The Incredible Frozen Shoulder II
Some months have past now since the first post on the frozen shoulder. I’ve worked my way through a bottle of pain pills and two bottles of anti-inflammatories. I’ve learned a bit also which I’ll pass down to you in the form of Boomer Wizzdom:
1. Always get a second opinion if your orthopedic surgeon wants to roto-root your shoulder. I’ve heard horror stories of botched shoulder surgery. In my case, the second orthopedic surgeon felt that surgery wasn’t necessary. I felt relieved, as if a lawyer had just told me I didn’t need his services. (Think about this for a few minutes—it is a rare event for a lawyer to refuse to offer his service.)
2. Religiously follow the exercise plan that your physical therapist has laid out for you. You may feel dumb at the time, straining and groaning on your bedroom floor in some odd position you wouldn’t want anyone to see you in, but you’ll feel much better a few weeks later. Listening to your favorite music via an MP3 player can really help you enjoy the pain and humility of those exercises.
3. It helps to think of your shoulder having been shrinkwrapped by some mysterious force, and you have to stretch the tendons and muscles to break this spell. I found taking “Collagen+C” helped the stretching process. Or maybe it just helped me believe that improvements were happening faster than I expected.
I’m actually improving. I can do yardwork without constant pain. I’m even getting used to moving the computer mouse with my left hand. And if I can get better, I’m pretty sure that you can get better. Yes, a little pain brings on a lot of gain. And the pain pills and anti-inflammatories certainly help the pain.
Some links to learn more about a frozen shoulder are:
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=162&topcategory=Shoulder