Diabetic Frozen Shoulder

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Permalink Reply by Joe Brocato on June 27, 2009 at 6:51pm

Hi
I have had D for 43 years and had frozen shoulders X2. I had cotisone injections in both , which calmed things down in one ( I know it raises blood sugar temp.). The other shoulder gives me problems off and on. Although not exclusive to D's we do have a proclevity towards these things

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Permalink Reply by Rick Phillips on June 27, 2009 at 7:09pm

Steve:

I had a nasty bout with a frozen shoulder and did it ever hurt. My hand and arm and fingers started involuntary movement and the shoulder was so bad.

After awhile they took x-rays etc and determined there was no visible damage. So I got to a physical therapist and it took about six months but she freed it. Now I have ot be careful to use it, but so long as I do it is free.

rick phillips

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Permalink Reply by Marie Torregrosa on June 27, 2009 at 7:47pm

Frozen shoulder is one of the connective tissue and muscle disorders that diabetics can develop. Others are carpal tunnel, trigger fingers, ulnar nerve compression, and others--largely due to inflammation. I did not find this out until I began to have problems such as bi-lateral carpal tunnel, frozen shoulder and, finally trigger fingers. I went to PT for about 3 months and I also had acupuncture which worked great. It has been a year and I still have some of the symptoms, but I can move the arm much better. I did not take narcotics only Motrin 800mg and neurontin which I take for neuropathies. I have been T1 diabetic for 40 years. Unlike neuropathy, some of these conditions are not necessarily tied to BS control. According to my brother in-law who is a doctor, they don't really know where the inflammation comes from, but they know that a lot of T1s have inflammation.

I would avoid pain narcotics since they are addictive, but you can try the same cocktail that I take and/or nortripylin which is an antideppressant but it is also used to suppress pain.

My best to you.

Marie

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Gobin on July 1, 2009 at 3:00pm

I had surgery on my left frozen shoulder last autumn. My shoulder had been playing up for about a year before I actually went to my doctor after having seen an osteopath friend of mine who suspected frozen shoulder and told me to see my GP. Frozen shoulder was eventually diagnosed and I had weekly physiotherapy for a couple of months without any improvement. I was then referred to the hospital where it was decided that capsular release surgery would be the best option. By this time I couldn't raise my left arm to the usual 90-degree position you would adopt to alert a bus driver to stop and pick you up.

I was in hospital for five days and the surgery itself went well with physiotherapy starting within a few hours of coming round from the operation. My diabetes control was messed up big time on the sliding scale, but that's another story. I then had weekly physiotherapy until early January, but I had to do physio exercises three times a day at home.

It was keyhole surgery, although there are three noticeable scars on my left shoulder. The surgeon explained that during the operation he shaved off "spurs", or bits of bone that impede movement. My left shoulder is now so much better and there's no pain at all and I can sleep on it without the worry of experiencing discomfort. Movement has returned, although I cannot say that it's absolutely perfect or that I'll ever be able to do a routine on the parallel bars;-)). There's mild stiffness at the limit of my range, but I am able to do everything that's necessary to lead a "normal" life.

Now for the bad news: my right shoulder has started to go the same way in the last few months!

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Permalink Reply by Wayne rueger on July 10, 2009 at 6:09am

Hello
I am a Type 2 since 2005, and I developed frozen shoulder about 14 months ago. The doctor said to just ride it out, and it would cure itself in 18 months to 2 years, but it would never have the strength and range of motion (ROM) that it had previously.
Last July (12 months ago), I discovered the best exercise program no one has heard of--kettlebells. Google it for an explanation of what kettlebells are. I found a forum about kettlebells (dragondoor.com), and learned in the forum about many people fixing shoulder problems, even fixing frozen shoulder. Interesting, I thought. They had my attention.
Two things in every post kept popping up--kettlebell "arm bars" and Kettlebell "turkish get ups" (go to You Tube and search for kettlebell arm bars and kettlebell turkish get ups). I began to do arm bars with my kettlebells 3 or 4 times a week. My range of motion in my bad shoulder gradually increased, but it was still very painful, and I still couldn't raise my arm completely over my head, or behind my back, nor could I sleep on that side in bed without a lot of pain. I was better, and ROM had increased, but still was a long way from being "cured".
This February, I started trying to do Turkish get ups. I had to start without even using a kettlebell, three or four times a week, because I simply had no strength in my bad shoulder, and my ROM was still so poor, that I couldn't perform the movement correctly. I kept stretching (an excellent book with exercises to stretch and strengthen shoulders is "Secrets of the Shoulder" by Gray Cook), kept doing arm bars, and kept doing TGU's with no weight, and gradually, my ROM and strength began to return. In March, I was able to do my first TGU with an 8 pound kettlebell, and best of all, no pain while doing the exercise. In the past three months, I have gone from an 8 pound TGU to a 53 pound TGU, and my shoulders have never felt better. My ROM is the same now in both shoulders, and best of all, no pain now for 3 months. I can sleep in any position, and put my arms where I want them--cool stuff considering where I was at 4 months ago.
I do not know if kettlebells, stretching, and these two simple exercises can help you, but it might be worth a shot.
My doctor was dumbfounded when I showed up at the last appointment. He checked my ROM and strength, and the first thing he asked me was "what in the hell have you been doing?" I explained about kettlebells and the stretching, and the two exercises, and he replied "it makes sense. Frozen shoulder is brought on by inactivity, and you broke the mold by activating and stretching those unused muscles. But most of all you strengthened the stabilizer muscles in your shoulder, thereby taking a load off the weak major muscles. You balanced yourself out, and now your major muscles are as strong, or stronger than before, as well as your should stabilizers."
I thank kettlebells every day for correcting my frozen shoulder, in a very short amount of time.

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Permalink Reply by Theodore Quick on August 12, 2009 at 3:55pm

I had this strike about 1997 IIRC, after 41 years as a Type 1. Looked it up on the Intenet and found information saying it was "adhesive capsulitis", where the small lubricating capsules that are in between the joint ball and socket in the shoulder get stiffened up by higher than normal, though not necessarily long term, excessive bg levels that we tend to have.
The recommended treatment was to excercise several times daily by standing near a wall on the affected side, raise it so the hand reached the wall as high as was comfortable and lean on the wall, then stretch it more, to the point where it hurt somewhat.
Not fast or easy, it took roughly 2 years to clear it up totally, but I haven't had it since.

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