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Has anyone else had it and how was it treated? I'm currently strugling to move my arm more than about 30 degrees from by my side. I can move it but have to use my other arm to move it.
Been to walk in clinic and currently on para's and brufen but thats not really touching it. Bloody painfull. At the docs tomorrow to see what they say next.
Cheers
had it earier this year after a 6 hour heart procedure. it lasted about a week, took loads of paracetamol and rubbed it with deap heat to try and get it moving.
feel for you mate.. 🙁
Yes!! Excruciating!! Mine came on after shoulder surgery, physio was working really hard to sort it out but said you need to see the consultant again. I was pretty much in tears from the pain despite industrial strength pain killers.
Had manipulation done under anaesthetic, with a steroid injection. Did the trick and all is good. 8)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001490/
Self limiting condition that usually sorts itself out in a few years. 😉
glupton - thanks for that link and interestingly one risk factor linked is hyperthyroidism. I am hypothyroid but that's not listed. 😐
Mrsmidlife had it last year. GP wasn't able to do anything useful, just NSAIDs for pain, which as you know don't get to it. Got an referral/assessment to a surgeon pretty sharpish with a physio session to help manage it in the meantime. Physio confirmed it wasn't going anywhere without surgery. No sleep for quite a few nights in the meantime, but within a couple of weeks it was keyhole surgery. In and out in a day, few days of hard pain, but increased movement range straight away, physio starting week or so later and for the next six months. Daily stretching with broomstick ever since. 90% of full movement more or less now, little bit of pain/discomfort at extremes of range.
However, she says if you can cope with the day to day pain, she'd rather have done without surgery and waited for it to unfreeze by itself. This depends on how bad yours is, it takes a fair few days from first symptoms to max effect.
"Most of the time there is no cause for frozen shoulder." Frozen shoulders are one of the most common conditions seen in a physio clinic.
Feel for those that have had it. I know i need to keep it moving to stop it freezing up but the pain is so bad, its nice to get into a position where i can just sit and rest it.
Read about the manipulation CG, glad it worked. Think i'll be begging for an injection tomorrow.
Silicone spray and a fan heater, or just scrape it.
I once froze my shoulder with an ice pack and had to be taken to A&E in june with frostbite if that counts?
It's the struggle to do every day taks ie showering, washing hair, driving, preparing food etc etc. Not forgetting trying to get in a comfy position in bed!
I really did try to soldier on but pain becomes debilitating.
Some reassurance for you skiprat - once the manipulation was done, the improvement in movement was almost immediate. Good luck. 🙂
Frozen shoulder, impingement syndrome, painful arc ..... All sound like possibilities.
Was it very painful first, then became limited in movement (frozen period)? Or limited to 30deg from the outset?
Depending on who you saw at the walk in centre, it might be worthwhile double checking the diagnosis with your GP or a physio.
DrP
(but as has been said, the natural course of true frozen shoulder can be, ahem,a while.....)
You poor flower.
Yep had it for 18 months, luckily my Dr. is one of the Manchester city footballers at their club so he's used to shoulder type problems.
I was put onto physio exercises every day, 3 times a day.
Choice of either: just carrying on with exercise and hoping it ran it's course. Or operation, or one of those manipulation things under general anesthesic.
Chose first one.
Also had a cortisone injection a few weeks in which didn't do a thing, then another one about a year later, which really helped.
Good luck, I need you well as my riding buddy.
You may be lucky and it will heal quickly.
Best physio type diagnostic test I know of is to look for a capsular pattern which is most limitation of lateral rotation (arm twisting out the way when it's by your side), followed by abduction (lifting it out to the side) and medial rotation (twisting it in the way with your arm by your side). Twisting happens above the elbow.
Mine got that bad it would take 10-15mins of moving my arm with my other arm to get movement back in it every morning. Had to ask people to lift my bike up/take it down off the car roof rack.
Went to my local sports injury physio and he spent quite some time very painfully releasing muscles in my neck and both shoulders, then gave me some exercises to do and that was it sorted (well after weeks of exercises) I just do them every so often now. His description (to a numpty on the subject - me) was that I wasn't using my full range of movement on a regular basis so things begin to stiffen/tighten up, then one day you do use more range than your now limited range and it causes damage, this damage then builds up over time until it becomes a problem.
The other half had it earlier this year. She got a really bad diagnosis from the drop-in clinic and was in tears on exit. However she went to see a good sports physio who happens to be a friend and got a much more sensible and thorough assessment - two months and lots of exercises later and she is 100%. Try dropping your shoulders and pushing them back and then rotating your thumb so it points straight in a line with your body, if you can lift your arm more easily/further, then go see a good sports physio before anyone else.
As said above, frozen shoulder is treatable if caught early enough. If indeed that's what it is. You need to get a thorough orthopaedic exam as sometimes other conditions eg rotator cuff tear, impingement syndrome can be mistaken for it (or can even be a precursor to it)