Under the guidance of the trained therapists – who she sees weekly – plus the exercises they’ve prescribed her to do at home, Julia has been able to go back to her daily life nearly pain-free. Read on to learn more about how she has been able to work through her pain with the support of her UP Clinic team!

My injury happened in March, 2023. I was doing my daily fitness exercises using the TRX for a supported plank with my elbows on the ground. My right elbow was less supported and all of a sudden I felt a severe pain in my right shoulder – similar to the feeling of a dislocation. I went to the hospital right away. 

The doctor diagnosed it as ‘right shoulder subluxation’. The MRI report showed “right rotator cuff injury, bone marrow edema in the greater tuberosity of the humerus, and a small amount of fluid accumulation in the subdeltoid bursa and subcoracoid bursa under the right acromion.” . 

The MRI report during the follow-up visit at the end of April showed “right acromioclavicular ligament injury, right humeral head bone marrow edema, and right shoulder supraspinatus tendon mild degeneration.”

Although I received this diagnosis from the hospital at the beginning, I did not stop exercising. I felt that my symptoms improved after a short rest, and my range of motion was not limited.

But, one month after the injury, the symptoms suddenly began to worsen. I experienced a limited range of motion and persistent pain, especially when doing chest and overhead presses. I felt a lightning pain radiating into my hands when putting on clothes or waving my arms. I started physical therapy in the rehabilitation medicine department of the hospital for a month, including laser and ultrashort wave therapy three times a week. At the beginning, the response to the treatment was good – it relieved the pain by 90%. But later, the pain symptoms stopped improving and the range of motion became worse and worse. During this period, I did not stop exercising and maintained my original exercise frequency.

I started doing a traditional Chinese medicine massage at the end of April, which would temporarily relieve the pain symptoms. Simultaneously, my fitness intensity began to decrease, but I still insisted on certain regular exercises.

On the recommendation of a friend, I decided to come to UP Clinic for an initial consultation on August 13, where I continued treatment weekly.

On the day of the injury, I clearly knew that there must be something wrong with my shoulder, but the doctor’s diagnosis at that time did not let me stop my daily exercise. But, as the symptoms became more serious – the point when I came to UP Clinic for treatment – I had no hope of recovery.

I had such limited movement and pain in my right shoulder. I felt uncomfortable 24 hours a day and had many inconveniences in daily life, such as limited activities in taking off my clothes and bathing. The symptoms were also more severe at night than during the day.

The recovery process was very long, which affected my feelings. I felt hopeless.

I saw Cory once in mid-October. He did a relatively vigorous joint loosening. That time I heard a pop in my shoulder and felt something loosen a little. After that, the range of motion improved significantly. In terms of muscle strength, it also began to gradually recover after the continued treatment. I don’t feel that there was any particularly obvious improvement,  but looking back from the time of the initial injury to the present, my muscular endurance has gradually improved.

For me, the whole recovery process was very long. From the beginning, I thought it was a minor injury that would take a while to recover, but when the symptoms worsened, I felt there was no hope of recovery. However, I still insisted on doing rehabilitation and exercises. The therapist also kept encouraging me and telling me my goals and direction. Although it will still take some time to fully return to the state before the injury, it is indeed much better now.

I think it’s very important to seek formal and professional help and rely on the power of medicine. Looking back on my own experience, I feel that I needed to change my mindset. After an injury, I needed to do the correct exercises under guidance and prioritize safety when exercising. During the treatment process, the PT would tell me what actions I should and could do, but no one had told me this before, so I was not sure which actions would help me when I practiced by myself. After my PT taught me the exercises and guided me in the direction, it gave me a lot of confidence in my daily exercise.

Another point is that ordinary people don’t know the recovery process for frozen shoulder. Only through the professional judgment of doctors and therapists can you know which stage you are at and what your expectations should be. Frozen shoulder will be in a “frozen” state for a long time, and it is normal for the symptoms to remain unchanged. After professional passive manual treatment and active rehabilitation exercises, the symptoms will begin to improve at a certain period of time, so it is necessary to stay persistent and determined throughout the process.