someone told me to knit when I had my frozen shoulder.

Oh I feel for you! I had "frozen shoulder" which is adhesive incapsilitis. My shoulder just started hurting and it got to the point where I could not move it, had difficulty dressing, and excuciating pain. I did some research and learned this occurs primarily in women in their 50's which makes sense regarding the menopause comment made on the post above. I went to a great physical therapist who worked on my shoulder for several months, had one session of cortisone which helped the pain tremendously but then read these are not good for the body so I continued with mt PT and 3x daily excercise on my own per his instructions. I learned this takes about a year to finally work through.....and, for me, that was the case. I don't wish this on anyone as that was the worse pain I ever experienced. Thankfully, my shoulder is back to normal and I have full range of motion. My PT said it is highly likely that it could happen again. His advice: keep active, excercise regularly. As a result, I bought a treadmill and walk 3 to 5 times a week. My advice to you: find a PT who has had experience with this condition. Good luck and good health to you! Connie in California

I second "stretch" therapy. Froze each shoulder, one 20 years ago, and the other recently. Both times used little overhead pulley with clothesline rope to do stretches (thanks, mom!). Knotted rope on each end. Grabbed knot with each hand and used good arm to pull the other up until it would go no further. Made marks on rope to measure progress. Did several times a day. From not being able to raise arm high enough to get hand in pocket, went all the way to full recovery--total overhead stretch with no pain. Took a year first time, but when 20 years older, took 1-1/2 years :-) Still, no surgery.... So it takes a while, hurts a bit (hurts a bunch when you first injure it), but gets better and better over time. Just keep at the stretching.

you could try ultrasound also - it is known to do wonders - but not sure if it would work on your situation - but an opinion would not hurt -

my dh had such a bad neck, he could not turn his head; went to our chiropractor and she applied ultrasound to it once she had it aligned, and he has not had a problem with it since! amazing, and we thought it was an ongoing thing!

physical therapy helped me

I had it and it painful, but the ortho doctor did nothing for it. Said it would leave as quickly as it came, and can last up to a year, which mine did. Said you could only get it in the same shoulder once, and so far it hasn't returned. Very weird thing.

Don't have frozen shoulder but am dealing with similar pain. Long story short: had lymph nodes removed in March, nerve damage in left arm, arm immobile, developed lymphedema (can't have shots in the arm), currently in painful PT. Able to move arm and fingers now but can't raise arm above my head yet (unless I'm lying down) ... I just want to be able to groom my hair properly :( how vain is that ??? Therapist predicts 90% movement by end of month. Hope she is right.

You'll most probably have to go to physical therapy. My sister had this condition and physical therapy helped her. I know a good PT in Baton Rouge, LA. He's my son so I'm a little biased.

I keep reading about walking the fingers up the wall. This confirms what my shoulder-repair friend told me, so I'm going to be better about doing that several times a day.

I wonder about acupuncture....anybody tried that?

Jan in VA

I had that about a year ago. mentioned it to the Dr. when I went for something else. He gave me an anti-inflammatory rx and a set of excercises to do to get range of motion back. Said it was almost entirely "locked up". it's fine now.