-
Alan has completed the new Pain Recovery Program. To read or share it, use this updated link: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/
Frozen shoulder
- Thread starter cloud
- Start date
-
- Tags
- frozen shoulder shoulder
BloodMoon
Beloved Grand Eagle
Personally, his approach was too gung ho for my poor, frightened brain on the 'challenging the symptoms front', e.g. playing golf when he could hardly walk and collapsing on to the hood of his car afterwards to rest before he could manage to drag himself into his car. He now apparently says that he wouldn't recommend taking such a 'hell for leather' approach, so if you decide to read it, I'd recommend remembering that. On the other hand, he also writes in the book of how he self-soothed his inner child. Imho it's an 'interesting' mix.
HealingNow
Well known member
agree, I just finished it and it was super helpful on the appendices listing out the conditions that could be TMS etc but I had some bad dreams reading it before bed as it sent my anxiety up a great deal.
cloud
Peer Supporter
Really?How so?
HealingNow
Well known member
Only when he was talking through his story about medical negligence (the book details how Steve's wife tragically was paralysed during childbirth due to mistakes by doctors). This is the contributing factors to his Chronic Pain.
Sid Hartha
New Member
If it makes you feel any better I've had frozen shoulder. The pain was bad and I could not move it and do normal things. It was scary. The Dr. says it was from scar tissue built up from not using it because I had an injury. I don't know if that's true or not. But here is what should make you feel much better -- frozen shoulder in the medical literature is a self limiting condition. In other words at some point it goes away even if you seek out no treatment at all. In my case the doc showed me some movements and I did them every day. It got better and better everyday and soon was gone. So at some point yours will be gone.
Hello cloud,
I was wondering how you are getting on? I think I am in the exact position you were in December last year, shoulder pain and stiffness getting worse.... Lots of stress... I've had TMS a few times before.... For some reason this time I'm struggling even more to believe the diagnosis which isn't helping of course! This thread has been really useful though and I will keep re reading it. Thank you all contributers!!!
cloud
Peer Supporter
Hello. I am pretty good since July I guess.The terrible pain has gone but some mild discomfort is still present.Not anywhere close to past months nightmare.
If it's of any help I had a cortisone shot and afterwards some PT.
PaperCrane
Peer Supporter
I wanted to share this study I came across recently. What do you guys think about it? It sounds like there were some limitations to it, namely that everyone in the study had been referred for a shoulder MRI due to some kind of symptoms and there were no healthy controls, but it reminds me of what we have learned about how some imaging findings (ex. bulging discs, torn rotator cuffs, etc.) may just be incidental and not necessarily correlated to the symptoms being experienced.
https://bioengineer.org/shoulder-mri-capsule-findings-often-mistaken-for-frozen-shoulder-study-warns/ (Shoulder MRI Capsule Findings Often Mistaken for Frozen Shoulder, Study)
I also think that the treatment for adhesive capsulitis where they manipulate the shoulder under anesthesia in order to "break up adhesions" is interesting. It sounds like the shoulder cannot be moved much - either by the individual themselves or by another person - while the person is awake and alert, but it can be moved throughout a wider range of motion by the doctor once the person is sedated? That makes it sound like muscle guarding being triggered by something in the subconscious could be a big part of this condition?
I started having a lot of shoulder pain myself, in both shoulders, about six weeks ago, not long after I started hearing about frozen shoulders occurring more often in perimenopausal women. It seems like it's coming up in my algorithm all the time now, as a woman in my mid-40's. But, I also was under a ton of stress around the time the pain started and have had a lot of TMS-related issues over the years, so I am both skeptical and hopeful. The thought of having reduced function in both shoulders (when I live alone and have a lot going on over the next few months that I will sort of need arms for) really scared me. Which is, I guess, what would make this stick with me more, if it is a TMS variant.
https://bioengineer.org/shoulder-mri-capsule-findings-often-mistaken-for-frozen-shoulder-study-warns/ (Shoulder MRI Capsule Findings Often Mistaken for Frozen Shoulder, Study)
I also think that the treatment for adhesive capsulitis where they manipulate the shoulder under anesthesia in order to "break up adhesions" is interesting. It sounds like the shoulder cannot be moved much - either by the individual themselves or by another person - while the person is awake and alert, but it can be moved throughout a wider range of motion by the doctor once the person is sedated? That makes it sound like muscle guarding being triggered by something in the subconscious could be a big part of this condition?
I started having a lot of shoulder pain myself, in both shoulders, about six weeks ago, not long after I started hearing about frozen shoulders occurring more often in perimenopausal women. It seems like it's coming up in my algorithm all the time now, as a woman in my mid-40's. But, I also was under a ton of stress around the time the pain started and have had a lot of TMS-related issues over the years, so I am both skeptical and hopeful. The thought of having reduced function in both shoulders (when I live alone and have a lot going on over the next few months that I will sort of need arms for) really scared me. Which is, I guess, what would make this stick with me more, if it is a TMS variant.
BloodMoon
Beloved Grand Eagle
It's far less common to have fs in both shoulders at the same time. It's far more common to have it in one shoulder and for that shoulder to be on the non-dominant side of the body, e.g. I'm right handed and my fs was of my left shoulder.
With regard to that very interesting study (thanks for posting it!) what it heavily supports is that MRI capsular abnormalities alone cannot establish a diagnosis of frozen shoulder.
And it seems to me that the key point from a TMS perspective is that the absence of a clear structural explanation does not, by itself, prove a mind-body cause... However, a structural abnormality does not, by itself, prove that the abnormality is causing the pain either.
To investigate the TMS hypothesis properly, researchers would need to assess factors such as emotional stress and symptom patterns, and then examine whether these factors help explain pain independently of the MRI findings. Would be great if they went on to do such research!
Last edited:
This is interesting, I still have a background niggling feeling that my shoulder pain is structural somehow. I won't read the paper you link to in case it reinforces this thought. Logically my pain started after a physical movement. But I was stressed(often am) and have a long history of tms symptoms. I thought it was getting better then I went to PT who said rotator cuff and I got much worse... Then he said frozen shoulder... And I was all set for a pain numbing injection but I pulled out and stopped the PT to focus on TMS. That was about a month ago and I still have bad pain during certain movements. Sorry this is a ramble now and I don't know what else I can add to this discussion!