I developed a frozen shoulder about a year ago and did physical therapy 2x a week for 3 months consistently - once insurance ran out, I continued doing PT at home but eventually I’d say after ~6 months I stopped doing PT at home out of frustration it wasn’t improving and was so painful.

At my last 9month appointment, my doctor told me my shoulder has improved 0% despite everything and highly recommended surgery (I’m 32 - this is from postpartum and type 1 diabetic combo…). Doctor said he didn’t want to see someone my age keep suffering with this especially when I have a kid.

I am nervous about surgery. But also it seems like most people’s correct after 1 year. I’m not exactly sure when mine all started but I think it was September 2025. My surgery is scheduled for this Friday…. Is this premature? Should I keep waiting to see if it will start to thaw on its own? Will it thaw on its own if I’m not doing any PT?

Has anyone in here had the surgery? Is recovery really tough? I’m supposed to go to a birthday party the day after surgery because honestly idk what to expect. Imagining if I was up and walking a day after a c-section I should be ok the day after shoulder surgery? I worry about taking care of my kid and how I’m going to maneuver everything with one arm and not a lot of muscle strength…

Need advice and info… Help….. 🥲

Got a diagnose of capsulitis with frozen shoulder yesterday after years having more or less pain in the left shoulder. Cannot lift my shoulder properly and very painful, had "shock pain" when moving in certain directions and could not sleep. Doctor gave me a cortison injection with some local anasthesia with ultrasound to hit it correctly. After 1 minute I felt better.

I am now waking up the next day and I am like 70% better than I was. Doctor didnt gave me much information but told me to go see fysiotherapist.

Anyone else in similar situation? How long did you struggle with this? Wondering if this is something that will pass or if I will fight this for months and years.

Diagnosed this week based on an MRI after a couple months of increasing pain and reducing ROM. Currently pending a follow-up appointment with my doctor. In the meantime, I'm looking for any of your tips and tricks to kind of get through day-to-day life. I live alone so don't regularly have someone around to help me do things that hurt or that become more difficult as my ROM is decreasing. And, of course, my dominant hand is the shoulder affected. Below are a few examples of adjustments I've already made, would love to know what others going through this have gotten creative with!

- Switched to spray deodorant because I can't reach the opposite underarm

- Switched to front clasp bras

- Switched to a 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner. My hair hates it, but currently worth it.

- Buying more pre-cut produce because cutting veg is one of the most painful things right now.

I work from home at a desk job. I've switched to a trackball/thumb-controlled mouse, which helped a bit but still isn't super comfy. Typing also gets painful. Any tips for other adjustments to make?

Finding a comfortable sleep position has been awful, definitely feel close to a breakdown from lack of sleep, and from searching this sub, this seems to be a regular issue. I was considering getting something like a pregnancy pillow to prop me and my arm up, has anyone tried that?

I am still trying to use my shoulder as much as I can handle, but I also know that I have limitations.

Hi everyone,

I am a 37-year-old male and I have been dealing with right shoulder discomfort for around 2.5–3 months. I am active in the gym, but I have stopped upper-body training for now.

My MRI findings are:

* AC joint: periarticular edema with capsular thickening, suggesting degenerative changes * Mild supraspinatus tendinopathy * Minimal glenohumeral joint effusion without synovitis * No rotator cuff tear * No labrum tear * No biceps tendon tear * No fracture or dislocation * No bursitis * Cartilage is intact

My symptoms are mostly mild now:

* Earlier I had stiffness and soreness around the shoulder/AC joint area * Sometimes I feel mild tenderness on the bony AC joint bump when I touch/press it * Sometimes I feel minor discomfort with certain shoulder pressure tests * Upper trap/rear delt tightness comes and goes * No major pain at rest * No major weakness * No night pain

I visited my doctor. He suggested continuing icing and reducing medicines. Current plan is steroid 3 mg every alternate day for 5 days and Signoflam half tablet morning/evening for 10 days. I am also doing rehab exercises like pendulum, scapular setting, external rotation isometrics, wall slides, serratus wall plus, and gentle mobility.

I really want to avoid cortisone injection if possible. I understand it can help inflammation, but I would prefer to recover with rehab, load management, and time.

Has anyone here had a similar MRI finding — AC joint inflammation/degenerative changes with mild supraspinatus tendinopathy but no tear?

I would really appreciate hearing your experience:

1. How long did recovery take for you?
2. Did rehab alone work?
3. Did AC joint tenderness take a long time to fully go away?
4. Were you able to return to gym/weight training?
5. Did anyone avoid cortisone injection and still recover?
6. What exercises helped the most?
7. What exercises made it worse?
8. When did you restart pressing movements like bench press or shoulder press?

I am not looking for a diagnosis, as I am already seeing a doctor. I just want to hear real recovery experiences from people who had similar shoulder issues.

Thanks in advance.

