@marg47 and @tjmjsjwj good morning -- when I was on suboptimal dose of Prednisone throughout May 2023 - my morning shoulder stiffness was much worse than the hips/thighs. So I could bound out of bed and I took a hot shower and applied "Cause + Medic" cbd pain cream to my shoulders and then I would walk for about 30minutes with binoculars to look for birds close by. SO as tjmsjwj suggested -
"The best pain relief is movement" plus the beneficial effect deriving from the Menthol and Camphor cooling effect- ( both were good distractions for me : ). At that time in my Dx and treatment, by noontime I could raise my arms and put hair in pony tail etc. But every morning was like Groundhog Day- starting all over again until I was bumped up to 30mg Prednisone !
I have reread your initial comment -- perhaps you should check out this Norvatis clinical trial since you have a had a flare up !! - there are 5 locations in Australia !! https://www.novartis.com/clinicaltrials/study/nct05767034