A shoulder that has stopped going where you send it

Reaching the top shelf, fastening a bra, getting a coat on. It is never the big movements people miss.

Full time at the studio — 3589 E Gulf to Lake Hwy, Inverness, inside Deb's Touch of Paradise Massage. In-home visits as needed for established clients. New clients are seen at the studio first. Florida licence MA78217.

There are a few things worth checking first

Slow, and over weeks

If a doctor has told you it is adhesive capsulitis, it has its own timeline and nothing I do changes that. What I can do is work the muscles that have been compensating around it — the neck, the upper back, the chest, the opposite side that has been doing all the lifting — so the rest of you is not paying for the shoulder.

This is not a one-visit problem and I will not pretend otherwise.

Alongside whoever else is treating it

If you have a doctor or a physical therapist working on this, tell me and I will work inside their plan rather than around it. If they want a note after each session, they get one.

Worth mentioning to your doctor

Frozen shoulder turns up more often in people with diabetes or a thyroid condition. If nobody has checked yours recently, it is worth asking — that is a conversation for them, not for me, but it is the sort of thing that gets missed.

Positioning matters more than usual

Getting comfortable is half the session. Side-lying with the arm supported, or seated, is often better than face-down. If you cannot get on a table at all, we work in a recliner or on the bed.

Questions

Is it true that it eventually resolves on its own?

That is a question for your doctor, not for me — the course of it is well described in the medical literature and they can tell you where you are in it. What I can tell you is what I do in the meantime: work the neck, upper back and the opposite side that has been compensating, so the rest of you is not paying for the shoulder.

Will you force the range?

No. Aggressive stretching into a frozen shoulder is a good way to make it angry. We stay inside what the shoulder will give.

How often?

For something like this I would rather come more often and work lighter than come occasionally and work heavy. I will tell you what I would do and you can decide what fits.