There are plenty of definitions of Frozen Shoulder on the interwebs, but this is Mike’s Frozen Shoulder so more importantly, what does it mean to me?
- My left elbow cannot move forwards and upward beyond the height of my shoulder. This makes it very hard to put on deodorant.
- I can get around the flexibility issues from #1 by bending my elbow, which means that I can still lift my son above the horizontal plane defined by my shoulders.
- I cannot sleep on my left shoulder.
- My left hand cannot move (pain free) to a point behind me.
- Taking a shirt off is always painful experience.
- I cannot swim front crawl… properly.
- I have to do painful exercises every day. Well, I tended to enjoy that before the shoulder injury, but at least I was able to choose which ones.
Okay, seven reasons is enough. So what is frozen shoulder technically speaking. Here are some definitions that I have found that accurately describe my situation:
I have to admit that I prefer the first one; the second one sounds much worse. That whole the glenohumeral joint of the shoulder grows together with abnormal bands of tissue isn’t very attractive sounding to me. Happily, the Wikipedia entry (the second one above) goes on to state the following after providing some other dire facts about this issue:
There are a number of risk factors for frozen shoulder, including diabetes, stroke, accidents, lung disease, connective tissue disorders, and heart disease. The condition very rarely appears in people under 40.
Awesome. I’m part of an elite group of rare people who have this under 40 (I always liked being different.)
I’m going to read up some more about this. If I find out any other juicy facts I’ll be sure to update this post. With any luck I get the report back from my MRI this week.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Mike,
Save yourself the pain..
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15383804?dopt=AbstractPlus
This is my 21st month of fss after pulling a tendon reaching for a heavy bag in the backseat of my car. I opted for benign neglect after one traumatic visit to the physiotherapist and I am glad I did. I have been pain free for over nine months now and my shoulder’s range of motion is almost back to normal.
All the best in your journey, you will find that a tennis ball and a blunt end of a drumstick make excellent massage devices for when the nagging pain persists in the night.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to comment. That link is really interesting and I will do some more digging around. I haven’t had my follow-up since my MRI so I still have room to learn before heading in and asking the doc some questions.
What I would really like to know more about is how, in many of the descriptions, the process of the injury includes thawing of the shoulder after a prolonged period of time. I can’t help but wonder, if it is going to thaw anyways why all the pain? I may have mis-understood this and I plan on doing some more research before really getting into re-hab.
I too found the link really helpful. My frozen shoulder started in may of 2009. I have been following the benign neglect treatment. There is no pain now but it is frustrating not to see any improvement.
any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks
Hey Fauzia,
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Unlucky that you have nt seen any improvement yet.
I cannot really offer any advice. It turns out that although I was experiencing very limited range of motion in my shoulder, the capsule was not yet heavily effected. My doctor eventually decided that I was in an early phase of this problem and that I was lucky.
In the end I had 5 cortisone shots and heavy work from a really good physio who had a lot of experience curing this problem. As of early January I had regained 90% of my mobility and was then able to start back in the gym and strengthen all of my shoulder muscles, which has also improved things.
So that is my story. Good luck with yours!!