Frozen Shoulder

Linda, that’s brilliant about your shoulder. You’ve had a really rough time. Do hope you get relief with all areas of concern. Take care – lots of healing thoughts coming through, with hugs.

I’ve had an almost miraculous result from a treatment this week. First off, cortisone injection in my shoulder a few weeks back has improved pain & helped me sleep better – but my neck has still been hell.

I’ve been to a pain specialist who recommended a series of facet joint injections in my neck – so I had a little nap in theatre in a day surgery unit a few days ago – and woke up with a very numb neck/head – very strange sensation. But found that as the numbness wore off, I found pain had also dropped a lot around my neck and that it moved almost ‘normally’ without bad stiffness. I’ve not turned my neck so well since before the accident. Pain dropped heaps too. Early days but very promising & if the cortisone wears off in a few months, because it’s worked so well they can look at re-doing it, or a rhizotomy which closes off facet joint pain for a year or so.

I’m so happy with the incredible result. Shows what a skilled pain specialist who can ‘read’ the issue well can do, plus cortisone, when it works, can be incredibly useful. Now we just need to keep my range of movement up, & slowly regain strength. My badly stuck arm which I couldn’t raise easily now moves so much easier. But I’ve lost a lot of strength on my left side & there’s a lot of work to do to rebuild it. Plus mid-section is still hell – I’m hoping the planned (same) injections in my thoracic region later in June will help as much as neck ones have, but we’re not sure. That one is a trial & see, the neck was more obvious I think that injections would make a difference.

I’m waiting for this to be done to my shoulder. I have problems with both but one is much more painful. The public system does do ultrasounded guided cortisone injections but I don’t trust them.

I had one done in my wrist last year and it only made the problem so very much worse. But on the other hand, cortisone injections in my back are the only reason I can walk, so I’m willing to try them in my shoulder and see how it goes. At the moment though, I have to wait to get it done privately because my doctor won’t do it without having my full medical history forwarded from my previous doctor (where I used to live) and that is taking some time.

Linda, I hope that my experience will be of assistance to you. Good luck and let me know how you go. x

Linda, I forgot to mention that it is vital to have the procedure as quickly as possible once you are diagnosed with frozen shoulder. x

Thanks Roxy for that info too, I’ll definitely keep that in mind when chatting with GP. I’m glad it worked so well for you too. Did it reduce your recovery time by months?

Linda, I fully recovered within a couple of weeks. No problems in either shoulder since then. Again, I must emphasise that I know several women who had the treatment but it was done by doctors who did not have expertise in hydrodilatation (even though they apparently claimed to know what they were doing) and the outcome was not as good as mine. I was very fortunate in being referred to the person who developed the treatment and so I believe that resulted in full recovery. The procedure must be done with the x-ray available to the practitioner while the needle is being inserted. I think this is where some doctors go wrong.

That’s so good Roxy with recovery time 🙂 very good results, I’m really pleased for you and thanks for the good advice re choosing treatment providers. It sounds like it’s under Cat Scan x-ray guidance to be done properly

Linda, I forgot to mention that it is vital to have the procedure as quickly as possible once you are diagnosed with frozen shoulder. x

Thanks Roxy for that info too, I’ll definitely keep that in mind when chatting with GP. I’m glad it worked so well for you too. Did it reduce your recovery time by months?

Linda, I fully recovered within a couple of weeks. No problems in either shoulder since then. Again, I must emphasise that I know several women who had the treatment but it was done by doctors who did not have expertise in hydrodilatation (even though they apparently claimed to know what they were doing) and the outcome was not as good as mine. I was very fortunate in being referred to the person who developed the treatment and so I believe that resulted in full recovery. The procedure must be done with the x-ray available to the practitioner while the needle is being inserted. I think this is where some doctors go wrong.

I had a shoulder surgery a few years ago, after several cortisone injections done with the aid of ultrasound didnt help.
I didnt find that they hurt, my arm just felt very heavy afterwards, and clearly they did nothing for me, and I ended up with surgery.
But several months after the surgery I had very restricted movement in my arm, tingly fingers etc, I tried physio, but it didnt help, so eventually I had the hydrodilatation.
It was done as a day procedure, taking a few hours from I arrived till I left again, and I was ‘knocked out’ for it, so I didnt feel a thing. It did help a little, and take away a little of the pain I had, but sadly not as much as I had hoped, but still it did help!
And to this day, I still do not have as much strength in my right arm, and it still hurts when I do certain movements, such as put my arm behind my back to take off my bra etc.

Thanks PrincessFi, sounds like you went through a long period struggling with it :(. I’m glad the hydrodilatation helped to some degree, I’m definitely going to chat with GP about it later this week.

My injury is covered under motor vehicle medico cover, so it won’t cost me anything fortunately.

Linda, I forgot to mention that it is vital to have the procedure as quickly as possible once you are diagnosed with frozen shoulder. x

Thanks Roxy for that info too, I’ll definitely keep that in mind when chatting with GP. I’m glad it worked so well for you too. Did it reduce your recovery time by months?

Linda, here is a link to Dr Frank Burke who developed the treatment and reference to it. I also found the patient information brochure provided to me and the link is below the first one. Dr Burke treated me on both occasions. You may want to check with your GP about it.

http://www.victoriahouseimaging.com.au/our-doctors/radiologists/dr-frank-burke.aspx

http://www.victoriahouseimaging.com.au/upload/Shoulder%20Hydrodilatation1.pdf
Hope this is of use. x

Thanks very much Roxy, that’ll be very helpful – seeing my GP Thursday & will discuss this with him. I’m sure there’ll be Perth radiological specialists who can do this procedure if my doctor deems it’s a good treatment option

I had a shoulder surgery a few years ago, after several cortisone injections done with the aid of ultrasound didnt help.
I didnt find that they hurt, my arm just felt very heavy afterwards, and clearly they did nothing for me, and I ended up with surgery.
But several months after the surgery I had very restricted movement in my arm, tingly fingers etc, I tried physio, but it didnt help, so eventually I had the hydrodilatation.
It was done as a day procedure, taking a few hours from I arrived till I left again, and I was ‘knocked out’ for it, so I didnt feel a thing. It did help a little, and take away a little of the pain I had, but sadly not as much as I had hoped, but still it did help!
And to this day, I still do not have as much strength in my right arm, and it still hurts when I do certain movements, such as put my arm behind my back to take off my bra etc.

Oh, I cant remember how much this cost….but as we have private health insurance, they covered the majority of what medicare didnt! I had mine done at Cabrini in Brighton.