A doctor’s diagnosis is critical.
If the problem is FROZEN SHOULDER (inflamed capsule), surgery will most likely not help.
7 years ago I had this condition and saw a Physical Therapist for 6 months to “unfreeze” the shoulder through periodic and painful manipulation. I accelerated what would have been an 18 month recovery to 6 months by daily HANGING from my children’s monkey bars in the back yard. (I also installed a pull up bar in the pantry door frame as an option for inclement weather). It hurt to hang, but afterwards the shoulder “glowed” and pain was substantially reduced and range of motion increased.
The hanging (brachiation) reduced my recovery by a year. I informed the PT about my research and augmentation of her therapy and got NO objections.
Thank you for your observation and advice. My wife developed frozen shoulder after a car accident. After months of unsuccessful physical therapy, she eventually had to have it broken loose under anesthesia. This was brutal and years later she still has some difficulty with the shoulder, but she does have pretty good range of motion again.
I had a physical job and participated in lots of risky hobbies and sports where my body and even my shoulders have gotten beaten up on many occasions. Lots of my coworkers and friends have had to have surgery over the years. But I never experienced excruciating and debilitating shoulder pain myself until this last week.
This was quite a wake up call. I am currently working on one house to move into and one to sell. It would be a very bad time to be laid up for any length of time. So I am extremely happy that after a lot of prayer and following the advice of my wife and mother who were both career nurses and also the advice of many contributors here... that my right shoulder is feeling a lot better this morning. I am getting a few twinges of pain as I try to move it around but it is just incredible how much it has improved just since yesterday which was a lot better than the day before.
This seems to be one of those reminders that an aging body needs to be treated with considerably more consideration than a younger body. I have been working diligently on the two house projects for three years. I let my normal exercise regimens fall to the wayside during that time period and it seems fairly obvious that this is one of the consequences. So I will be easing back into a carefully considered stretching, resistance training and aerobics exercise and diet regimen. This should become much easier to maintain once my two house projects begin to wind down.