r/frozenshoulder

I’m 59,F. I had FS in late 2024, left side. Had an MRI, which showed tendonitis/arthritis, followed by an unguided cortisone injection and 1 month of PT. As of right now, that shoulder is perfect, and I’m very fortunate the Cortisone injection has held up this long. Now, my right shoulder is starting to go. I have the same aching pain right in the front part, but this time it’s only when I lift my arm fully straight up in the air. I can do everything else without any restrictions. However, I don’t want it to progress to the point that my other shoulder did.

I’ve been doing some daily light stretches, and using my red light wrap on it, twice a day, which really makes it feel better. I can still sleep on the shoulder, put my hands behind my back, and pretty much put it all the way up, but not completely straight. So it’s definitely not in the frozen stage yet, just trying to find ways to avoid it becoming that way.

Is it possible that I can prevent it from completely freezing? Or is it inevitable that I will have to go through another round of MRI/injection/PT? Can I nip it in the butt and heal it on my own?

Has anyone had both? I’m about a year in and had 3 cortisone injections which have done nothing, I think I’m in the frozen stage as my ROM is really limited and the pain no longer makes me cry, but how do you know what stage your in?

Injury was April last year, Surgery in June, then follow up surgery in January 2026 for Frozen shoulder. (left shoulder, non dominant) -- Edit, I am 57 years old.

Even after all this, following PT 100%, still have only about 60-65% ROM, and pain has been 24/7 and will not go away. Use ice/heat accordingly along with Tylenol and Celebrex (Ibuprofen).

The pain is a 3/4 out of 10, 24 hours a day, with it worsening to 6/7 a few times a day. Enough that I cant take my mind off it as its always present.

Am trying to push for one more MRI to see how things healed (or not healed). Combine this with still existing elbow pain as I fractured the elbow during the same trip/fall at work.

I have all my assortment of PT stuff to use at home, and even though it hurts, I still do all my exercises and document everything. More so for workers comp I am covering what I need to do information wise.

As title says - at the end of my rope from lack of sleep. About 4-5 months in, not frozen yet. Bilateral. Still getting zingers and a lot of pain on outside of shoulder, biceps forearm. Movement helps during the day. Sleep is a major issue. Currently taking 2 Aleve and half a THC/CBN/CBD gummy at night before bed. I sleep 1.5-2 hours then wake. Sometimes have to get up and walk around or put heating pad on. If I'm lucky, fall back asleep for another hour or so. Rinse, repeat. Not sure if I am waking from pain or being uncomfortable sleeping in one position on my back (I am a side sleeper). Always my biceps and forearms that hurt in the night. Have not managed to find a pillow placement that helps (seems to make it worse tbh). I am waiting to see sports med about possible cortisone. Physio thinks I am almost frozen due to decreased lack of ROM over past month. I am just so over this. Sorry, wanted to vent and see if anyone has magically found a better way to sleep lately (have searched posts). Actually, probably just venting. LOL! Thanks for listening.

Hi all. After a long course of PT I finally had to have arthroscopic capsular adhesion release. That was about 4 days ago (surgery Wednesday, today’s Sunday).

I was at PT the afternoon of the surgery and on Th/Fri following and have done my required stretches/exercises 2-3x a day as instructed. I know I had great range of motion after the surgery when still numb, but I’m afraid something has re-adhered or gone wrong.

The worst of my pain has always been at the top, front of my arm below my shoulder. Knife sharp pain that limited motion. Now 4 days after surgery that knife sharp pain seems to be back…and again limiting my range of motion. I know I had a great surgeon, recommended by every physical therapist and doctor in the area. I have done all the exercises to the best of my ability since the day of surgery. Pain otherwise is totally bearable.

Just wonder if anyone else has had a similar location of pain or sharp pain with motion after recovery. I am exhausted and afraid this didn’t work. Thanks.

Hello r/frozenshoulder,

I have recently started dealing with a currently undiagnosed shoulder issue. I'm 90% sure it is frozen shoulder based on the symptoms I've been experiencing, but won't be able to get a diagnosis for about a week. I'd like to learn a little more about this condition, if anyone would be willing to share.

