Finally saw an Orthopedic Specialist yesterday. He told me that Physical Therapy was the worst thing you can do if you are still in the painfull stage of FS. Which is something myself and a lot of others on this website have suspected. He said it can auctually extend the FS and make it worse. The Ortho suggested doing a few of the excercises at home and if it hurts STOP. I just wanted ot pass this along to everyone. This is something some of us learned the hard way. The doctor said this has to run it's course, there is nothing you can do to ride it out.
The doctor also said that most Diabetics, such as myself a several others here, it takes about 3 years for us to cycle through Frozen Shoulder (FS). Guess I am only about 8 months in...Guess I am still in the freezing stage. No surgery for me yet.. Going to try new treatments in a few months.
Physio made mine worse everytime i went i used to cry for days after, until physio said NO More im referring you back to orthopaedics. I just had surgery the last week in bow 7 days post op.its great and as 2 years in to FS so i woukd agree with specialiat its not good or FS x
Hi Jenn...I'm so glad you posted this. Very interesting to hear this from an Ortho. It certainly fits with my experience! Now that I'm thawing I am thinking of starting physio again with the gentle exercises, but never the aggressive physio again. Hear, hear! In the meantime, I continue to be intentional about using my FS arm as much as possible in everyday life.
I had the same experience Karen, I know we are all different, but I was in so much pain every day it was outragious. I am still in pain, but not like that. I have a high pain tolerence and that was beyond reasonable. Like you, I would cry at Physical Therapy and after. They couldn't figure out what the issue was. Some of us have very dense tissue that forms over the joint and makes it pretty much impossible to do what the Physical Therypest asks.
I whole-heartedly agree - it makes me cringe when I hear people talking about tearing at adhesions and "no pain no gain". Yes, they may still get better in time - but I suspect it may have been even quicker had they listened to their own bodies. There is so much contradictory advice with this condition.
My husband told me not to go to PT, I didn't listen and I really think I made it worse by trying to just power through the pain. duhhh!
There sure is contradictory advice on the condition Maria! I am sure we have all read the same things online trying to figure out how to get rid of this nasty condition sooner. Thank goodness for this forum! Thank you all ladies. I appreciate all of the support here.
I'm on my second round of frozen shoulder. When I had it in my left side the first time I was EXTREMELY aggressive with it. I pushed it hard with PT, pain killers, TENS unit, anything to push it to the max. It took over 3 years to get over it, after I finally backed off. This time,, it's in my right shoulder, and all I'm doing is heat and massage therapy. Well, I'm not quite a year yet and I've almost beat this thing. So, I strongly believe what you posted. I, however, learned the hard way.
Thanks for the info. But that is SO depressing. Both my shoulders are affected, one for over a year now. I am on the waiting list to see an Orthopedic surgeon and have been told I have a 1 year wait JUST to see one!
Here is a study to support what the Ortho Surgeon says - not exactly bedtime reading, but google "Adhesive Capsulitis: Use the Evidence to Integrate your Interventions" published in 2010 in a journal of physical therapy. It has some interesting ideas about scarring, best exercises, the 'shrug' etc., but mostly it's great because it concludes that intensive physio is counterproductive. Yes!
i was 2 years from when it first to when i first saw consultant she discharged me back to my GP after shevinjected it referred me for physio. I had 4 physio sessions then theyvreferred me back as itvwas to painful then U/S scan then ingotvreferred to musculoskeketal.centre had another cortisone injection didnt work. Complained as i was beingpassed from pillar to post and nothing being done and pain getting worse i finally got.to see consultant January this year had hydro dilation February saw consiltant again March surgery last week 😊😊happy no pain no scar tissue just post op aches
Interesting - also interesting what is says about MUA and the risks it poses. Seeing as this was published in 2010, it would seem it hasn't been read by a lot of "professionals".
Wow so many different opinions! i've seen two orthos who said differently. One when he described frozen shoulder, said because of the pain, people stop using their shoulder and then it scars down or freezes down or something like that. idea being if you stop using it because of pain it wll freeze and he sent me to therapy. Another i asked, should therapy or exercise be painful? He said for stretching--Let it hurt! For exercise-No, stop before pain. Then my two PT's took different approaches too! One stopped the stretching before pain as WELL as in exercise. The other doesn't think you should go overboard with certain exercises, but otherwise yes pain otherwise it will freeze! She believes it's going to go through it's process whether you let it freeze or not but the stretching will keep it from freezing/scarring down. oy vey what do you believe? i'm in about month 4 of stage one of therapy has helped some. i still have good range but it's wanting to freeze down (worst part for me is i can't sleep on it, and my other side i shouldn't be sleeping on for a different medical reason!). MSM (12 grams/day) helps me. Diet seems to help too. (juicing, greens, avoiding sugar) i know my body tends towards inflammation anyway--And i'll be that's a common denominator in FS sufferers...
mine got too painful for physio but inused mine in my job then itvgotvworse with physio take it up to.psin not into pain mine was from.repetative movement heaving lifting it just used to burn then ached become stiff then i got the real pain my physio refused to do anymore it was so painful x
Hi Valerie: I started with gentle physio when my arm first having 'twinges' and I still had lots of ROM. Didn't have a clue about FS yet! A few months passed; I was discharged, but something wasn't quite right. The stiffness started & the big pain, so I went to a different physio. That's when I was told what you were told too - that my FS was happening because I wasn't using it "through the pain". I have a very high pain tolerance and was having aggressive physio desperately trying to stop the process of freezing. Then I got reading others' experiences on here & realized I needed to be better informed & then make my own choices. I quit the aggressive physio & took narcotics & aleve/naprosyn. Though I still had pain/sleepless nights, I am convinced for me it was the best decision I could have made & it gave my FS a chance to heal. It was quite a relief to quit the intensive physio. If it happens in my other shoulder, I would know to try anti-inflammatories/cortisone first and to keep using my arm as normally as possible. I recently started MSM just to see if it would make a difference in the last bit of ROM I need to get back.