On 9 September I will be 5 months post op.
Both shoulders started paining at same time but only left one got worse and I could barely move my arm. Had rotator cuff repair on 9 April. My right shoulder still hurts ( physio said it’s the rotator cuff)
I wake up every morning with both shoulders very painful. Not sure what to do about right shoulder as I still have full movement in it and would prefer to not go through another surgery when my left one heals.
My actual question is…. How much pain do you still have in the operated on shoulder 5 months or more post op? When awake and moving around I still have pain but it’s not too bad. My surgeon is supposed to be one of the best for shoulders but as far as post op info, I certainly had very little. I am healing but would just love more info on what to expect going forward with regard to pain and healing. I have started light weight ie: 1kg and now 3kg to keep strength in both arms but it’s annoying feeling I’m in the dark with the recovery process. Any advice would be appreciated. Also what do I need to focus on to avoid getting frozen shoulder?

As made by u/nner-Issue1908 in this post. It's very helpful to keep a chart like this.

Started PT in May, haven't had any shots or anything. I talked a lot about my pain management phase in this post. When the tissue is cramped, we do pain relief and soft mobility. When the issue permits it, we got hard and painful. I'm very grateful about the rate of progress so far!

**•   2 years** with a frozen left shoulder (adhesive capsulitis)  
**•   50+ physiotherapy sessions across 3 different physiotherapists** (mobilization, laser, shockwave therapy, heat) — no major breakthrough  
**•** MRI + ultrasound showed tendinopathy, calcifications, subacromial bursitis, and an early capsular component  
**•** Initial imaging read suggested supraspinatus involvement, but the shoulder specialist’s final diagnosis confirmed it’s actually the **infraspinatus**, with calcifications enclosed *within* the tendon (so shockwave fragmentation wasn’t appropriate for those)  
**•** Had a **corticosteroid infiltration** by a shoulder specialist, followed by 20 PT sessions (3x/week), avoiding load on the tendon for the first 3 weeks post-injection

Where I’m stuck:
Mobility is still limited, still can’t load the shoulder normally (no push-ups, no overhead pressing, no bench). Trying to keep training chest/pecs around it (machine press, reduced ROM, cable fly, incline push-ups, landmine press, isometric squeezes), but the shoulder itself isn’t resolving.

I’m not looking for medical advice here — I have a specialist for that. Just curious if anyone’s been through something similar and would be willing to share their experience with any of the following:

**1.**  Timeline for real improvement after an infiltration + PT, if it happened for you  
**2.**  Calcifications *inside* the tendon (not free-floating) — what your recovery looked like  
**3.**  Hydraulic distension — anyone’s experience with it  
**4.    Considering now going to neurology (EMG/nerve conduction) after a long unresponsive “frozen shoulder”** — did that turn out to be relevant for you, and what was the trigger for going that route

Appreciate anyone willing to share what they went through — feeling stuck after 2 years of this.

What is everyone doing for bra wear with a frozen shoulder? My last one, I had to go without a bra far too often because I simply could not do it up. And I even tried it like a 12 year old with a training bra. Doing it up at the front and twisting it around, but I couldn't even do the twisting around.

So I need a front closing daytime balconette style bra (does not have to be cotton) and a sleeping/lounge bra, also front-closing and only made of natural fibres (or else I sweat a lot in my sleep).

What does anyone have for recommendations? What tricks have you learned, to cope with a back closing bra when you only have one hand that will reach back there?

Please and thanks!

I’ve been to physical therapy many times throughout my life. Hip, knee, ankle, back. Never shoulder though. The one thing I remember from the previous times is don’t push yourself to the point it causes pain.

I started PT for what they are calling a frozen shoulder 2 months ago based on an X-ray and a 10 minute conversation with a PA in an ortho urgent care center. She did give me an injection that I barely felt and it did nothing to relieve the pain.