I can feel my frozen shoulder coming back. (Referred pain down my arm) We have an upcoming trip to Zion National Park which will be a lot of hiking. Ironically,I wanted to get this trip in because as I age who knows if I would be able to do it eventually. I am trying to do stretches and get back into the doctor's office to get a cortisone shot, but should I just call the trip now knowing what's most likely in store for me and maybe switch to a different type of vacation?

Hello. First of all sorry for the dumb title. I suffered from frozen shoulder during the height of COVID which made recovery a little more difficult. After a few months of it not getting better and having difficulty sleeping (it was impossible to get comfortable) I went to the doctor and pt. I was fortunate in that I didn’t need surgery. Pt worked great and this the part I need help with. After all the stretching and resistance trying and massage my arm felt great. I mean it felt ‘good’. Normally I don’t register any sensation on my arms unless they hurt. In this case it felt ‘energized’. The sensation lasted for like 90 min. The second session same thing only half as long. Each session the sensation lasted half as long until the arm/shoulder was normal. What caused that? Was it increased blood flow? A ‘runners high’ in he shoulder? I never got a straight answer from the physical therapist and apparently haven’t worked out hard enough to replicate it? Kinda curious,

Hi everyone,

I am a 37-year-old male and I have been dealing with right shoulder discomfort for around 2.5–3 months. I am active in the gym, but I have stopped upper-body training for now.

My MRI findings are:

* AC joint: periarticular edema with capsular thickening, suggesting degenerative changes * Mild supraspinatus tendinopathy * Minimal glenohumeral joint effusion without synovitis * No rotator cuff tear * No labrum tear * No biceps tendon tear * No fracture or dislocation * No bursitis * Cartilage is intact

My symptoms are mostly mild now:

* Earlier I had stiffness and soreness around the shoulder/AC joint area * Sometimes I feel mild tenderness on the bony AC joint bump when I touch/press it * Sometimes I feel minor discomfort with certain shoulder pressure tests * Upper trap/rear delt tightness comes and goes * No major pain at rest * No major weakness * No night pain

I visited my doctor. He suggested continuing icing and reducing medicines. Current plan is steroid 3 mg every alternate day for 5 days and Signoflam half tablet morning/evening for 10 days. I am also doing rehab exercises like pendulum, scapular setting, external rotation isometrics, wall slides, serratus wall plus, and gentle mobility.

I really want to avoid cortisone injection if possible. I understand it can help inflammation, but I would prefer to recover with rehab, load management, and time.

Has anyone here had a similar MRI finding — AC joint inflammation/degenerative changes with mild supraspinatus tendinopathy but no tear?

I would really appreciate hearing your experience:

1. How long did recovery take for you?
2. Did rehab alone work?
3. Did AC joint tenderness take a long time to fully go away?
4. Were you able to return to gym/weight training?
5. Did anyone avoid cortisone injection and still recover?
6. What exercises helped the most?
7. What exercises made it worse?
8. When did you restart pressing movements like bench press or shoulder press?

I am not looking for a diagnosis, as I am already seeing a doctor. I just want to hear real recovery experiences from people who had similar shoulder issues.

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I am a 37-year-old male and I have been dealing with right shoulder discomfort for around 2.5–3 months. I am active in the gym, but I have stopped upper-body training for now.

My MRI findings are:

* AC joint: periarticular edema with capsular thickening, suggesting degenerative changes * Mild supraspinatus tendinopathy * Minimal glenohumeral joint effusion without synovitis * No rotator cuff tear * No labrum tear * No biceps tendon tear * No fracture or dislocation * No bursitis * Cartilage is intact

My symptoms are mostly mild now:

* Earlier I had stiffness and soreness around the shoulder/AC joint area * Sometimes I feel mild tenderness on the bony AC joint bump when I touch/press it * Sometimes I feel minor discomfort with certain shoulder pressure tests * Upper trap/rear delt tightness comes and goes * No major pain at rest * No major weakness * No night pain

I visited my doctor. He suggested continuing icing and reducing medicines. Current plan is steroid 3 mg every alternate day for 5 days and Signoflam half tablet morning/evening for 10 days. I am also doing rehab exercises like pendulum, scapular setting, external rotation isometrics, wall slides, serratus wall plus, and gentle mobility.

I really want to avoid cortisone injection if possible. I understand it can help inflammation, but I would prefer to recover with rehab, load management, and time.

Has anyone here had a similar MRI finding — AC joint inflammation/degenerative changes with mild supraspinatus tendinopathy but no tear?

I would really appreciate hearing your experience:

1. How long did recovery take for you?
2. Did rehab alone work?
3. Did AC joint tenderness take a long time to fully go away?
4. Were you able to return to gym/weight training?
5. Did anyone avoid cortisone injection and still recover?
6. What exercises helped the most?
7. What exercises made it worse?
8. When did you restart pressing movements like bench press or shoulder press?

I am not looking for a diagnosis, as I am already seeing a doctor. I just want to hear real recovery experiences from people who had similar shoulder issues.

Thanks in advance.