Pulling myself out of a hole

My first 2 or 3 weeks of treatment was with conventional physiotherapy. At this stage (Initial as I described it earlier) I think it was early days, and the Frozen Shoulder was only just begining. I knew something was not right. Lifting my arm was becoming more and more painful, and the range of movement greatly diminishing.

Graeme, my physio could see what was happening. He had me doing simple exercises to try loosening the joint. I'd lie on my back, and raise my right arm from my side up, and over my head (or at least as far as I could). To guide and support my right arm, I'd hold a short rod in both hands, and swing the arms together.

He also showed me a simple pulley device, which I them copied at home. I jam the strap in the top of a door, then use my good left arm to hoist my dud right arm into the air.

I do this several times a day, and I each time I can feel how much it loosens the joint.

More on this to come.

Yikes

After a couple of weeks of physiotherapy I went to the clinic for an ultasound.

I stripped to the waste, and after applying goo, they ran the ultrasound wand thingy to reveal the inner workings of my shoulder. (Same device they use on pregnant women.)

Sure enough, we could see the two layers of muscle on the top of my shoulder. As I lifted my arm we could see them sliding over one another. Then, with my elbow just below shoulder height they stop. Lock. That is the joint seizing.

Just the same, I could still lift it further. However that isn't the joint at work; what I'm doing is shifting the whole structure around the shoulder. It's surprising how much you can move your upper arm without actually rotating at the joint. Looking in the mirror as I do this makes it very obvious. This is what Feng calls cheating.

The referral said 'Cortisone injection if indicated'. It was, so I prepared myself for a needle inserted into the joint. Well it wasn't too bad until I let out a small ooch!

'That was the bone', she said.

Oh. Okay. So she injects cortisone plus anaesthetic. Then followed by 20ml saline fluid, which she tells me helps to loosen the joint. The doctor admits this treatment will not cure my problem, but it ought to relieve the symptoms a little.

$390 poorer and a few minutes later I'm off, moderately confident it's done some good. The saline fluid causes an odd, slightly bloated sensation.

Now, about 6 weeks later I doubt that it did much at all. But at least I'm am now certain of the diagnosis.

Also news is that I appear to have no soft tissue damage. More on that later.

Fall and Rise

Early on in this malady I decided to log my progress. I need to see whether I am improving or declining. So I created this data sheet.  

Front measures the height I am able to lift my elbow directly ahead; Side is how far to my right side I can lift; Back is how far back I can swing my arm. The last column indicates whether I pre-stretched or not prior to measurement. Since filling that sheet I've added a column to rate my current level of pain. Not sure I'll continue with that.




















 






This shot shows how I marked up the edge of my cupboard door.















I'm using the yellow Sign Here sticker to track my best lift to-date.

Measuring the tip of my elbow on the back-swing.


This isn't terribly scientific because it's too easy for me to cheat (as Feng calls it). If I'm really keen, and can bear the pain, I can push a bit further. But mostly I can gain extra stretch by changing my posture, which means I'm not strictly measuring shoulder rotation.  Still, I figure this effect will be much the same each time I try, and the results seem approximately repeatable.

What is Frozen Shoulder?

Frozen Shoulder is a chronic condition causing pain and loss of movement. For some reason the connective tissue in the joint becomes inflamed, and scar tissue forms. It can take 18 months or more to overcome.

There are four phases - initial, freezing, frozen, and thawing. In the first, the shoulder becomes painful with some movements. In the second, the lining of the joint progressively thickens, and there is considerable pain. Third, the pain eases, but shoulder movement is greatly restricted. Finally, the shoulder slowly unfreezes, and movement returns.



 Not only is it painful and depressing, this can take a long time to run its course!
Initial  up to 3 months

Freezing  up to 9 months

Frozen 9 to 15 months

Thawing  up to two years.

There are many good references on the net, and of course you'll look them up. I will recount a lot of this on this blog.

Right now, (29 August 2009), I am probably in the latter part of stage two, freezing. Feng, my accupuncture therapist thinks it's only a couple of weeks away. I live in hope!

In the beginning

In the beginning there was pain, and there was much unhappiness...

This blog is to chart my progress through Frozen Shoulder, aka Adhesive Capsulitis.

I see there's another blogger who started one of these, but unfortunately didn't continue. We'll see if I do. Along the way I'm going to tell you about the various treatments and other information I uncover.

It all began a couple of days before my motorbike trip to central Australia, into some of the most amazing remote desert regions. On my lunchtime walk I picked up a sponge ball, and when I got back to the office I flung it over the partition to Bim.

It hurt straight away, and I knew I'd done some damage. Just before a very physically demanding motorbike trip. Good timing!

As it happened, I was able to do the trip without much impediment from the injury. The only time I noticed it was when I went to pick up a bike after our many prangs. I also recall starting to swim across the Diamentina River, and realising I couldn't properly swing my arm over my head.

Then when I returned I tried to fix my arm by exercising with light weights. Bad news; I wish I hadn't because all that happened was that it triggered the onset of Frozen Shoulder.

Postscript: I now know the damage was to my rotator cuff.