I have a Frozen Shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) - looking for some knowledge!
Unfortunately I've been a frequent poster in the medical forum over the last couple of month, but I appreciate the fact that I can throw out things I've been working through and someone out there can relate and/or offer some advice.
After breaking my clavicle and having it surgically repaired, my arm was in a sling for a good 5-6 weeks where it was kept very immobile. When I finally was able to free my arm of the sling, I realized that I had very little mobility and strength in my shoulder. The doctor and physical therapist have told me that I have a condition known as FROZEN SHOULDER or adhesive capsulitis. This is basically the hardenening of the capsule that surrounds the ball and socket in the shoulder. When I try to move the shoulder beyond the mobility level that I have, there is a lot of pain in my shoulder (deltoid, rotator cuff).
The doctor has told me that he's 99% sure that I have this wonderful condition, but I have convinced him to give me an MRI later this week to rule out anything else, such as a torn rotator cuff, etc. If I indeed have a frozen shoulder, the time frame for recovery is greatly mixed - a couple of months to a couple of years. Enhanced recovery is usually achieved by lots of PT where "more pain - more gain" is the motto since the hardened area needs to be broken up by stretching and strengthening. In rare cases, a doctor will manually move the shoulder beyond the area that one would be able to do on their own - under anesthesia.....that doesn't sound fun!
Does anyone have any experience with this condition? I'd be really interested in hearing from anyone with any knowledge on this..... As always thanks in advance!
After breaking my clavicle and having it surgically repaired, my arm was in a sling for a good 5-6 weeks where it was kept very immobile. When I finally was able to free my arm of the sling, I realized that I had very little mobility and strength in my shoulder. The doctor and physical therapist have told me that I have a condition known as FROZEN SHOULDER or adhesive capsulitis. This is basically the hardenening of the capsule that surrounds the ball and socket in the shoulder. When I try to move the shoulder beyond the mobility level that I have, there is a lot of pain in my shoulder (deltoid, rotator cuff).
The doctor has told me that he's 99% sure that I have this wonderful condition, but I have convinced him to give me an MRI later this week to rule out anything else, such as a torn rotator cuff, etc. If I indeed have a frozen shoulder, the time frame for recovery is greatly mixed - a couple of months to a couple of years. Enhanced recovery is usually achieved by lots of PT where "more pain - more gain" is the motto since the hardened area needs to be broken up by stretching and strengthening. In rare cases, a doctor will manually move the shoulder beyond the area that one would be able to do on their own - under anesthesia.....that doesn't sound fun!
Does anyone have any experience with this condition? I'd be really interested in hearing from anyone with any knowledge on this..... As always thanks in advance!
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I would go with the lots and lots and lots of PT route first. IOW, start with PT, do it like it's your job and see how things progress. After my shoulder surgery they had me in the water doing arm stuff, then dryland, etc.
My buddy earlier this year was hit by a car and it did some major damage to his elbow, think 4" landscape screw driven in to hold everything together. He was going to PT plus doing self-PT another 3-4 times per day and was making no progress. He could barely bend his arm and PT was yielding about 2 degrees of movement for 8 weeks of work! He went back in and what you describe is exactly what they told him he had. His doctor said it happens sometimes when they had a bad break and have to stabilize the arm to let the bone heal but the lack of movement allows the scar tissue to build up and stiffen.
They took him in for an MRI and said they might need to go back in and do more surgery or they can put him under and mechanically move the arm completely straight and then also completely bent. You can imagine with 2-3 degrees of movement why they wanted to put him under. He went in and they moved his arm and he was told they could literally hear the pop of the scar tissue breaking loose. His arm looked really badly bruised and swollen for several days afterward and he was on some heavy pain meds as well.
Upshot is that now he's getting something of PT and making progress albeit slow but progress nevertheless. He can ride the bike for limited time now up to about 2 hours where before he couldn't even support himself.
I would certainly drill down with your doctor on the recovery from them putting you under but it might be worth a closer look.
If you want to talk to my buddy directly I can get you in touch with him to get more details then I can provide.
Hope you get some good additional answers here as well and heal soon.
Bruce- thanks for JT's info. Maybe I'll reach out to him. Sounds like he was worst case scenario and maybe I should hear what that was like.
Rich - yes to PT like it was my job. Don't have much choice to this!
Attila - sounds like your buddy went through a lot! From what I've seen, this condition is limited to shoulder encapsulation, but I can see how other moving parts would freeze up - sounds like more tightening of tendons. Either way, frightening and painful!
Rachel - I assume you're a PT. thanks for your input. I was doubtful of the diagnosis since it seemed like a "catch all", but I'm becoming more of a believer after a couple of weeks. I insisted on the MRI, which is tomorrow, to rule out other things that may have happened in my crash. But, they are fairly certain that nothing will be found. The uncertainty of time to get through this is what's really driving me mad!
Hey Brad... don't get discouraged! Rachel is right. Gaining 40 degrees of active assistive range of motion (ie, the PT was helping) IS significant. "Scapulohumeral rhythm" kicks in after 30 - 60 degrees depending on the movement (abduction or forward flexion) - which is just a fancy way of saying that your shoulder blade (and your clavicle) begins to move in an upward arc along with your arm. Essentially, it's not JUST the ball-and-socket joint of the shoulder that's moving - it's multiple joints that articulate between the scapula, the clavicle, and the head of the humerus that have been largely immobile for the past 5-6 weeks... hopefully things just need some time to get a little loose.
Definitely reach out to JT - I'm pretty certain he had a suprascapular nerve impingement as the result of his crash and fractures, which was why his range of motion was limited initially. He did have to have it surgically released (but the last time I saw him he had no trouble flagging down pretty girls with that arm... :-)
I'm hoping your PT had/has you doing pendulum exercises.... maybe ask if it's appropriate for you to do overhead pulley exercises at home. They're inexpensive and would give you a way to work on your range of motion when you're not in PT... you can even get them at Dicks http://tinyurl.com/q52qy3a
Best of luck!
Yes to pendulum exercises and yes to the pulleys. The latter of the two is like a medieval torture device to me! I "enjoy" it so much, I bought a set for home to have fun with too!
Sorry to hear of your difficulties. The thing is that different folks make scar tissue at different rates, some pretty slowly and some really fast. Your body will be healing for at least 6 months after your injury and during the time of that healing, it will make more scar tissue. The feeling that you have of working hard to get it loose just to have it stiffen up again overnight is a result of the fact that your body heals more during periods of inactivity so it makes more scar tissue at night and when you are being still and so in the AM it is stiff again.
I agree with the comments above. You certainly could have injured your rotator cuff a the time of the injury but I think that it is not very likely. You can have surgery to manipulate your shoulder (move it around and break up the scar tissue) but your body's reaction to that is to make it more painful and make more scar tissue in response. Initially, I agree that PT is the way to go. Give it a good 4-6 months before you decide that it is not working and track your progress just like your fitness because you will notice improvement slowly and from day to day it can be hard to see progress that is easy to see when you compare to where you were a couple of weeks prior. Keep us updated on your progress, and good luck.
I have good and bad days both mentally and physically. I am running and biking (trainer), but have nit been in the pool. I'd imagine that I may be able to muster a doggie paddle at this point
See this video:
Please keep me posted!