Frozen Shoulders- What to do and what not to do, that is the question!
DO
- Follow advice given by your doctor or manual therapist. Frozen shoulders are not quickly ‘fixed’, they take time and you may well need some pain relief.
- Do any exercises set regularly and do them on both sides. It is important to keep both sides moving and by exercising the pain-free side, a lot of people find the painful side also improves!
- Keep your appointments with your manual therapist. Treatment will help to speed your recovery time
- Try to get some sleep. Night time can be painful with frozen shoulders. Use pillows to prop your shoulder, take medication if needed, but do try and rest. The body needs to heal, so allow it time and rest too.
- Keep positive. They take time and can be painful, but they do tend to resolve. There are many treatment options too, so listen to these and consider them. Choose what option feels right for you. Acupuncture may also provide some relief.
DON’T
- Just ignore it and stop using your arm. Try and seek help and keep it moving as early as possible in its development.
- Overdo it, ask for help. There are some activities which certainly aggravate frozen shoulders more than others. Jolting movements and sudden jarring movements can be one of these. If you have a dog that pulls for example, maybe ask for help walking it or use your other arm.
- Miss appointments with your doctor or manual therapist. You are likely to need there help and advice, so make sure you attend. If you don’t find their advice or treatment is working, there will be other options you can discuss with them too. Keep communicating with your health care providers.
- Skip your exercises or try and invent new ones. The exercises you have been set, have been set for you. Not your neighbour or your friend. Try to stick to those prescribed for you. Whilst Mr Google is great, it is important to do certain exercises through specific stages of a frozen shoulder. Your therapist will be able to advice on this.
- Give up. Things will get better and help is at hand.
