frozen shoulder

tarantino7

1 Posts
 
Posted - 05/07/2008 :  01:13:42  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hello-
I just statred PT for frozenshoulder that has been going on for 7 months. The PT is very aggresive moving my arm way beyond the pain threshold. I asked him if he needs to be so aggressive and he says thats the only way to losen up the joint. the pain is unbearable really. I read that treating frozen shoulder in the freezing stage is pointlesss becasuse it must go through all the stages and only until thawing is pt effective?

thanks,

ed

Ask a PT

156 Posts
 
Posted - 05/07/2008 :  14:26:07  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Treatment for a frozen shoulder is unfortunately a VERY painful experience for a patient. In general, patients with this condition initially experience very high pain levels in the beginning. However, over time, the pain lessens and they are able to achieve increase ROM with therapy. What I normally do with my patients to help them prepare for ROM is to apply some type of modaility ie. hotpack or ultrasound, perform manual therapy (STM/MFR/joint mobs), incorporate therapeutic exercise and then perform ROM last. My patients are all issued a home exercise program along with an over the door pulley set so that they can work on the ROM on their own at home. I expect my patients to work on their shoulder at home regularly in hopes that we will be able to obtain faster results with less pain. If they don't perform their exercises at home, I explain to them that from my experience progress will be slow and pain levels will continue to be high. Good luck with your shoulder and thanks for using CyberPT.

MilwPT

7 Posts
 
Posted - 05/14/2008 :  14:21:17  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I treat many patients with shoulder conditions and, indeed, it can be painful. However, I believe there has to be some care and caution used when doing so. I don't believe the pain should be too excrutiating, and PT should not be "No pain, No gain". There may be some pain, but results should be able to be achieved without always severe agony. It is important for a dialogue to take place between the PT and the patient, so that each person understands what is going on. And, there may be other ways, less painful ways, to achieve the same goal. Just stay diligent with you home exercises, use ice to calm it down after stretching, and challenge the PT to "think outside the box". Not every patient responds the same, so maybe a different technique would work better on you. Both you and the PT should keep striving toward the goals and keep working together to problem solve through the challenges. Best of Luck!