Frozen Shoulder (part 2)

Posted on 16. Nov, 2008 by Keith Scott in Back to Health

In my last article, I talked about how I got rid of frozen shoulder.

The first thing to understand about “frozen shoulder” is that many people that think or even have be “diagnosed” with it, don’t really have true frozen shoulder. Having a true frozen shoulder is a serious condition that affects the joint and most specifically, the ligaments and capsule that are within the joint. True frozen shoulder usually can only be “cured” with surgery or manipulation. This is not to say that therapy does not work…good therapy can and will help with this condition.

I talked to a physical therapist the other day and asked him how many cases of frozen shoulder was a true form of frozen shoulder. His response was “not many at all.” What this tells us is that many of the people out there with shoulder problems, and more specifically with range of motion issues, have other problems, and these problems can be corrected with the right exercises and/or therapy.

In the case of Dawn’s shoulder (the woman I talked about in the last article) it was not true frozen shoulder. Even though she was diagnosed with this, I realized in a two-minute conversation that we were not dealing with true frozen shoulder, and I knew immediately that I could help her.

Dawn had a shoulder injury from years before, that was compounded with a bunch of muscle shortening, muscle deactivation and knots in the surrounding area. This caused pain, and the pain caused her to stop using her shoulder. Lack of movement only caused more adhesions, and more knots…making the problem worse.

By working on her knots, re-activating unused muscles, and basically “resetting” her shoulder so it worked the way it should work, she was able to achieved full range of motion in under 2 minutes.

Because of years of non-use, Dawn still had much work to do on her shoulder to achieve total health. The important thing was that Dawn learned that day, in that very moment, that she could fix her shoulder and finally get back to living her life the way she wanted to live it.

The other important thing to learn from this is that even if you do have a true form of frozen shoulder, it can be improved and pain can be eliminated. By working on the surrounding muscles through release, deep tissue massage and specific activation techniques, the shoulder will improve both in function and pain.

Any area of the body that is hurting, or has limitations can be improved or even “cured” in many cases. You just have to do the right things.

This is exactly why I prescribe soft-tissue work, activation techniques and constant corrective exercise plans to everyone I encounter that suffers from physical limitations and problems.

Too many people just “give up” and assume that they have to live with their diagnosis and they never even try to make things better. Others live off of over the counter medications, and months (sometimes years) of ineffective therapy sessions.

In Dawn’s case, she lived 10 years of her life without full use of her shoulder. She was not able to do things she loved doing, and basically, her life changed. That 10 years of pain, and limitation was cured in 2 minutes. After our session, her joy turned into frustration that she was made to believe that her shoulder would forever be stuck in that position.

The take home message is that if you have an injury or physical issue, make sure you understand what the real problem is and if it can be fixed, or at least improved. My philosophy is that most issues can be in the least, improved.

Dawn’s shoulder was not the only shoulder I ever “cured” and it will not be the last. There are plenty of people out there that have similar issues with their shoulders and even other parts of their body that can be fixed with some “alternative” work.

If you are one of those people, get a second opinion, and better, get some of the right kind of work done and you might be amazed at how much improvement you will see.

As always, shoot me your questions or comments.

Train Smart,

-Keith

Tags: , ,

8 Responses to “Frozen Shoulder (part 2)”

  1. Gio

    16. Nov, 2008

    Keith,

    Can you give us the specific activation and resetting exercises you used with her?

    Thanks!

  2. Keith Scott

    18. Nov, 2008

    Gio,

    Everyone is different and has different specific issues, so keep that in mind. With that said, I basically did some release on her deltoid (lateral area most) , her brachialis muscle (which I find knotted in MANY people with shoulder issues, especially frozen shoulder), her infraspinatus, and her traps. By releasing these muscles, her shoulder complex was able to do its job and move the way it should. I also released her pecs.

    I did some activation of her middle traps, rotator cuff (especially her subscap muscle), rhomboids, and some other upper scap muscles. The subscap was almost completely shut down, so that helped a lot. Her suprapinatus was not working well either, so I did some activation of that muscle as well.

    Finally I worked on her serratus anterior muscle. Another muscle that shuts down when people have shoulder injuries.

    All of that was done in less than 2 minutes and the results were awesome.

    Hope that helped.

  3. Dick Montei

    06. Jan, 2009

    My left shoulder condition came on in slow
    increments over the last two years. The first
    sign was full extension in the swimming
    backstroke becoming painful, and now it is
    impossible to raise my left arm to apply
    deoderant. Raising weights over my head is
    impossible as well.
    I’m athletic and trim. I continue to do
    as much as I possibly can without pain, but
    I’m certainly tired of not having full range
    of movement. I’d love your comment.

  4. Keith Scott

    08. Jan, 2009

    Dick,

    Its hard to tell what is going on with you without more information. Write me and let me know as much info about your shoulder as you can, and I will help out as much as possible.

