves, manipulating and massaging all day at work.

Ice bound me up. relief but loss of movement. The deeper areas in the joints are hard to reach. I might need help to reach these. But there are spots under the ac, armpit underneath, all along under the scapula, all around the shoulder socket, especially the back. Find them by digging with your fingers. I'm just going to not let up and see what happens. My opinion as with backs is that if you are passive and have no core strength, you can't be your best. The best thing about DIY is that you know where the pain is exactly and can cope better. You know how much you can stand.