advertisement


Frozen shoulder

Tony L

Tony L

Administrator
Had it diagnosed yesterday. All the rage with diabetics I believe. It bloody hurts. Thankfully not impacting cycling aside from my right turn indications are now of a rather low quality. Anyone got any tips or tricks? The Dr is apparently going to send me to a physiotherapist.
 
Sorry to hear this, Tony. I have had this in both shoulders (not at the same time fortunately). I was told there was nothing much to do: just wait and it would sort itself out. This is what happened, but it took months. On the plus side, it rarely comes back.
 
Acupuncture. Try and find someone who's actually studied in China, rather than someone who's done a short course in the UK.
 
I suffered with a shoulder problem for a good few years. My local GP was giving me a steroid injection on an annual basis which mproved things for awhile but the problem kept returning, hence another injection.

On relocating to Yorkshire I saw a different GP who refused to do this, instead he referred me to a specialist. This bloke did a series of 3 steroid injections 2 weeks apart. The way he did it was really painful but I've had no problems now for about 12 years. This may not be suitable for you, Tony but I would at least ask your GP for his thoughts on that approach. If you do, the specialist I saw did mention his opinion GPs can't do this properly, he did do the injections differently to the GP and though it hurt a lot, it worked and was worth it.
 
I've had it for about two or three months now (takes me a while to consider something to be an issue!) and if anything it now seems to be easing a little, I can now lie on that side, where a month ago I couldn't. The Dr mentioned steroid injections as a last resort, but was reluctant to go that route at this stage. I'd prefer to tackle it in a non-evasive way and hopefully via exercise/physio and just understanding the issue better. I'm rather pleased it's something that can/will get better - my initial fear was it was arthritis (which runs in the family and I have to a small degree in some joints already). I wasn't ready to lose a shoulder's movement at just 51 years old! I wasn't ready for the pain either, which was quite astonishing a few weeks ago - I almost ended up in tears unpacking and hooking up a new TV! F*** that hurt!
 
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
I also had one of these a few years ago, and the pain levels were eye watering.
Keep the shoulder as mobile as you can bear, and use analgesics to assist as required.
How long a wait for the physiotherapist are you facing Tony?
 
Tony L

Sorry to hear about this.

2 Suggestions for you to think about and try for pain relief:

1) self- hypnosis
2) grounding (earthing).

1)The first can be learned quickly through use of a manual. The best I have found is a little book 'Advanced Self- Hypnosis' by Melvin Powers. It is out of print, but a copy can usually be purchased through Abebooks.co.uk, second hand.

2) Earthing has bee proven to be most effective when used during sleep. You can purchase a wrist strap and special plug.

Pain relief is quick and effective with both methods. Plenty of scientific research on this.
 
Tony,

my wife had a frozen shoulder and thankfully, the physio caught it early. She had gone to see her about something else.
She was given a whole load of exercises that she had to do twice a day. The bad news is that there appears to be no quick cure. It will probably take several months to get better.

IIRC the exercises were mainly keeping the shoulder mobile - swinging the affected arm in various arcs to mobilise the joint.

Hope you get to see your physio soon.

Best wishes


Mark
 
I've had it in both shoulders and it took bloody ages to get fully right. To add to the misery it's also known as Old Man's Shoulder.

Although the good news is the pain goes away and it gradually gets better and better until you forget about it until you realise it's gone. No steroids as they are a PITA for diabetics for a number of reasons (raise glucose levels, can increase resistance) and I prefer to save my Prednisone bandwidth for neurological emergencies.
 
If it is the thing where it hurts if you raise your arm above shoulder height, I had it a few years ago. It lasted a few months, I went to an osteopath and that helped a bit, but essentially it went away by itself. I have no idea why. I remember it would be stiff and painful in any overarm movement, throwing a ball overarm, swimming (crawl). None of the doctors I asked had any direct solution in mind. But, as I say it eventually went away.
 
Tony L said:
II'd prefer to tackle it in a non-evasive way...
Click to expand...

Absolutely, tackle it head on!

(Every time you do an upgrade on these apple things you've got to turn so many things back on and sometimes predictive and spellchecker stuff off)

More seriously - what is the actual mechanism behind the frozen shoulder? Is it the actual joint, muscles...?

I ask as I have noticed my left shoulder hurting a little, especially with extended movement. But I'd just assumed I was overdoing the exercise or sleeping on one side. Any diagnosis tips?
 
Iiuc the problem is with the joint (aka capsule) becoming inflamed and causing pain/stiffness.
An injury to the area, and diabetes, increase the risk of developing it.
The earlier it's treated the better the prognosis.
 
Ah I have experience of this

My shoulder became painful to lie on. I couldnt move my arm in some directions without great pain.

I left for a long time thinking it was a sprain and it would go away. I should have seen the doctor sooner.

The doctor sent me to the physiotherapist who started a course of ultrasound. They rub the lubricant on the shoulder and apply the equipment.. I seem to remember sitting under some sort of soothing heat lamp as well.

It was inflamation leading to damage or infection of the shoulder joint. There was talk of steroid injections but I didnt have to have any. It took the full course and a good while after to fully heal. Im talking about a few months.

Its probably my own fault as I had a way of carrying things on my bike with that arm over long distances supported by the bar. Bit naughty and I reckon it caused this severe inflamation in the shoulder joint.
 
I have had in twice in both shoulders. It will go away but can take a long time. When is does stop hurting you have to be careful as it is easy to have it again. Throwing things is a no no.
 
Mrs Nero had this a couple of years ago. The only solution for her was a full rotation of the joint under general anaesthetic (otherwise it would be excruciating pain to do this). Apparently it involves pretty much unplugging the joint and putting it back in again, but I'm certainly no expert.

Fixed it completely though....
 
Jeez Tony, sorry to hear of your discomfort. I trust you find a workable and appropriate solution soon.

Could it be aggravated by the riding position on your bikes?

As an aside - when I first read the thread title I feared you may have ditched vegetarianism in favour of lamb!

Best regards
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top