My Frozen Shoulder

I don’t know about you but I found it hard to find help with my frozen shoulder when it first started.

My family doctor didn’t seem to know all that much about it … and in truth, I’m not sure he was certain that frozen shoulder was actually what was wrong with me.

I saw a physical therapist who also was a bit unsure and eventually met with a shoulder surgeon who confirmed that was what was wrong but then sent me back to the physical therapist for treatment. Not much help and not much info = not much support for me really

After a lot of searching I found useful info from a doctor in Scotland who provides what he calls a Shoulder Pain Survival Kit. It’s detailed information really – written in a simple way – and full of helpful tips for pain relief. You know the kind of thing – stuff you can do yourself at home that doesn’t involve medication. It was really cheap but packed with useful information. I’ve put a link at the side of the page if you want to look for yourself.  He also plans to run online web seminars soon so I think I might join in with one of those too.

I also found some frozen shoulder forums where other sufferers share ideas but they don’t seem to be used all that often.

Lastly, the page on wikipedia about frozen shoulder is good but a bit too technical for me in places.

Have you found any good resources?

Leave a comment and let me know so that other’s can benefit too.

Marjory

More from my google news browsing.

I found a press release from a chiropractic clinic in Dallas Texas where a doctor there has a theory that frozen shoulder is a nerve related condition and is not really due to the joint or bones afterall.

It says that research and patient outcome studies performed and published by Dr. Francis X. Murphy over the past 18 months clearly indicate that Frozen Shoulder Syndrome is a neurological condition rather than an orthopedic condition.

 

Dr Murphy has designed a new treatment called the MQR protocol = Murphy Quick Release for Frozen Shoulder. He’s claiming great success rates.

That’s some more homework for me to get my teeth into then !

Dr Murphy plans to train others how to do the techniques but for the moment you’ll need to travel to him in Dallas if you want to try it.

Let me know how you get on with it if you do go see him

Marjory

Have you used the Google News Search button? I noticed it last week when I was browsing around. Instead of searching the web you can search for news items. I tried searching for Frozen Shoulder and found a great article in the Sunday Times Sri Lanka edition.

It’s written by a rheumatology specialist doctor and says this about frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis:

Frozen shoulder affects about one in 50 adults at some stage in their life. It most commonly occurs in people aged between 40 and 60 and is more common in diabetics. Either shoulder can be affected but most often it is the non-dominant shoulder. That is, the left shoulder in a right handed person. In about one in 5 cases the condition also develops in the other shoulder at some stage. Frozen shoulder is not a form of arthritis, and other joints are not affected.

The cause is not clear. It is thought that some scar tissue forms in the shoulder capsule, a thin tissue that covers and protects the shoulder joint. The scar tissue may cause the capsule to thicken, contract and limit the movement of the shoulder. The reason why the scar tissue forms is not known.

A frozen shoulder occasionally follows a shoulder injury, but this is not usual and in most cases occurs for no apparent reason.it

That’s exactly the sort of question I’ve been asking myself. I also found a lot more information in Doctor Cameron’s Shoulder Pain Survival Kit – the frozen shoulder ebook had lots of information about diabetes and frozen shoulder and why they occur together.

Am beginning to learn much more about frozen shoulder now – and the more I learn the less threatening it seems.

M

More thoughts about sleeping poorly with frozen shoulder pain.

Here’s what I’ve tried to get a better sleep despite my painful shoulder:

• lying on the good side and cuddling into a cushion or pillow – helps a bit provided I can get the arm position worked out. Still wake up several times a night but better than nothing
• pillow behind back to prevent rolling onto painful side – OK in the early part of the night but pillow seems to move eventually and I still end up back lying on the sore side and waking up with shoulder pain spreading down my arm
• using my heated wheat filled bag around my shoulder before I go to sleep seems to help me get into a decent sleep quite quickly but effect seems to wear off after two or three hours
• painkillers at bed time helped a lot but the ones I took had codeine in them and left me feeling a bit groggy … and a lot constipated in the morning !

Do  you have any other tips or tricks?

Went to my doctor today who examined my painful shoulder again.

No doubt in his mind that I have frozen shoulder – and from all the reading I’ve done recently, no doubt in my mind either.

Question is: should I have an injection for my frozen shoulder?

The whole idea scares the life out of me – and I’m not normally a “fraidy cat” about these kind of things. The idea of a needle going deep into my painful shoulder just gives me shivers.

