Frozen Shoulder Surgery

[Emck]

Hi all,

I have been living with a frozen shoulder for almost 2 years. I have had steroid injections, hydro-dilation and lots of physio.

The hydro dilation and physio have helped, but my shoulder consultant thinks that I may have adhesions that will require surgical release.

My physio thinks that I should persevere without surgery for a few more months, to see if I heal anymore.

The surgeon seems to think that I may never regain more that 70% range of motion (I’m at about 50% now).

I don’t know if the surgery is worth the risk. I’m not in so much pain, post hydro-dilation I just have limited ROM.


Has anyone else got experience of frozen shoulder healing or the frozen shoulder release surgery.

(I am 36, female, t1d 27years & good control)

 

[Westley]

I had a frozen shoulder about 4 years ago. It was sharply painful with some movements for a few weeks, then just restricted movement, which made sleeping in some positions awkward.
I got a steroid+dilatation injection about a month after it froze, which gave significant improvement for a while, but mostly wore off after around 6 months.
It then gradually resolved itself to the point I rarely noticed it in daily life after a year. I did do stretching and physio during this time but not religiously. Once I could manage it, hanging from a pull up bar seemed to help most (at first I could just manage neutral grip, then overhand and underhand), along with just generally keeping active.
I'm normally a keen gym goer (though had stopped completely for over a year during COVID, which I suspect may have contributed to developing the frozen shoulder in the first place) and I carried on lifting as it recovered, initially unable to do some movements but adding them back in when I could. I'm now 99% back to normal. Very slightly less internal rotation range on the affected side, but I can comfortably do pull ups, handstands, and olympic lifts again.

 

[SimonP78]

I also had a frozen shoulder (twice iirc, though usefully my online record is not helping me much!), it was both annoying and painful at the time ( I recall not being able to reach to the small of my back, though quite why I needed to do this and remember this being a problem so vividly I don't know, perhaps I had a secret desire to audition as a cowboy with a revolver in the back of his waistband!).

I went for physio, and was discharged without it having got all that much better (which is similar to what happened with the rehab post-scaphoid fracture and cast for 12 weeks, though to give the physio their dues this time around I think frozen shoulders often just need time, wrists need more challenging targets - 45deg from vertical isn't that imho, but I digress)

It did resolve itself and I don't recall it being a massively drawn out thing. It's hard to know whether it resolved itself simply due to time, or due to my pure bloody-mindedness and repeatedly forcing it to move into painful positions (which is what I had to do for my wrist post-scaphoid fracture and post-discharge - I was quite used to making parts of my body hurt in the expectation they would then get better and that it wasn't in fact doing any more harm, which was certainly the concern I initially had with my wrist).

My shoulders can certainly be stiff these days and I don't think I have the same range of movement that I did as a twenty year-old (I can touch my fingers behind my back, but I can feel I'm doing it and I certainly can no longer hook them together), but I apparently gave them (my shoulders) a bit of a hard time in my twenties doing martial arts (shoulder locks), so it's probably to be expected.

I'm not sure that helps much though, sorry!

 

[peterb999]

I had real problems with my arms about 5 years. I was told that was a frozen shoulder and given injections and all sorts with no joy.

A couple of years ago my legs started hurting enough to stop me sleeping. They ran blood tests including Vitamin D and realised I was very very low for Vit D. They gave me a high dose and within about 4 weeks my legs didn't hurt anymore - and neither did my arms. So frustrating that I went through 5 years of pain and mis-diagnosing.

 

[EllieM]

I had a frozen shoulder about ten years ago. It took at least 3 years to heal and has only gone back to normal in the last couple of years.... (It didn't help that the second shoulder froze as soon as the first one was mostly healed, though the second one went faster, maybe because I hit the physio on it immediately). But I never had any treatments other than physio. The impression I got was that frozen shoulders in diabetics can take a long time to heal...

 

[Tony337]

Hi
Type of 1 of 50 years here.
I developed a frozen shoulder just over 3 years ago and had surgery in may this year.
My other one is going the same way and i ended up seeing a specialist who operated on my left then a week later i had hydro dilation on my right.
Plenty of physio and the upshot is both are better but not where i was.
I can now change a light bulb which i couldn't do (I am a caretaker) but still cannot play snooker if that makes sense.

I'm glad i had the surgery on my left.

I wish you well

Tony

 

[lovinglife]

I had frozen shoulder on both sides at the same time probably over 10 years ago, I didn’t have any medical intervention but did do some recommended exercises diligently, the pendulum one I did with a litre of milk to stretch out more, I also took pain killers about 20 minutes before the exercise- I did them 3 times a day, it took a while, probably about 18 months but it did work. The link below is from a hospital website but it explains the exercises I did, I also iced & heated alternating every 5 minutes for about half an hour a day

Frozen shoulder

www.cuh.nhs.uk

@EllieM people with diabetes are supposed to be more susceptible to frozen shoulder

Diabetes affects both the nerves and circulation which can result in joint pain and disorders developing in a number of areas of the body.

Diabetes affects both the nerves and circulation which can result in joint pain and disorders developing in a number of areas of the body.

www.diabetes.co.uk