Pls share your experience with frozen shoulder.

I didn't do PT because it was $50 copay per session, recommended 2-3x week for several weeks.

Instead I worked out with weights and stretching on my own and got range of motion back within several weeks to a few months (can't remember for sure how long it was). You have to be willing to work through the pain to get there. It will hurt!

If you don't want to do PT for whatever reason, look on YouTube for exercises.

I didn’t do any PT. Couldn’t afford it. Essentially I carried on with life as normal, using my arm to the widest range of motion. It does take about two years. I can remember being at work one day and suddenly realising that I had put something on a shelf with my right arm and not my left. That’s when I knew it was improving.

At its worst, I couldn’t shave under my right armpit, had to use hair removal cream. And I did have my long hair cut as H (at the time) wouldn’t help me put my hair up when DD went away on school camp.

I used to work for a Dr that used acupuncture on frozen shoulders. I didn’t go that route but it might be worth considering.

Had FS for about 9 months before I went to the doctor. PT for about 6 or 8 weeks with no improvement. Then a steroid pack and boom... gone. That was 2016. Never returned

I worked on my shoulder myself. After about 3 months of not being able to move my shoulder/arm, I slowly started exercising it. I started out, when I was in a hot shower, slowly moving my arm around. It hurt, but I kept moving it. It took about 3 months to get most of my range of motion back.

I had a frozen shoulder many years ago. Couldn't shave my armpit, hook my bra, lift it to brush my hair. I did do pt for a couple of times. Once I knew what exercises to do I did them on my own. It lasted a few months then back to new. No problems since.

Both mine froze when I was in my mid to late 40s. They did eventually get back to complete normality after 2 years. I started using bralettes I could step into. And I used breast stroke movements as physio.

I am going to copy and paste my reply from an old thread, because I can't actually remember now!

I had frozen shoulder in my left shoulder that started in January 2018. It lasted 12 months. Apart from the exercise where you "crawl" your arm up the wall, I didn't do anything, and it just got better on its own. (I couldn't afford to go to a physio regularly.) Then just as that got better, wouldn't you know it, I got it in my right shoulder! By that time my DD was in her final year of her Physiotherapy degree, and she put together an exercise plan for me. I believe it helped, and it got better considerably quicker than the first one - I think about 8 months. I wasn't really diligent with the exercises, and I'm sure I would have recovered quicker if I had been more diligent.

My right shoulder was a LOT more painful and debilitating than my left arm. There were nights that I had to sleep in my clothes because I couldn't get undressed! And if I made any sudden movements with my arm, OMG the pain would nearly make me pass out.

I know several people who have had frozen shoulders (my mum, my dad, my boss, my BFF). All of our experiences were different.

My dad got a cortisone injection and said it was extremely painful but it worked.
My BBF got a cortisone injection and said it wasn't painful but it didn't really work.
My mum had it in both shoulders at once, poor thing - I don't know how she did anything.

I have heard about people getting relief with hydrodilatation.

Regarding the MRI - I was told that a frozen shoulder cannot be seen on MRIs, ultrasounds and x-rays. The only reason to have them is to rule out anything else like a meniscal tear or bursitis. I had an ultrasound and an x-ray. They then diagnosed frozen shoulder based on the limited movement I had, and the pain I was getting when they asked me to put my arm in certain positions while they were doing the ultrasound.

Good luck, I hope you recover quickly - it can be so debilitating!

DH says it depends on how severe it starts, and how far you let it go. Did your doctor mention what stage you were in? Like most things, if you attack it from the beginning and try to stop the progression it will take less time to heal. Most average 6-9 months. If you can, definitely do the physical therapy as often as prescribed, and make sure you do your homework too! As to reoccurring, that’s much more likely if you’re diabetic with thyroid issues. If you start to feel it pop up again, get started on your PT exercises right away and if it doesn’t stop progressing and/or start getting better get back to the doctor. 

Something that helped him was to alternate between ice and heat. And don’t not move it, that’s the worst thing you can do! Keep moving it within your minimal pain tolerance. Pendulum exercises were simple for him to do and kept it moving. 

My much-hated doctor diagnosed me with frozen shoulder 7 years ago with nothing but a description from me. She tossed a booklet at me which was no help. It resolved pretty quickly so I doubt she was correct.

Fast forward to this summer when I started doing some youtube exercises and the back of my right arm (not the shoulder) started to really hurt at night, waking me up.

I told my new dr about it and she sent me for PT, which is thankfully paid for by Medicare. It is mostly resolved but shortly after I started PT, the same thing happened to my left arm. So weird. My range of motion was not affected much.

I did some PT plus my PT gave me home exercises and some exercises to help me at the local gym, which I’ve been doing. Both arms are better.

TL;DR-ish: So all that so say, I thought this latest might be frozen shoulder, and I frequent Reddit and saw there is a frozen shoulder subreddit that might have some help for you, jennifercw

Thank you, AussieMeg. I have been fine, am here every day. I appreciate your kind words!

I had it for about a year and a half. I did something to my shoulder and went to the ortho who ordered pt without scans or mri and I developed frozen shoulder since what they were doing was making it worse. I did get pt for it for a few months but stopped cause it really wasn’t doing much. It took a while but finally went away completely.