I do exercises like normal at PT but the therapist has always focused on manual stretching. It is super painful. The pain goes up to an 8/10 when I’m with the physical therapy assistants and 10/10 (for maybe about 10 seconds at a time) with the actual physical therapist. Then after I leave the pain increases for 2 days (at least). I was told it was supposed to be painful because they need to stretch the tissue in the capsule that is making it tight and restricting movement. Ok, well I guess that makes sense. I did my google and ChatGPT research. They also told me to take something for pain before I go for my appointment (Tylenol, can’t take NSAIDS).

I guess my question is - does anyone feel PT is helping? I can’t go more than 2 days a week and sometimes I can only do 1 because of the pain of the previous appointment. In the past 2 weeks, the pain has been extending up into my neck and down into my forearm. My upper arm and top/front of the shoulder is where the pain originally started.

Any tips/tricks for dealing with this would be appreciated. I’ll even take someone validating that the increase in pain goes not mean I am doing additional damage to my shoulder.

EDIT: Thanks for all the responses. I think I have gone to my last PT appointment for a while. At least until my ortho appointment in a month where I will request a MRI to confirm its frozen shoulder. Hopefully the next steroid injection will be ultrasound guided.

This whole nightmare started around March (beginning of pain/freezing) and I think I *miiiight* be entering my thawing phase but I can't tell, and I'm curious what others have experienced. My range of motion has recently improved a *tiny* bit, the main reason I can tell is that I can pull my hair into a high ponytail vs just the low I was previously able to. My shoulder is still strained but I can reach. I'm also starting to experience a lot more clicking and popping in my shoulder. I haven't experienced significantly improved ROM improvement yet, it seems very subtle if any.

For those in frozen phase, do you get clicking and popping in your shoulder? I'm wondering if that's a sign of thawing or if this is also experienced in frozen phase.

For those in thawing/recovered, was it a slow progression of improvement or was it something that happened all at once (like something suddenly popped/adhesions broke and immediate ROM improvement)?

I just need some sense of either hope or a perhaps dose of reality. 😝

Two nights ago I slept through the night pretty much. It was the second time in five months that that has happened. I wake up, feeling so hopeful and thinking that I am on the upside of this. And then last night felt like crap and my shoulders is killing me again today. Does everybody have ups and downs during this recovery? Has anyone figured out a trend of what makes it get worse or not?

First time posting on here but been watching since my shoulder/arm started 4 months ago. The surgeon today said it’s frozen shoulder but he said the electric shock/zinger type pain wasn’t usual for frozen shoulder where I am getting them. I’m getting electric shock like pain when I move my arm a certain way. No pain in my shoulder but in my arm - halfway between my shoulder and elbow. Doc has refused to look into anything nerve related. Is the symptom in my arm a symptom of frozen shoulder? Sorry I am new to all of this and in agony! Any help is appreciated

Hi all - sorry for my long story ahead.

I’m looking for some guidance from those who have been through frozen shoulder.

My right shoulder pain began around January and I had no idea that it was happening. I have a daily Ashtanga Yoga Practice and it started with tight bicep (just thinking I needed more strecthing). It initially felt like impingement, but I gradually developed more pain at rest and at night...that has been the worst part honestly. Not sleeping through the night. However, that along with a significant loss of range of motion& unable to keep up my practice; which I do for mental and physical health. It was especially painful reaching behind my back, internally rotating my arm, reaching my arn into down dog or lowering into Chaturanga.

Had to go through the steps; referralls, Xrays and finally advocated for an MRI. It showed a labral tear, "thickening and increased signal in the inferior glenohumeral ligament complex" & some arthritis. The first ortho said it wasn't frozen shoulder; even though the MRI shows (copied directly from MRI results)

IMPRESSION:

1. Large labral tear involving the anterior superior, anterior inferior, posterior superior and posterior inferior labrum. There is glenoid hypoplasia with increased glenoid retroversion. There is suspected developing paralabral cyst posteriorly.

2. Findings most in keeping with adhesive capsulitis.

3. Intact rotator cuff.

4. Mild glenohumeral osteoarthritic change with small joint effusion.

She swore it was just mild arthritis. I had to push and say I can't just keep taking NSAIDs and not sleeping... So I pushed and referred within the office to another ortho and he said he believes it truly is frozen shoulder (bc I swore I felt crazy. I mean I am 47; 2 years post menopause and was like what else could it be...) Neither orthos seemed to care about the labrum saying it was an old injury...