1. I cannot actively move my shoulder past a certain point either forward or backward. Once I reach the stopping point, it is painful and so stiff as to be impossible to move. That said, others can easily move my shoulder around with relatively little pain for me. Is this normal? I had heard that frozen shoulder is impossible to move either actively or passively, but maybe at the beginning it can still be moved around passively?

2. What is the general consensus around surgery? I've seen stories about people successfully waiting it out on this sub, but I don't know if I've got it in me to suffer that long. I'm already tired of this immobility and pain, and especially the loss of sleep. Surgery seems like an out, albeit with much additional PT being required. Is there any big risk associated with this approach?

3. What about a corticosteroid injection? From what I've seen online, this can temporarily stave off the pain and boost mobility for a time, but ultimately cannot stop the process from continuing through its course. Is this true, or has anyone had a different experience?

Any advice would be very helpful.

Hi all - I wanted to share here that I am still in the freezing phase of frozen shoulder and as of last Friday have found meaningful relief from the ongoing (and at times severe) pain by using a TENS machine.

I can't/shouldn't wear it while sleeping, but during the day I can keep it attached all the time and turn it on for occasional spells and my day is honestly transformed. It's early days, but as I know how uncomfortable/painful and miserable I was before I wanted to share the news here in case it's helpful for anyone else.

I have been using freezable/heatable gel bags and they have provided mild relief, but nothing like the TENS machine. I'm still using the gel bags to help me get back to sleep when I'm woken in the night by the pain, but am now much more optimistic about the day to day until things settle down (whenever that might be).

Good luck to you all!

I’m in the frozen stage of FS in my dominant arm. It’s taken a long time to get this far - about 9-10 months. I still experience night pain and pain at limits of movement, despite a hydrodilatation (which absolutely helped the day time pain at rest but not ROM).

Anyway, I have noticed the past week or two that my opposite arm is starting to hurt at the end of external rotation - exactly what I noticed first time around.

Is anyone aware of anything that can be at this stage to perhaps get on top of this a lot earlier, or am I just doomed to wait for it to get bad? I’m open to any and all suggestions, even if a bit out-there… I’m desperate for this to all end

Hi all, since 6 months I have a frozen shoulder and at least the pain has now declined. The movement to the front is coming back slowly but steadily, however there is no improvement when try to lift my arm to the side. I can lift it like 35 degrees then it is over.

Now that the pain has declined I can start with more exercises. Can you recommend me the excercises that helped you the most getting the side motion back?

Thank you!!

As my mom is dealing with her right frozen shoulder, her major range of motion jas returned. The only issue is end range stiffness which is restricting her motion. She can raise arm till 160 degree and doing functional activities but when it comes to picking thing’s from height she get stretch & pain. Her end range external rotation is affected and her hand doesn’t go to back at all, she can only touch lower back from side. She is not even able to do towel stretch.

So, this is my second frozen shoulder so I thought I knew what I was doing, but honestly I feel like I have no idea what my body is doing or what I should do.

I'm about 16 months in. I still work out once week doing some strength training exercises to keep up muscle in my arm. I still try to use it as pain allows, I do some of the PT exercises from the first shoulder but (I never went to PT on this shoulder because as soon as 6 weeks of PT ran out on shoulder 1 it went back to the same it was prior to PT and I was 1,000's poorer). Im in dull pain, and I still get zingers when I accidentally move my arm too quickly or push outside my ROM. I started HRT 2 months ago and no improvement yet, though I know that can take time.

Im using one of those compression/heat/vibration sleeves and voltaten gel and lidocaine patched. No NSAIDS due to other conditions. I've had 2 shots, minimal help.

(A shot cured my first shoulder at 12 months, after $3,000 of PT, a $2500 MRI and a shoulder x-ray.)

I guess Im just looking for guidance to be like.. you are doing too much.. your doing all the right things... you should just chop off your arm its not gonna get any better...

I need sleep.

50yo male, I've tried everything over the past year for pain that includes frozen shoulder. Creams, lotions, heating pads, sounds,lmassage, acupuncture. No real improvement.