    Email will probably be the best option

    keith@backtoformfitness.com

  5. Layne Lechner

    14. Feb, 2009

    Hello Mr Scott,
    I just happened upon this site as I was researching possible solutions to a shoulder problem that has been annoying me for a few months. I am 47 and fairly active. I play alot of basketball and was recently in a lifting routine with my 21 year old son. I can not pinpoint an injury but my right shoulder has been giving me a great deal of pain most of the time. I had surgery about 28 years ago for an injury that left me with continual “out of socket” experiences. I had a screw put in that as far as I know is still in but I now suspect that is on the move considering the discomfort I am in. Is there any way to tell with x-ray or a doctors visit, and what are the best ways to rehabilitate if it is ligament and soft tissue damage? I had a friend who is a PT and she gave me some very easy and light weight exercises. I can perform the exercises but I am not seeing any improvement. Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Layne

  6. Keith Scott

    15. Feb, 2009

    Layne

    Based on your history, I would get an X-ray and visit your doc. You have to rule things out first and then you can start to do things to get the pain in check. Since you had surgery so long ago, there is a chance that you have some issues now. Get it looked out, make sure the screw is OK and go from there.

    Let me know what you find out.

    -Keith

  7. Rhonda Gokey

    01. Sep, 2010

    My name is Rhonda I am 47 and like many have lost a great deal of my quality of life due to Frozen Shoulder! I have been through hell and back trying to deal with this.
    It all started when I had to have all my teeth pulled 20 of them due to infection in my gums, in November of 2009.
    I have 7 children, so bed rest was not an option
    While recouping I spent a lot of time sitting in my living room, I fell asleep watching TV and when I woke I had and bad kink in my neck. I tried to work it out but nothing I did seem to help. After a month I went to the Doctors who said I had a torn muscle and that I needed surgery to fix it. Well I do not have health insurance, so I did not want to go that route.
    Several months past and the pain in my neck moved into my right arm. The pain was so bad all I could do is caudle it. Rest it and it should get better, I thought. Wrong ! as you know it only got worse.
    I made an appoint with a Chiropractor, she was able to work the knot out of my neck with ultra sound and using the T.E.N.S. machine. But I still could not use my arm, the pain was acute with every move I made. I return to her and she advised my to go to the doctor to get a shot of cortisone for she said I had a severe case of Bursitis and Tendonitis.
    So I did go back and to my surprise the doctor said all I had was Tendonitis and recommended that I go home and take Ibroprofine.
    So after a few more months passed and hours of research I thought I had Frozen Shoulder. It all made sense, but I was beside myself. Pain was controlling me in every imaginable way, every day task were so hard to do. I couldn’t even do the little things we all take for granite. While up in the middle of the night due to pain I saw an infomercial a Aucawave machine that was used for joint pain. I ordered it on the spot. After a forever wait, it finally came in the mail, it helped but I knew after several days of use I knew it was not my answer of getting my arm back. I made another appointment with a different Chiropractor and he told me that I had adhesive capsulitis.
    Fear ran through me as I did not know what it was till he spoke the words “Frozen Shoulder Syndrome”. He told me that most Chiropractors would not take on this syndrome because it takes so long with a small percentage of cases, will actually have a 100% recovery. He said he could help me regain some of the use and help with stretching exercises as long as I could afford to keep coming back. $94.00 a visit, I knew I could not afford.
    I had to lift my arm to try to do the wall walk, just after a few minutes I was soaked in cold sweat and pain that was so bad that it made me nauseas.
    In my heart I knew that I would never be free of the pain, and I best get use of not doing the little things in life that I once did.
    My four year old was bouncing on the bed as I tried to pull her top off to get her PJs on and I just couldn’t do it. I got so angry with myself; I made up my mind that I was not going to quit.
    I went onto the internet to find a cure, but every time I would hit a link this annoying pop up would slow me down. After several times I finally look at the add. It said “Free Video Reveals Little Known Secret on How to Quickly and Easy Get Rid of Frozen Shoulder Pain in Less Than 90 seconds with a Tennis Ball” and all I had to do is put in my email address?
    Ok that worked, it got my attention. So I search through the toy box and found a rubber ball, and tried it. Hot spots, my whole shoulder was a hot spot! after doing what Keith said to do, it amazed me, for the first time in over 9 months I felt some relief. Yes I pondered on ordering his program, for only $59.95 he will help me for 12 weeks and my arm will be better?
    I bounced the ball around for several hours, and tried the ball again sure enough I had pain relief again.
    I purchased his program on August 29th 2010, It took me two day to do Day 1 of the first week of training. Wakening up and activating muscles that have not work for several months were very hard to do. Hot spots, were everywhere on my shoulder, Scapula and Chest!
    Today I did day 2 on week one work out, and to my amazement I could do the wall walk without using my good arm to start it! Don’t get me wrong, I feel like I was hit by a man made truck, but I see hope through the pain.
    Today I received another tip from Keith using a wash cloth, I look forward to Eliminating my Frozen Shoulder !

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. What Causes Frozen Shoulder | Back To Form Fitness - 19. Jul, 2010

    [...] of videos about frozen shoulder to build on my my 2 popular blog posts Frozen Shoulder Part 1 and Frozen Shoulder Part 2. In this video I talk about what causes frozen shoulder. Post a comment if you have any questions [...]

Leave a Reply