Frozen shoulders

[Angela234]

I have had very painful shoulders foe severel weeks now went to the doctors today and was told I have Frozen shoulder in both shoulders
Anyone else had this before I do struggle sometimes working can't push buggy so only go out with lo who needs buggy when my daughter can help me shes my assistant.
How long has it taken to get better and how do you manage with working?

[hectors house]

Your doctor shouldn't just tell you this and expect you to accept it, if you act quickly and get a GOOD physio they maybe able to prevent it from completely freezing. A frozen shoulder goes through 3 stages - freezing (which is more painful than you could ever imagine), frozen which means you have very limited movement - if you want to get something out of a cupboard you can't just reach your arm in to get it without your whole body having to go in as well and then the 3rd stage is "thawing" where movement starts to come back - but this can on average take up to 2 years to go through the whole process.

You could also badger your doctor to give you a cortizone injection right into your shoulder joint - how effective it is depends entirely on how good your doctor is at getting it in the right place - I had 3 and only the 2nd one worked at all. Also get some strong pain killers - I doubt your shoulders have completely frozen yet, the pain is yet to come!

I had physio, 3 cortizone injections, tried Bowen treatment, etc, etc, etc - eventually had to give in and have an operation - I now have 75% movement and only a small amount of pain if I overdo pushing a buggy or spend too much time on computer. If you imagine that your shoulder is a tap and that it completely gets rocked up with limescale that is what a frozen shoulder is like.

This is a fantastic website - Frozen Shoulder

I have found the article on frozen shoulder for you - I really hope your doctor is wrong as I wouldn't wish a frozen shoulder on my worse enemy.

[littletreasures]

Oh poor you.

I agree with the above. I haven't got a frozen shoulder, but I am suffering with my right shoulder. I am seeing a consultant. I have had 2 cortisone injections, one done by a physio lady and the other done by the consultant using ultrasound. It really hurt when he put it in, but unfortunately didn't give me any relief at all.

When he did the ultrasound he saw I had a spur on the end of my collarbone and an impingement, where the tendon is being nipped. He seemed to think my shoulder was a little bit better after the injection and sent me for some physio. I was allowed to have 5 sessions under the health insurance we have. The last one is Wednesday.

Unfortunately, it is no better so I return to see the consultant next week to discuss what next. Next option will be keyhole surgery to shave the spur off and to have a proper look at the impingement. I asked him worst case scenario and I have to have this op how long would I be out of action for. His reply for what I do for a living he would recommend at least 4 weeks, preferably 6 weeks without lifting the kids, buggies etc. I am very lucky in that all my children at the moment are teacher's children so I am hoping to last until mid July and I will have the op during the summer holidays.

I would definitely try a cortisone injection and physio. You may be able to prevent the full frozen shoulder.
The NHS physio were next to useless. Showing me a few exercises and see you in a month. The private physio has been fantastic. manipulating my muscles and going through some pretty intense exercises.

Good luck and be careful.

[hectors house]

Oh poor you.

I agree with the above. I haven't got a frozen shoulder, but I am suffering with my right shoulder. I am seeing a consultant. I have had 2 cortisone injections, one done by a physio lady and the other done by the consultant using ultrasound. It really hurt when he put it in, but unfortunately didn't give me any relief at all.

When he did the ultrasound he saw I had a spur on the end of my collarbone and an impingement, where the tendon is being nipped. He seemed to think my shoulder was a little bit better after the injection and sent me for some physio. I was allowed to have 5 sessions under the health insurance we have. The last one is Wednesday.

Unfortunately, it is no better so I return to see the consultant next week to discuss what next. Next option will be keyhole surgery to shave the spur off and to have a proper look at the impingement. I asked him worst case scenario and I have to have this op how long would I be out of action for. His reply for what I do for a living he would recommend at least 4 weeks, preferably 6 weeks without lifting the kids, buggies etc. I am very lucky in that all my children at the moment are teacher's children so I am hoping to last until mid July and I will have the op during the summer holidays.

I would definitely try a cortisone injection and physio. You may be able to prevent the full frozen shoulder.
The NHS physio were next to useless. Showing me a few exercises and see you in a month. The private physio has been fantastic. manipulating my muscles and going through some pretty intense exercises.

Good luck and be careful.

I put my operation off for 9 months as I was told I would need 3 weeks off from heavy lifting - I needed manipulation under anaesthetic to release the frozen shoulder (eg: break off all the limescale from my example of shoulder being like a rocked up tap) and the bone shaved with key hole surgery as I also had an impingement - I couldn't see how I could take the time off and struggled on - eventually I realised that if I employed an assistant I could have the surgery and keep my mindees.

Agree that NHS physios were rubbish - before and after the operation, when I eventually paid to see a private one it was obvious how bad the NHS one was!

[Angela234]

He has given me painkillers getting me an appointment with physio and once this starts have injections.
I haven't had a proper nights sleep for weeks so painfull at night just keeps waking me up evan slightest movement really hurts its worse at night.
Some days are worse than others hard to dress, do things like mash potatoes anything with any pressure.
Have just took first painkillers has eased slightly any before done nothing
Thanks for your answers have had a look on the link hectors house thanks for that.

[hectors house]

He has given me painkillers getting me an appointment with physio and once this starts have injections.
I haven't had a proper nights sleep for weeks so painfull at night just keeps waking me up evan slightest movement really hurts its worse at night.
Some days are worse than others hard to dress, do things like mash potatoes anything with any pressure.
Have just took first painkillers has eased slightly any before done nothing
Thanks for your answers have had a look on the link hectors house thanks for that.

I took co-codemal (30 mg codeine + normal dose paracetomal) 2 tablets at bed time & had temazapan sleeping tablets prescribed to help me get some sleep - or you could ask for amitriptyline (although is only licensed for use in depression, it is also commonly prescribed to help prevent migraine or for certain types of nerve pain.) I still take amitriptyline to help me sleep as it is a muscle relaxant and isn't addictive like sleeping tablets.

[WibbleWobble]

Mr wobble went to the docs with what we thought was frozen shoulder.

Gp has referred him to orthopaedic surgeons and he is off for an MRI on Wednesday. They think he has torn a tendon.

Wibble xxxxxxx

[sweets]

Ive had 2 frozen shoulders thankfully at different times, cant Imagine having them at the sMe time! The first one took about 9mnths to fully heal after lots of physio. I went every 2 wks and had to do exercises every few hours at home.
The second one ended up having surgery (capsule clearout, manipulation and decompression)physio told me was the worse one she had see in 20yrs! Getting dressed was hideous and usually ended with me In tears and I was knocked or jolted I virtually had to sit on the floor in pain.

Personally I wouldnt have injections as they gave me no relief apart from one my gp dix which helped for about 24hrs. I had 7 altogether done by consultant surgeons and my gp was the only one to hit the spot! Lol

TaKe every painkiller you are offered as often as you can lol.

One consolation is that they always get better.