I wanted to share an experience I had while going through menopause a couple of years ago and,
maybe someone here is going through the same situation.
I was diagnosed with frozen shoulder or medically known as adhesive capsulitis. I learned that this condition is more prevalent in women going through menopause...they don't know why. The likely explanation is hormones...and when
isn't it hormones in menopause!
So what happens is the capsule in the shoulder joint becomes inflamed and "sticky," for lack of a better term. This eventually can severely restrict the range of motion in the affected shoulder.
I saw my GP when it just started being a problem. We had just returned from Costa Rica and I thought I might have hurt it somenhow. He suggested I may eventually need surgery although he didn't officially diagnose frozen shoulder. He suggested getting treated by my chiropractor first to try and loosen the joint. Thankfully it was only in the one shoulder, it can happen in both at the same time or one after the other.
I did Active Release Therapy for 6 weeks and it wasn't getting any better. It was painful all the time, I couldn't lift my arm at all and I could never find a comfortable sleeping position. I had no choice to sleep on the shoulder because it seemed to stablize it and kept gravity from moving it. I wasn't making any progress for those 6 weeks so the next step was to see a sports physician and get cortisone shots. At my first appt. he did a range of motion test, ordered and x-ray and ultrasound. With that it confirmed it was frozen shoulder. He gave me a shot in the joint and told me to come back in two weeks and continue with the A.R.T. I got some relief but not for very long. I had 3 more shots over the following 6 weeks but I still had very limited range of motion. Finally, it was decided that I needed something more invasive but not surgery. I was referred to a radiologist for a procedure called Arthrographic Distention. Basically, via X-ray, they put a needle in the space in the joint, and inject saline, steroid, and air to distend the joint space and break up the adhesions. It's done under local anesthetic and there is very little pain, but alot of pressure in the joint. After the procedure, they sat me up and I could actually move my arm 45 degrees. It was amazing! Over time I continued with the chiro and it took about 18 months to finally get full range of motion restored. My chiro bestowed me the honour of having the most stubborn case of frozen shoulder he has ever treated
.
Long story short, if this sounds familiar to anyone, do try the cortisone but ask about this procedure. I should have had it done alot sooner.
My shoulder is good now and fingers crossed it doesn't end up in the other!