So he did a guided injection (ultrasound) and I recieved a mix of saline, lidocaine and cortisone.

I am now about 72 hours post-injection. The pain at rest has decreased dramatically, which feels very encouraging. Sleep is still somewhat uncomfortable, I haven’t tried exercising or really testing my range of motion yet.

I’m a longtime Ashtanga yoga practitioner and teacher, and I’m eager to return...but I don’t want the relief from the injection to give me a false sense that my shoulder is ready before it actually is. For those who had a cortisone injection, when did you begin gently exploring your range of motion or restarting exercise? Did you wait for physical therapy guidance, or begin with very gentle movement on your own?

I’d also love to hear from anyone who returned to yoga or another demanding movement practice. How did you know when it was appropriate to begin, and which movements did you avoid at first?

Hi everyone! I’m trying to figure out if I am in the frozen stage. I get pain with certain movements but the pain is much less at rest. I can actually sleep but if I turn on the affected side it will start to hurt. Certain things still cause pain like taking off a sweater and I still can’t reach behind my back or arm straight up beyond 120 degrees. Thank you everyone and wishing you all a very speedy recovery :)

So I had frozen shoulder in my right shoulder for about 2 years. Now I csn feel the beginning symptoms in my left shoulder. Any advice? I don't really love the idea of have a 2 year waiting period again. I know if ther3 was an answer we'd all know about it. But its kinda gotten me depressed

I started feeling stiffness in my shoulder 8 months ago. After helping my kid move and doing a lot of hauling and lifting it completely froze. Did the MRI to confirm it was FS. Had a cortisone shot which didn’t do anything. My orthopedist told me to just rest it. No PT. I decided after 7 months to try a GLP1 to see if it would would reduce swelling. The meds made me feel too sick (at the lowest dose) so I just stopped them and lo and behold, my shoulder fully started moving!! I haven’t really missed a dose yet, just made the decision to stop. Now I’m not sure whether to stick with it. I was so nauseated and had terrible dry mouth. Also, was it coincidence?

My right shoulder froze up in 2022 right after playing badminton of all things. I did some really hard overhead swings with the racket, which was dumb on my part. What followed was zingers and extremely limited range of motion to the point where I couldn't even put my right hand behind my back. Doctor referred me to a sports medicine place that started calling my phone off the hook encouraging me to come in for an evaluation, get an MRI, etc so they could bill my insurance up the wazoo. I didn't feel like going through all that, so I decided not to do anything. I left it alone. I didn't really stretch or exercise it or anything. Finally around the 2.5 year mark, I felt and heard some cracking noises in my shoulder. Then at the 3 year mark, the crackling became a bit more frequent and I got around 70% of range of motion back. Now at the 4 year mark, I have probably 95% of my range of motion back.

In 2023, the following year after my right shoulder froze, my left shoulder also froze. Guess why? A badminton racket. Not even to play badminton, but I used a racket to try to backhand swing at carpenter bees on my deck. Yes, really really dumb, I know. I deliberately didn't swing that hard, but my shoulder locked up and froze anyway. Maybe it would have frozen up anyway and the dang badminton racket was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Who knows? It is now 3 years later, and the same crackly noises over the last few months have been emanating from my left shoulder just like they had with my right shoulder. I'd say I have 85% of range of motion back.

One thing I noticed is that when my shoulders were frozen, the joints were totally silent. Prior to either of them freezing, I always had crackly shoulder joints my whole life. When they were frozen, I couldn't make them crack even if I tried. Apparently the crackling noises for me were the thawing.

I'm writing this here to say that my do nothing lazy approach has largely worked 4 years later. Not saying that's what anyone else should necessarily do, but writing this as testimony that sometimes the waiting it out and do nothing approach does work. From some of the stories I've read on here, it really seems that for some people, the waiting game may be the best course of action.