When I was a teenager I remember having girlfriends walk on my back after basketball. So I had my female friend About 5'8 , 260 pounds stand on the backside of my shoulder and middle of my back. I didn't think she would be so heavy lol. She stood on backside of the bottom edge of my shoulder with one foot and the middle of my spine with other foot and spun around in a circle. Anyway it's been 3 days and I haven't even noticed anything worth mentioning concerning shoulder pain since she stood on it.

At what stage of frozen shoulder my mom is? Please help anyone, and what she must be doing in this stage?

Overhead Reach: 160 degree

Flexion: 140 degree

Can do: comb hair, wash hair, kitchen work, wear clothes, squeezing wet clothes and putting on wire, can lift daily sort of weight.

Difficulty: hook/unhook strap, hand reaching only lower back, locking/unlocking higher door latch, a bit end range external rotation

Pain: At rest almost zero, if doing stretches or exercise feel pull and pain on front side of shoulder (2-4/10)

Feel most pain while performing towel stretch for improving internal rotation (5/10)

Been around 6 months from diagnosis. I think I'm in the thaw stage. My ROM has improved but its still only around 50-70% normal depending on the movement. If you got it done how was it?

Was it painful after the drugs wore off? How much improvement did you have?

Frozen shoulder has seemed to creep up on me somewhat suddenly. It's hard to pinpoint the dates. I probably started freezing around mid-march, where I noticed pain when I tried to put on a bra. I thought I sprained a muscle or something doing pushups during my workout.

Beginning of April ROM started decreasing dramatically and I couldn't sleep on my right side. By mid April, I could not lift things overhead and had constant dull pain or sharp pain when I accidentally moved or knocked my arm/shoulder in the wrong way.

The dull ache totally stopped around 2-3 weeks ago and I was pretty much completely pain free (oddly right after my first PT appointment) although my ROM has remained limited. I felt stiffness but no pain. My ROM also increased about 20+ degrees when lifting my arm in front me me after I implemented the exercises from PT and started gently working out again. My PT thinks that getting some blood flow back after not using my arm at all has helped.

I had my second PT appointment last Friday, and although my PT is conservative and doesn't push me through any pain, the dull ache came back two days after the PT session. Nothing unmanageable, it's about a 2 or 3 out of 10 on a pain scale and I don't need to take pain meds yet. However, I thought I was finally out of the freezing phase and into the frozen phase after the ache had originally stopped.

What are other peoples' experiences around moving through the different different phases? Is it a clean break between phases or is there some back-and-forth with the pain? Did PT (even gentle PT) reignite pain for you?

So far the pain hasn't been unmanageable, but it's been incredibly frustrating. Thank goodness for this forum to help me navigate this horrible affliction.

My mom is dealing with FS, her external rotation has improved a lot, though not completely fine yet. But her behind the back movement is pretty restricted and she is not even able to do towel stretching. Please share your suggestion how you guys improved your internal rotation

I had frozen shoulder in my left shoulder in 2019. I got a steroid shot that did not help. Now I have it in my right shoulder. I'd love to hear from anyone that tried the steroid shot a 2nd time and if it helped!

I’ve been unfreezing for 8-10 weeks. Is it normal for my FS arm & shoulder to be bigger not the same shape as the normal one. I’m guessing it’s time to go back to doctor. :(

My mom (54 yr) is dealing with right arm frozen shoulder sort of situation since April (after her uterus & ovary removal surgery) & since starting month of may she started with physiotherapy

What she can do:

Can raise arm fairly at 160 degree overhead

Can comb & wash her hair also can put her clothes on easily

Can do daily normal activities like kitchen work

Performing physio exercises on daily basis

She can carry some daily basis weight.

What issue she is facing:

Her hand is not going behind back, towel strech exercise is very difficult to perform, can’t reach hand to unhook or hook the strap from behind.

Pain is there at rest, though applying diclofenac gel improves

Putting wet clothes on wire (if at normal height) then fine if wire is at height, face difficulty.

When her physio tries to mobilisation stretches she feels ouching pain

Anyone who is dealing with frozen shoulder or had history with it, how would you rate this progress and what you guys think by when she should be gaining her ROM back, like estimat?