articles

I had asked my physical therapist for resources or articles to gain more insight into my condition. Yesterday, he gave me a couple of sites where I could look into frozen shoulder further. He pointed me to the article on adhesive capsulitis at the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society. The article is okay, but it's mostly a rehash of the same information that I've found elsewhere online. There's quite a lot of discussion about surgical treatments, if you're into that kind of thing. The illustrations for the site are the best thing about it, although you wonder how correct they are. My preference is usually to go to wiki for general information like this.

In addition, he had told me to search PubMed for the terms "shoulder adhesive capsulitis". I'd actually already tried PubMed, but the first result I got was about shoulder pain in Nigerians, which didn't sound very relevant, and I had quickly decided to look elsewhere.

In fact, PubMed seems to be a good resource after all. Since he suggested I try it, I returned and immediately struck gold. I found a single case report¹ and a more extensive study².

I'm still in the process of reading the articles, and I'll write about them more if I find anything notable.

1 Positional Stretching of the Coracohumeral Ligament on a Patient with Adhesive Capsulitis: A Case Report, by Jose Orlando Ruiz
2 Comparison of High-Grade and Low-Grade Mobilization Techniques in the Management of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder: Randomized Controlled Trial, by Henricus M Vermeulen et al.

more problems sleeping

I had a physical therapy session yesterday evening at 6. It lasted just a little over an hour. It was still plenty painful, but less so than usual. The physical therapist told me that he's trying to be more gentle, so as to avoid aggravating the tendinitis.

I woke up at 2:30 this morning, and felt too awake to get back to sleep. After lying in bed for an hour, I finally got up.

There was some pain in my shoulder that was bothering me, but I had pain in my forearm - extreme soreness - which was worse. This is new. I think it's due to the physical therapy. My elbow has been giving me trouble too.

I've been sleeping worse since I started PT. Previously, I might wake up at 5, but I'd be able to get back to sleep. Now I'm waking up at all hours between midnight and 7. Tonight I'm going to try some ibuprofen. The only thing I've tried so far is naproxen sodium, and that doesn't seem to help much.

Maybe I should avoid doing PT in the evening; that might help with the sleep.