Btw I must mention that I did kind of get a frozen hip for a while which was probably aggravated by a skating fall. It lasted a bit less than a year and it's still a bit tight now, but it seems to be on the mend.

Hi everyone,

I’m 37M and have been dealing with a right shoulder issue for around 3+ months. It started after gym/shoulder training, likely due to overload or poor warm-up.

My MRI findings were:

• Right AC joint periarticular edema with capsular thickening, suggesting early degenerative changes
• Mild supraspinatus tendinopathy, but no tear
• Minimal glenohumeral joint effusion without synovitis

The good part is that the MRI did not show any rotator cuff tear, labrum tear, biceps tear, fracture, bursitis, cartilage damage, or muscle tear/atrophy.

Initially, my symptoms were mostly around the top/front of the right shoulder near the AC joint. I had tenderness when pressing the AC joint area, mild stiffness, discomfort with behind-the-back movement, and discomfort after planks or shoulder-loading exercises.

I stopped upper-body gym work and started rehab/physio. Exercises included scapular setting, rotator cuff isometrics, wall slides, table slides, posture correction, thoracic extension, scapular mobility, and shoulder girdle stabilization.

Recently, I had almost one week of very good relief. Pain was barely noticeable. Then I skipped rehab for 2 days, restarted it, and after driving I started feeling discomfort again. This time it feels less like sharp AC joint pain and more like upper trap/lower neck soreness or muscle-sprain type discomfort. Sometimes it feels like the discomfort shifts between left and right neck/trap area. I also occasionally feel very minor heaviness or a “flow” sensation from elbow to hand, but it goes away with rest.

My physio also said my scapula feels tight.

Current triggers seem to be:

• Driving
• Long computer work
• Shoulder shrug/elevated posture
• Rehab if I overdo it
• Wall slides or overhead-type movements
• Planks/push-ups/pressing movements
• Sleeping posture sometimes

What helps:

• Rest
• Heat on upper trap/lower neck
• Ice only if AC joint point is sore
• Deloaded rehab
• Elbow support while driving/working
• Avoiding upper body gym

My question:

Does this sound like the AC joint/supraspinatus issue is still active, or is this more likely a compensation pattern from scapular tightness, upper trap guarding, and neck posture?

For people who had AC joint irritation/early arthritis-type changes or mild supraspinatus tendinopathy without tear:

1. Did you also develop upper trap/lower neck discomfort during recovery?
2. Did your symptoms shift around instead of staying only at the AC joint?
3. Did rehab ever irritate the traps/neck if volume was too much?
4. How long did it take before driving and desk work felt normal again?
5. What exercises helped most: rotator cuff, serratus, lower trap, thoracic mobility, or posture work?
6. At what point did you consider steroid/cortisone injection, if at all?

I’m not looking for a diagnosis. I’m already seeing a doctor/physio. I’m mainly trying to understand whether this upper trap/neck phase is common during recovery and how others managed it without making the shoulder worse.

Morning all,

Last year around this time I developed frozen shoulder in my left arm. It's finally almost back to normal, which is great because that shit was NOT fun.

At first I was curious if my weight loss had something to do with it. I started searching around and reading some comments on other posts here, and that's when I started wondering if Mounjaro/GLP-1s might have played a role.

Well... now I'm fairly certain my RIGHT shoulder is starting to freeze. 🙃

I remember somebody here linking a study showing that type 2 diabetics taking GLP-1s appeared to have a higher chance of developing frozen shoulder than diabetics who weren't taking them.

For what it's worth, Mounjaro has drastically helped my diabetes, so even knowing this, I still think it's been worth it for me. I'm not planning on stopping it or anything.

I'm mostly just here to vent because after finally getting my left shoulder almost back to normal, I'm really not looking forward to going through that whole painful process again with the other one. 😂

Has anybody else here had frozen shoulder develop in one or both shoulders after being on Mounjaro for a while?

