Tens machine to relieve a frozen shoulder?

wam6491

Using a tens machine to relieve a frozen shoulder

Adrian_Scope

Hello @wam6491 and a warm welcome to the community. 
Have you found the tens machine to be helpful with your shoulder or are you hoping to hear about other people's experience?

Bettahm

wam6491 said:

Using a tens machine to relieve a frozen shoulder

Hope it is working for you.
I got one to try and relieve sciatica but it didnt work for that.
Best wishes. 

chiarieds

Hi @wam6491 - & welcome to the community. As a retired physio who has used both used this exercise to help patients, & has twice had a partially frozen shoulder myself, I recommend trying the following gentle exercise:

Stand & put the foot of your unaffected side slightly forwards so you have a comfortable base. Lean forwards, letting your affected arm hang. Now swing your arm backwards & forwards within your pain-free arc. Do this gently for a couple of minutes. Next try moving your hand in a comfortable circle first one way, then the other. Gravity thus helps aid movement, & you can increase the range as you progress, always moving your shoulder within your pain-free arc. Don't push through the pain as this just increases the pain cycle. Try this a little & often throughout your day. Hope this may help you improve that bit faster.

I also found heat pads helpful.

wam6491

chiarieds said:

Hi @wam6491 - & welcome to the community. As a retired physio who has used both used this exercise to help patients, & has twice had a partially frozen shoulder myself, I recommend trying the following gentle exercise:

Stand & put the foot of your unaffected side slightly forwards so you have a comfortable base. Lean forwards, letting your affected arm hang. Now swing your arm backwards & forwards within your pain-free arc. Do this gently for a couple of minutes. Next try moving your hand in a comfortable circle first one way, then the other. Gravity thus helps aid movement, & you can increase the range as you progress, always moving your shoulder within your pain-free arc. Don't push through the pain as this just increases the pain cycle. Try this a little & often throughout your day. Hope this may help you improve that bit faster.

I also found heat pads helpful.

wam6491

Hi chiarieds,
Thank you for your advice. I have been suffering with lower back and shoulder pains for 5 weeks. I visited an osteopath who has done excellent in relieving my problems. She also suggested your recommendations, which I have been administrating with results.
I decided to try my tens machine and found more by luck than judgement that it provided muscular excersise without pain.  Gradually with heat/cold treatment excersise and the tens machine my back and shoulder are moving better. I am unsure what settings I should be using on my tens machine. Hence, my submission to this community.
Thank you for your advice.

chiarieds

You're very welcome @wam6491 - It's a bit difficult with TENS machines; I'd suggest that rather than providing muscular exercise, altho depending on what setting you use, it may feel like this, rather if you can find the right setting for you, they can, in some help alleviate pain in the short term. I've tried them before I found that my chronic daily pain was due to a genetic disorder (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), & did find some relief, especially with lower back pain.

It really is a bit of 'trial & error' on your part to find what setting may help with your TENS machine, as we're all different. However, in general there isn't sufficient evidence to suggest that they help, & even when they seem to, you're limited to how often you can use them throughout the day. Please see: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/transcutaneous-electrical-nerve-stimulation-tens/  However, if it's something else that helps your pain, then use it. Pleased you're doing the exercises as above, & that they're also helping.

wam6491

Hi Chiarieds, I purchased my tens machine over 5 years ago, I had arthritis in my wrists - to be honest it did not provide much relief, perhaps I wasn't using it properly. I relieved the arthritis by drinking 200ml of celery juice each morning before food, excersise and using Anica cream. 
Thank you for your advice.