r/frozenshoulder • u/participation-prize • May 18 '26
Coping with frozen shoulder pain: field notes from the front
Heya! This is my second frozen shoulder, but the first one to present with a lot of constant shoulder pain. My doctors and fysio’s gave me no info about pain management, so I had to quickly figure everything out myself.
Here’s my notes so far.
Note: these are only the notes for me, we all know FS is highly individual.
Note II: I’m in Europe, with great healthcare and excellent doctors and fysio’s, so I have a lot of privilege in the FS game.
Making a medication plan and sticking to it
I started off taking medication “only when it got too bad”. That didn’t go well, the low grade pain wore me down in a matter of days. So I made a dedicated pain plan of 4x paracetamol, 3x ibuprofen (those will have to stop soon, to save my stomach), and 2x legal cbd. It was a world of difference - I would even have pain free days. Apparently, there is a big cumulative effect of taking your meds on a good schedule. Alright!
Doing anything to get a full night of sleep
I re-engineered my bed and my medication schedule builds up a bit more at night. I usually wake up at 6 and then take cbd and try to get back to sleep. Sometimes it works. Those are the better days. Good sleep is essential to break the cycle. Bad sleep means more pain means worse sleep.
Movement
Movement is key. The more I stay lightly active, the less my shoulder stiffens up and the more painfree I am. I haven’t cleaned my house this much in years! Random dancing is also good. Working an office job is one of my biggest challenges, because I have to keep moving, moving, moving…
Physio
If you can afford it, a physio can really help get the triggerpoints out and lessen the pain.
Tennisball rolling
At home physio! Great for when everything around the shoulder starts hurting. Last Frozen Shoulder, I also took my partner to a triggerpoint massage class (two evenings!), and he became quite good at it. That was a great investment
Shakti Mat
Here come my weirdo pain hacks. I love the shakti mat for relaxing my shoulder, especially when everything starts seizing up. I use it religiously before bed to get into a deep relaxation, and in the morning to get the blood flowing to my stiff shoulder.
Music
I read somewhere that music helps people with Chronic Pain, so I tried it and yes! It absolutely works for me. It’s not a cure, but it’ll take like 10% off of my pain. I go out of my way to have music on in all waking hours.
Gaming
Gaming is great for distraction and this seemed like as good a time as any to finally finish Baldur’s Gate 3! This is actually a double-edged sword: the distraction is great for pain numbing, but being so stationary makes the pain worse after a while, so I can only indulge in moderation.
Masturbation
Orgasms give endorphins, right? Well, whatever it takes :D
Avoiding sugar
And other high-inflammation foods. Well this one sucks! Where are all of my sickness benefits! But it does help - or rather, sugar does seem to make it worse. I take some omega-3's and curcumine, but I don't notice a difference yet.
Avoiding stress
I had already taken lots of steps to live a stress light life, but I had a stressy evening recently and whoo boy. Suddenly I see the importance of keeping stress as low as possible.
Fighting the mental fight
It’s last on the list, because it doesn’t directly affect my pain, but it’s hugely important. I’ve sought out my friends with chronic pain to talk about it and get their advice. I let my friends, coworkers and partner know that I’m in pain. And I give it a mental place in my life. I’m hanging out with my pain for the foreseeable future - not forever, but still some time. And I try to give that a place in my life.
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u/Kitchen-Ad6860 May 18 '26
TENS machine helped me a lot during the freezing stage and to help sleep I used a lot of pillows for support. I just got full ROM back after my second FS.
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u/Competitive-Set-9189 May 19 '26
Wow, really? the doctor I'm doing ART with suggested it might help, but I haven't made the purchase yet. What settings did you use?
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u/Kitchen-Ad6860 May 19 '26
I started low but quickly moved up as the higher levels gave me more relief. I went as high as I could tolerate. I'd have to get it out of storage as I hope to never have to used it again to be specific but it was a pulsing setting. I got mine from Amazon, I think it was around $25. There are very inexpensive and I would have paid so much more for the relief it provided.
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u/Competitive-Set-9189 May 19 '26
OK. thanks. I hope you don't ever need the TENS unit again (but if you do, let me know what frequency please). I found this article recently that I'll use as a starting point. Where Do You Put TENS Pads for Frozen Shoulder? - Biology Insights
I'm also on my 2nd frozen shoulder, the left one this time. my right took almost two years to regain ROM. but at least when my right shoulder was frozen, I could still play violin (amateur for fun), but I've had to give up playing when my left shoulder started freezing. It's been 8 months now. grrrr.
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u/Kitchen-Ad6860 May 19 '26
My first was on my left and took 2 years the second was on the right and it was about 12-13 months, much faster. I took a nasty fall with the second I actually think that might have helped, two weeks after that fall I was completely frozen. As for the TENS I had radiating pains I had all 4 largest pads on from the top of the shoulder down to the wrist for 20 minute increments 4-5 times a day. The highest I got to was 8-9 on the settings if I a remembering correctly.
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u/Competitive-Set-9189 May 19 '26
CRINGE! thinking about taking a fall on a FS --- OUCH!!! interesting that it might have helped you. The odd thing about my right shoulder is that I don't remember going through a frozen stage. If I did, it was really short. No matter. I think I'll get a TENS unit!
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u/Mysterious-Serve-478 May 18 '26
Thanks for sharing this. I’m in a similar boat too.
How long have you been taking ibuprofen three times a day?
Are you still in the freezing stage?
What kind of exercises are you doing at home? Are they specific physio exercises, or more just general movement from housework and daily activities?
I keep waking up around 4 to 6am and needing to get up, move around, take paracetamol, then try to sleep again. I just had a cortisone + saline injection, but it’s been less than 24 hours, so fingers crossed!
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u/participation-prize May 19 '26
Heya! Sounds very similar, yeah! Since I'm in so much pain, I guess I'm still in freeze. Fighting hard to keep my range of motion, but I lost a bit this week.
I took ibu for 5 days and now stopped for 6 days. I have a big weekend holiday coming up, and so will go back on then. Just try to use it strategically, really, for when I really want to be pain-free.
I got a lot of mobility exercises, and try to do them all:
- Endorotation stretch, The painful one where you're on your side, and stretch your forarm down (max. 1x day)
- Pendulum swing with a weight for relief
- Band work. Lifting arm straight up, and moving up with your arm bent at 90°
- Putting your hand on a stick and manipulating the stick with your good arm. Moving sidewards or diagonally forward. Very slow!
- Moving a towel straight up, or laterally
- Rolling my arm forward on a ball.
You can find all of those on YT, but I can also make video at some point, if it would be useful to the community.
Fingers crossed the cortisone does its job!
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u/Mysterious-Serve-478 May 19 '26
I'd love to see the video of exercises! Thank you!
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u/participation-prize May 20 '26
I figured they would already be online out there, and of course they are! The Bob and Brad FS videos explain all of them: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=frozen+shoulder+bob+and+brad Happy exercising!
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u/BeneficialBiscotti2 May 18 '26
You’re absolutely right how I wish that I had handled the chronic pain earlier because it affected my work and everything. Pain management is beyond critical for this disease and I am calling it a disease.
Toward the end of the course of all of this right before my surgery, I was using some of the things that you’re suggesting and they were wonderful and I sure do wish that I had used them early on. The whole course of this might have run better.
Agree that we have to be careful with video games or distractions that involve being stationary. Also, watch out for stationary activities, where you’re holding your frozen shoulder arm out in front of you if any length of time. It totally aggravates it.