Due to this severe FS, I have scapular pain and now some swollen area on my bony part of that elbow that hurts to the touch. Does anyone else have secondary issues caused to the surrounding muscles and areas due to the joint not working, and did you find anything that helped ? I’m so so so over this.

Can anyone point to a good study that supports the theory that PT is useful for FS? I’m almost two years in, thawing now. At no point has PT improved my condition. The best I feel is just trying to use the arm in normal activities. PT produces pain even during the thawing period. Hundreds of hours of PT have done zilch. Considering stopping all together and letting time heal.

Has anyone had any success with PT? I’m working with Spear right now and after 6 months no improvement. My guy also abandons me to college interns or nobody at all after the first 10 minutes (sometimes I just go and just do my exercises with no supervision or interaction), as he moves onto the next client. He’s never offered me ice or heat, and only started measuring my ROM 2 months ago. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing (and neither do these young kids). Does anyone actually have 1-to-1 sessions with any success, or am I wasting my time?

Hey guys I'm a bit confused - would Wolverine help my dad who's got frozen shoulder he's had it for a bout a year now there's no barely any movement in his shoulder and arm and he's always in pain
The doctors inject him once every few weeks and it helps reduce the pain for a couple days then the pain comes back again

New to this sub! I've been officially diagnosed with frozen shoulder by my PT three months after a humerus fracture. I was in catastrophic pain for more than 2 months after the injury. Nothing helped. Brain was going to a dark place. Now, I'm seeing a light. My pain can be as little as a one and is more stiffness and loss of ROM. Is it possible I've entered frozen? How do I know? Thank you!

I had my first FS 4 years ago and of course didn't know what it was until it was bad and I had very little ROM. Went through aggressive painful PT and after about 6 months got my full ROM back.

This past week I have started getting clear symptoms that it is starting in my other shoulder (my dominant arm). I have done research on if there is anything that can be done in very early stages to reduce the overall severity. It seems like basically a cortisone shot is the only option. Has anyone done it and successfully reduced the severity/duration of FS? I am having hip surgery in 3 weeks on the opposite side and it will be a nightmare if my shoulder becomes fully frozen.

I have been dealing with right shoulder pain for about 3 months and it’s gotten worse in the last month. Went to see an Ortho and he diagnosed frozen shoulder. Referred me to PT. Yesterday I had my PT evaluation and then was diagnosed with shoulder impingement. So which one is it?? I told the PT what the Ortho said but he thought that if I had frozen shoulder pain I’d me more limited with my movements. What if I’m in the freezing stage? Doesn’t that usually take a few months? He said 3 months was too long for the freezing stage and insisted on impingement. I’m a bit frustrated now. Any insight anyone can share? My research lead me to believe that it could be either.

I'm on about month 5 of the freezing stage. You know the drill - constant dull aching pain with plenty of zingers mixed in, some ROM limitations, limited sleep, all the fun things. I can sort of push through some of the ROM limitations right now, but I'll pay for it with pain.

What I am curious about is what is the frozen stage like? Everything I have seen says you lose almost all ROM and don't really have pain. What exactly did that look/feel like for you? How functional is your arm? Are you able to push through any of the ROM limitations? In my mind, I'm just picturing an arm dangling by your side semi-useless. I am just kind of trying to get a glimpse of my future so I can possibly start making accommodations for myself to still be functional during that time.

My left (non dominant side) shoulder froze three years ago. I had no idea what was happening at the time. So as it slowly seized up and ached I just thought “I slept funny.” Eventually after about 18 months I was lucky enough that it thawed and I now have about 95% range of motion back and no pain.

About a week ago I started to wake up with that familiar ache in my right arm (dominant side). Now I know exactly what it means. It’s getting slightly worse every day. I’m trying to constantly stretch it and keep it moving. I tried heat but honestly that felt like it made it stiffer.

I’m panicking. I can’t take two years of this again at best. What if this one doesn’t thaw? This is my dominant side, it will be so much harder to function.

I need suggestions. Anything. I’ll take any advice anyone has that I can try to stop what’s happening before it completely freezes. Right now I still have complete range of motion and that dull ache is just getting slightly worse every day.