Now – I’ve read Doc Cameron’s Frozen Shoulder Book - and there’s a whole big section about injections – how they work – if they work – when to get one etc etc. But even so, my legs just go wobbly at the prospect.

I compromised with my doc today and we agreed to leave it for a couple more weeks to see how things develop ….. fingers crossed !

Hi

Silly post this I know but I’m really getting the hang of this blogging business – makes my day go past much more quickly and takes my mind off this stupid stiff and painful shoulder.

Are you reading this now?

If you are then please leave a comment and get involved.

Now that I’m off and running with this blogging business I’d like to build up this site into a resource that others can use.

Join in please. Ask me a question and I’ll try to find an answer for you. Leave me some feedback. Tell me what worked for your shoulder pain treatment.

Go on …. don’t be shy.

I’ve got the funny feeling that the only person reading this is me (which of course might be entirely true – ha ha !)

You can leave a comment by clicking on the link below each little article I write. That’s it – where it mostly says “no comments”  (

Thanks – Marjory

I was at a meeting last night – a local social group that I go to – and as usual the subject turned to health matters … hey, we’re all getting to that age after all.

Jess, my friend has been to see a Reiki specialist for her sore back and says that she thinks it might be helping. They all know about my shoulder pain so there was a huge blast of helpfully intended advice about the kind of treatment that will help me.

Acupuncture …. reiki for shoulder pains … reflexology … rolfing to the shoulder muscles (hadn’t heard of that before) …. herbal medicine … homeopathic pain relief … and on … and on ….

Now I’ve always had an open mind about alternative therapy but there’s such a big choice. I’ve read that acupuncture often works so might be prepared to devote time to that. Searching online suggests that the Bowen Therapy for shoulder pain is effective – don’t know how to find a Bowen Therapist. But what about all the others.

Have any of you reading this had experience of alternative treatment options – either for shoulder pain or just for joint pain in general?

Leave a comment and let me know. We can build up a little resource for others to tap into.

Marjory

PS – leave a comment by clicking on the last bit of the paragraph below – it will either say “no comments” if none have been left or will say “comments” with a number after it.

M

I read an article recently about Traumeel.

Traumeel is said to be a natural anti-inflammatory treatment. It’s a mixture of homeopathic and herbal stuff and can be used as a cream or as capsules.

I’d heard of it several times but also saw that it was mentioned in Doc Cameron’s Shoulder Pain Survival Kit. He suggested taking traumeel for frozen shoulder in the early stages of the problem.

Well, I’m always doubtful about this kind of thing but decided to give it a go and see what happened. I took Traumeel capsules every day for about two weeks and to be fair, I did see a difference in the level of pain I was having. I also slept better than before. After that my doctor gave me a prescription for some “normal anti-inflammatory” medication so I decided not to take the Traumeel too just in case they reacted with each other. I’ve heard about herbal meds and normal meds not going well together.

Anyways – thought I would post this just to share my experiences.

Traumeel might be worth a try for you too if you’re having pain and stiffness in your shoulder

Marjory

It took me a while to figure out that frozen shoulder and adhesive capsulitis are just two terms for the same condition. For ages when I was searching online I kinda figured that they were two similar conditions but not exactly the same.

Well they are … the same that is.

A medical friend of mines has explained it like this:

The suffix -ITIS on any word means inflammation. So TonsillITIS is inflamed tonsils. DermatITIS is inflamed skin and so on.

The Capsule is the name given to a bag of gristle that surrounds the shoulder – holding it snug in place and providing lubrication to the joint inside. If the capsule gets inflamed then a doctor will call it CAPSULITIS.

The last bit of the puzzle relates to the fact (seemingly) that inflammation fluid is sticky and acts like glue inside a joint. This causes the capsule to stick to the joint and the bone and to itself too.

So when a doctor looks inside a frozen shoulder he sees a:

Sticky mess of inflamed capsule or an ADHESIVE CAPSULITIS

Easy isn’t it.

M

One of the biggest problems I found with my frozen shoulder was the amount of stiffness that developed.

Even after the pain began to ease a bit I found my shoulder stiffness was still quite severe at times.

I was constantly being caught out as I reached for something only to find that I couldn’t get there without wincing or crying out. The rear view mirror in the car was particularly a problem for some reason.

Gradually as the months went past my stiffness eased – but even now – nearly a year after my frozen shoulder pain started – I still find myself stuck at times.

If you’ve found any good tips for frozen shoulder stiffness then please let me know

M