What exactly IS "frozen shoulder?"It´s My Arm I Can´t Lift

It must be 2 years now since my ridiculous fall inside my own house. Well, my 1st ridiculous fall anyway. I'd been mopping the floor tiles with soapy water and of course , a mop, when my daughter called in to see me.

Don't ask me why I began to demonstrate sumo wrestling to her. I really have forgotten and the reason must have been something quite absurd, since the full limit of my exercise regime is walking. I do plenty of that., but I don't think I've seen the inside of a Gym since my schooldays, (and back then, if I could escape the gym to play the piano ,or read a book, then that's where I'd be.)

Whatever the reason, there I was perfectly crouched as I'd seen the enormous men on t.v. ready to lift my left leg up just as I'd seen it done..........whoah.....left foot lands not on floor but in bucket compartment for drying the mop., bucket slides forward with left foot attached along with rest of me until ...."crash!' I'm flat on the floor the water is everywhere. I'm soaked. My foot is still caught in the bucket and .......my lovely daughter .....standing over me with a look of absolute horror.!(I suffer from arthritis in my hips and back)...........until I started to laugh.

The poor girl was holding back her laughter until she was sure that I was ok, but once we started we just couldn't stop. Like little girls giggling...I could not get up for laughing. When I finally tried to rise of course, the floor was so slippery wet, It was not easy. Eventually with the aid of my daughter we managed to get me onto the sofa as she cleaned up the mess.

I expected some pain in my back andhips after that but I didn't fully understandwhy my left arm was hurting so much. "I think it's obvious, dear", said my husband. "You probably put that arm out to try to save yourself. It will have taken all your weight until you landed on your back" ok. captain sensible. I guess he's right..

Not too many months after this incident . My daughter brought her fiance to the house. We didn't see them very often since Lisa (my daughter) had moved over 2000 miles back to the mainland we'd come from and my husband and I were still living on our beautiful island..

Again!! I can't say how I managed it but I must remember always since that day to sit down when putting my trousers on. Why a woman of my age and fitness (er the lack of fitness, that is) stands up puts one leg into the trousers and then lifts the other leg aiming for the other trouser leg....is beyond me... Needless to say you know what's coming...my 2nd leg gears towards the trouser leg that is already occupied...yes...crashing down I go, but this time I land on my side. Don't ask ! You just know it's the side that's already been hurt in the previous fall of a sumo wrestler.....

I can hear the footsteps of Lisa running to my room. She lifts me up again, poor girl, tells me I'm losing the plot, even young people sit down to do things like that, she says. I'm cringing as I think of the handsome new fiance "what kind of nutty family am I getting myself into?"...

There was not so much laughing with this litle tumble. Mainly because my ribs hurt so badly. I spent the next few days in bed . In fact I think I waved goodbye to my daughter and her fiance from the bed.. Oh dear I'd done it now.....Most doctors agree that ribs will have to heal slowly on their own. You can only rest and take painkillers. Apparrently doctors used to wrap bandages around the rib cage but it often caused more damage by pushing a cracked rib into something else.

Little did I know that as I was recovering from these painfull ribs, my left arm was getting worse,. I didn't really need it much all those days in bed. Right hand for the remote control Right hand to pick up a cup of tea and pills, or anything and pills , please.

MY RECOVERY

As soon as my ribs healed enough for me to visit my doctor I explained how painful my arm was,. After examination ,an X-ray and some waiting time. ,,the doctor tells me I have tendonitis from my elbow to my wrist, but at least no bones are broken , physiotherapy should do the trick. Er "should do?" "Yes" says my doctor quite merrily it usually works., although it could take a year, you know!!" No, I didn't know. and I don't like the sound of this. I make the mistake of thinking I'll manage. It will get better gradually. I'm not going back and forth to the hospital every week for something that only "might" make me better.

I must sound like a complete idiot by this point, but my dread of hospitals, coupled with fact that the physiotherapy department looks surprisingly like the school gym that I loathed, took all reasonable thought from me. Despite my husbands protests, I skipped all but 2 of the physio sessions.

Time to re-visit my doctor.. "Raise your arm dear." Can't lift it higher than my chest. "have you had all your physio sessions?" Doctor is beginning to give me funny look . I can only come clean. "sorry I thought if it may take a year, anyway, I'll let it get better on its own"

"OH my oh my but now you have a frozen shoulder.!!!!!!"

What a perfect description of my shoulder Have you ever felt frozen cold? My shoulder wants to lean over onto my chest. It definately does not want to stand to attention.. I had been gently pushing back a litle each day., but if I had been going for physiotherapy every time that I ought to have I wouldn't have had a frozen shoulder in the first place..........

The tendonitis is much better but the shoulder takes a lot longer. (can't think why?") Heat directly onto the shoulder is very helpful. If you are lucky enough to live in a warm climate and you suffer from this condition, sitting with the sun directly on your back is good. So are heat lamps and even hot water bottles. The heat helps relax the muscles all around the bone and it will slowly but surely become 'un-frozen'.. There's no reason why anyone should have a permanent frozen shoulder or suffer any disfigurement apart fom the slight leaning forward when it is at its worst..

Of course if you are a sensible person you should see you doctor. I would have been better much faster if I'd listened and had physiotherapy immediately and regularly. Having said that not everyone can afford all the treatments they need these days. So if you fall into that category and you have 'frozen shoulder' take heart.! It's painful but it does improve. Like a child, it needs time and patience.