Adhesive capsulitis or frozen shoulder: What helps?

Thank you I am hopeful again!

@auntieoakley There,s always a light at the end you just have to look for it and you have by finding us on connect .I never had MFR as Chris mentioned , no one around here or to far to travel. We just have to do what we can .

@auntieoakley Have you had a diagnosis of why your shoulder is frozen? I have had this happen to both shoulders. They were at different times and for different reasons, but the initial treatment for both was to try cortisone injection followed by PT. The next step (had these not worked) would have been surgery. It will be important to see why the shoulder is frozen. For me an MRI showed that Shoulder #1 was due to a bone spur. Shoulder #2 was due to a torn rotator cuff. I never knew how much I depended on my shoulders' range of motion until it was gone. The cortisone/PT did work, but it took about 10 weeks before I got full range of motion back.

@auntieoakley, that_girl, I see a post to you @auntieoakley, from @that_girl. For her situation, she thought it took about 10 weeks. That may be different for you. Be free of suffering today. Chris

Apparently my body likes to create unnecessary scar tissue, there was no injury and no rotator cuff tear. But the shoulder capsule was showing adhesions. I always slept on this side after they put a plate in the other clavicle, I guess maybe that was it. But I have called for another appointment to check the structures surrounding it, just in case something is wounded somehow. The truth is I play with large animals and I do all of the heavy lifting at our home. My husband has bone cancer and a 5 lb. lift limit. So it is always possible I injured it but I don’t remember anything except just waking up one day to the beginning of pain. The doctor found no reason for the scar tissue, but did say he had no real effective treatments. He said ride it out, and it would resolve itself in 1 to 3 years. Thanks to connect I am not just accepting that, but I will stay with treatments that are recommended by Mayo because I trust them. I can not justify traveling there for a hurt shoulder but I have been there many times with my husband. I also cannot really afford travel and uninsured treatments that might or might not be helpful. 10 weeks for you sounds like possibly 16 weeks for me. That is light at the end of the tunnel, in fact geez that is about how long since I was diagnosed, I can do that!

I am curious why your doctor didn't suggest PT as an option. I'm sure there must be a reason why it wouldn't work in your case. I'm not sure PT helped my shoulder any more than just waiting it out, but the use of the TENS machine at the end of each session was worth going through the PT pain. It felt divine! I sympathize with you and hope you recover soon. I think the worst for me was never getting a good night's sleep. Each time I would roll flat on my back the pain in my shoulder was excruciating and would wake me up.

I am not sure why he didn’t, he listed a few things that have been tried over the years and didn’t work but he never said anything about that. I was so disheartened after he said ride it out and it would take 1 to 3 years, I did not even think to ask. I certainly agree about the sleep. I would probably be able to tolerate the pain of cleaning stalls, picking fruit and all the rest if I could just get a good nights sleep, but every time I move it is a five minute ordeal of getting that shoulder comfortable enough to try sleep again. Thank you for your comments, I hope you are well now.

Does anyone have suggestions as to how to sleep with frozen shoulder. Am a side sleeper

Hello @jaysnh721, Welcome to Connect. I am a side sleeper myself and frequently have pain in my arms that causes me to do a lot of tossing and turning during the night. I ran across a YouTube video that may be helpful for you - How to sleep with a painful shoulder

Did your doctor offer any suggestions?

@jaysnh721, @johnbishop, Good morning to both of you and I would like to add my welcome to Connect @jaysnh721. This is a great solution for shoulder pain. Another idea that my orthopedic surgeon came up with to avoid having to wear a sling or demobilizer all the time is this.....wear a snazzy vest. Hold the front edge while sitting or walking so that your arm is placed just like the model's in the video.

If at all possible practice checking your body alignment frequently. Sometimes when we are favoring a painful appendage, our body and spine get out of alignment. So lie down and just imagine a string that runs from your nose to between your toes. If it is straight then your spine is perfectly aligned.

Do you know what caused your frozen shoulder? Was it an injury or surgery? May you find relief from pain today. Chris