Osteoarthritis and frozen shoulder can you have both?

peacegirl

Hello all, hope everyone's coping with pain ok today.

I just received a diagnosis by text 'your X-rays have confirmed early osteoarthritis of your joint' I believe this as I have mild joint pain elsewhere too (I'm lucky its manageable) BUT I presented to the physio with severe shoulder pain which I still have - keeping me awake a lot of most nights and if I happen to 'wrench' it even by putting my hood up or tearing a bit of paper, the pain is sometimes enough to make me feel a bit faint. So I wonder if it's possible I have both. I mean if the treatment/exercises are the same it doesn't matter too much but if not I need to know how I can help myself as I am struggling with the pain level.

Thanks for any advice

PJoanne

Hello @peacegirl, welcome to the VA online community.

I had a shoulder pain and it turned out to be a rotator cuff tear, pain on movement, worse at night. This wouldn't show up on an Xray. Hopefully your physio did the appropriate tests to rule out a soft tissue injury. Perhaps get back to your GP or Physio to confirm what is going on. Could there be some nerve impingement?

I was unable to side sleep on the bad shoulder, I used that 'deep freeze' gel that athletes use on my shoulder just before bed, as well as painkillers.

Here is some info for you :

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis-oa-of-the-elbow-and-shoulder/

All the best to you, Joanne

peacegirl

Hi, thanks for the information, and the welcome. I can't sleep on the sore side or find any comfortable position many times. If I 'cuddle' a pillow that helps a bit. But I wake through the night if I move it slightly the wrong way. I'll look into the freezing gel as OTC painkillers haven't worked. I think there possibly is something going on as the sudden and acute nature of the pain doesn't seem to fit with the osteoarthritis alone. Thanks again for taking the time to reply to me and I hope you're injury is resolving ok.

Trish9556

Hi @peacegirl

I had subacromial decompression on both shoulders (my surgeon told me to imagine he was scraping polyfilla off the walls prior to painting lol). Sleeping was hard as I'm a side sleeper. The only way I managed to was to sit propped up surrounded by pillows resting my bad arm on a smaller bean bag type cylindrical pillow. Make sure you deep one dose if whatever pain relief you're taking for about 30 minutes before you go to bed. Something like ralgex or deep heat will help.

Whatever you do, don't do as I did and walk around with yourarm in a sli g or hand in your pocket to keep it still. Got told off as I was making it worse instead of doing what I thought was best and immobilising it to minimise pain on movement

Trish xx

LornaG

Hi, yes, its possible to have both. About 2.5 years ago i got a rotator cuff injury on my right shoulder, then at the start of last year that went away and then the pain began in my left shoulder. Following much physiotherapy and x-rays, both on NHS and then privately, my shoulder specialist confirmed i had both OA and a frozen shoulder. I completely emphasise with you on the pain, particularly at night. For the last 6 months i've been researching everything that might help and self-advocating for myself medically. Some things i've learnt and put in practise:

1. if you're old enough to be perimenopausal, the lowered estrogen can help cause both OA & frozen shoulder - so get on HRT as the pain and inflammation should reduce a bit.
2. start taking Devils claw supplement - it can take 6 - 12 weeks to take effect, but this traditional herb has been clinically proven help with pain and inflammation.
3. Request an NHS referral to the pain clinic - its about a 3/4 month waiting list, but they can proscribe you meds that your GP may not want to give you (e.g. nefopam where naproxen can't be given, as its too expensive on NHS).
4. Go swimming to strengthen the muscles around the joint. I load up on co-codamol and ibuprofen beforehand, then swim and try an aquafit class. I find interspersing time in the sauna will help the pain. But also - don't be afraid of the pain too much.
5. Get a heat pad for your shoulder to use in the evening before bed - I use one from Amazon by Daewoo - its actually for the back and attaches round your neck, but i've swivelled it round to cover my shoulder and upper arm.
6. Flexiseq Max - currently applying this to my shoulder, although i'm not 100% sure how much its helping yet as not been using it long.
7. Putting your hair up for swimming - probably as difficult for you as it is for me - i've figured out a way to do it mostly one handed, twisting it around and putting a large jaw clip around it.
8. Tempur - I know its expensive, but i've invested in a tempur mattress and pillows. I sleep with one shoulder hanging off the bed on a slightly lower box with blanket on top, and my painful shoulder has a Cloud Comfort tempur pillow underneath. My head then has a special front sleeping pillow underneath. When i have to move onto my back, i use the cloud comfort pillow under my head, with the other pillow also supporting my upper shoulder. I guess it all depends on how you sleep, and what you can afford. Hopefully you can get some ideas from this at least.

With all of this, the pain is still there, but it has improved somewhat over the last few months. Still waiting on my pain clinic referral, and just started a Joint Care Programme at Nuffield Health last week. (Found out about this through the VA quarterly magazine - there's a self referral form on the Nuffield website.)

Hope some of this helps!

Debsy63

I have had shoulder pain on both shoulders. just been diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis. The pain was horrible I couldn’t move in bed.or do anything for myself. On my 3 rd lot of steroids and 3rd week on methotrexate . And it's still not right , I need to get back to work .