I first experienced shoulder pain in 2018 - at that time it was just a pinching sensation. I was very careful about use of my shoulder, and it went away in a few months. I seemed to be in the clear. But more recently the pain came back, in a more severe form.
After battling with shoulder pain for at least 6 months now which has gotten progressively worse and more painful I’ve received a diagnosis of frozen shoulder. I would like to get some feedback from others with this to know if this sounds right, because I was told there isn’t much that can be done about it, except to wait a couple of years!
Just to clarify, I never had an acute injury that would explain what’s going on with my shoulder. The only thing I can figure is repetitive strain from computer use over the years.
Also most of the pain I feel is not in my shoulder. When I feel pain it is usually in my biceps, or I also get electric/burning sensations going down my upper arm to my elbow, or sometimes also to my hand.
It was about six months ago that I began to have shoulder pain - I only had pain while making a select number of movements: reaching behind back, trying to stretch my arms when waking up in the morning, putting on shirts/jackets, etc. So long as I didn’t make these movements I was pain free.
I was given exercises from a physical therapist which I did religiously every day but I never noticed any change. However I was able to do the exercises without pain. At this time I was still able to reach my arm upward and to the side without pain.
Then about two months ago things took a definite turn for the worse. I started noticing that I could not make the same movements I made before without severe pain. I could no longer do the therapy exercises, or even more moderate versions of the exercises.
Now things are really bad. I can’t do any stretches or exercises at all without severe pain. There are only a very limited number of movements I can make with my arm which are pain free. I experience intense “burning pain” on the inside of my upper arm with most other movements. Just about anything I do leads to pain in my arm: putting pressure on the arm itself, like pushing down on the juicer to juice an orange or pushing down on my right arm to get up from a reclining position leads to pain. If I shrug my shoulders I feel intense pain in the shoulder area. But most other movements cause pain in my upper and lower arm, like putting on clothing, reaching behind my back, crossing my arm over my chest. I can no longer stand with arms akimbo without intense pain in my upper right arm. Even just sitting in an easy chair with arm rests, I need to keep my arms pointing forward for the least pain. If I bend my arms inward toward me at the elbow - intense pain shooting down from shoulder through inner upper arm.
I feel like my arm is “weak” and my range of motion is getting more and more limited. I am also experiencing a constant throbbing/stabbing pain in my biceps area which sometimes lasts all day and night. It’s often worst when I wake up and sometimes I wake up at night in terrible pain. I do not sleep on my shoulder, but on my back or the opposite side, but it seems no matter what sleeping position I adopt, I still feel pain in the bad shoulder.
Does this sound like frozen shoulder to you? Also, if someone with similar symptoms found something that reduced pain for them or helped relieve the issue, I would love to hear about it!