My Story

My frozen shoulder is 90% resolved as I start this blog. I have managed to unfreeze it quickly - in a matter of weeks - when typically it takes years. I felt that this is important to share, especially since the most effective treatments have been ones that I was able to do at home, without a doctor or even a therapist.

My shoulder had some small inklings of a problem starting in December 2004. The top would cramp up and the back would ache. This was mostly due to carrying a heavy purse on the right and spending waaaaay too much time on the computer in non-ergonomic conditions. It was especially aggravated by using the touch pad at home, with the surface too high. By May and June, I was annoyed by the pain and signed up for Dahn yoga. This was perhaps not the best therapy for it, since this was not real yoga and included bouncing exercises that might have aggravated it. By early July, my arm started to spasm and really hurt. By August, my range of motion was really limited and the pain was so severe that I was barely using the arm at all. I started seeing a chiropractor who does myofascial release therapy in August. Her therapy seemed to help a little and perhaps kept me from getting much worse and prolonging the "freezing" stage - but it has not eliminated the problem.

In September, my husband, a massage devotee, started massaging the "sore" spots. This seemed to help! It actually helped as much or more than the chiropractor, it seemed to me. I then decided to do more Web research. I read any published papers about frozen shoulder. I was pretty shocked at what I found. The usual therapies that doctors provide have no evidence for healing frozen shoulder - cortisone injections and manipluation under anesthesia. Physical therapy and trigger point therapy had the best track records - though there are few studies. Considering the pain, disability and common occurrence of frozen shoulder - 6% of us will get it - it's amazing that so little attention is paid to it.

I proceeded to learn as much as I could about trigger point therapy. I purchased several do-it-yourself books about trigger point massage, some of them very good. Using the techniques in these books - especially this one, I was able to progress to the "thawing phase" quickly and was able to regain 80% of my range of motion. Still, I was unable to lay the back of my hand flat against the floor with my arms at 90 degrees. That last 20% still left me with significant disability and some pain. Several weeks went by with no real improvement, despite continued massage and active release therapy.

Finally, I decided to invest in the medical textbooks behind these "for dummies" versions, Travell and Simons classic texts Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. They arrived last Monday. Here on Saturday, I was able touch the floor with my hand for the first time in 6 months. And, best of all, the way I did it was easy, safe, and free. I am hoping to get that last little 5% out of the way in the next few weeks, affecting a complete cure. If you listen to your conventional doctor, the typical orthopod, they will tell you this is not possible. I will tell you how I did it and give you the benefits of the knowledge that I am gaining from Travell and Simons and the massage therapy experts.