i've recently taken my arm out of a sling after having it on for 6 weeks only to have developed a frozen shoulder,has anyone any experienced this? if so how long it take to cure?

Ouch.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Frozen-shoulder/Pages/Treatment.aspx

Physiotherapy. GF suffered with it after a skiing crash. Physio got it moving properly after a few sessions.

i've had one physio session,just found out what excecises to do,i had a look on the internet and couldn't find that much decent info on it,just hope it's not a lengthy problem.

As a physio myself – if it is a real frozen shoulder then only time gets it better. There are exercises you can do to maintain and improve the movement as much as possible. Some reslove quickly and some take ages. Sorry. On the plus side most 'frozen shoulders' aren't. Lots of gentle movement especially leaning forward taking your weight via a table on your good arm, swing you bad arm forwards and back, round and round and side to side, a.k.a pendulum exercises.
My advice, try and get it moving yourself and save yourself the money of a physio; unless you're referred on the NHS in which case go for it and get the diagnosis verified.

Same as Buzzlightyear's gf. I guy ran into the back of me down a piste and sent me flying.

Went straight away to the doctor on my return from the skiing holiday. He said there were 3 choices.
1) An operation, me being a wimp I said no.
2) A new type of quick-fix manipulation was being tried at the hospital, but was in it's early stages and painful to get the results.
3) Sit it out with the help of Physio.

I ended up having 2 cortisone injections. It eventually took 18 months to heal. Doctor said anything up to 2 years. So get your doctor to give you proper advice.

thanks sok,it is through NHS,the leaflet they gave me has those exercises in,are you supposed to push them as far as you can pain wise or just do small movements,didn't really get that much info from the physio as it was first session.

I have had a lot of pain in one arm's upper muscles recently. I can move the arm forward and up but if I reach behind me- agony.I thought it must be some old falling off injury but it doesn't seem to get better. Is this a frozen shoulder?

bunnyhop-18 months doesn't sound too good,were you able to get on with most stuff as usual,i.e riding?

Fog – sounds like a tendonitis, take it easy for a bit, should settle.

c9tln – stick with the exericises, they do help. Physio will be able to guide you and optimise recovery. You should get to the stage where you're ok to ride your bike fairly soon as it doesn't take that much in terms of range of movement (unless you like riding with your hands stretched above your head….)

FOG i've been suffering with a similar condition(few years) where i struggle to lift my right arm up to the side especially when my forearm is at 90degrees . Been getting worse so doc sent my for xray and found i have a 5.5 mm subluxation in my shoulder joint ?!?! I think from what the doc says is that my shoulder joint isn't in its socket correctly.Now being referred for ultrasound. Get it checked .

i've recently taken my arm out of a sling after having it on for 6 weeks only to have developed a frozen shoulder,

I had this problem after having screws in my right shoulder. I was in a sling for 5 or 6 weeks. I got a session with the NHS physios every two weeks where they assessed my progress and advised me on new stretches etc. only once got a bit of massage at the end of the treatment to free up the last bit of movement, but the advice they gave was good. They will usually give you some lengths of rubber band to do resistance training

The best thing I did to get things going after I took the sling off was to go down my gym and sit in the pool with the water at neck level (so your arm and shoulder are submerged) and do the exercises. It is much easier under water. The best exercise was 'writing the alphabet' which involved holding your arm out in front of you and tracing the shape of the letters of the alphabet with your hand. Do it first with your arm out in front of you and then out to the side. lifting and rotating in one exercise.

At first I found that when I tried to do this exercise out of the water I could do 4 or 5 letters only. When doing it with my arm and shoulder under the water I could get all the way through the alphabet. It is good for getting movement back.

The physio said that there was a sheath of cartilage or something around the shoulder that shrank while the arm was in a sling, and that the exercises just stretched it out again until you get movement back.

The single best thing I did was getting back on the bike after about 6 weeks. I took it very slowly but the action of steering and going off small steps worked really well at getting strength and movement back

Pretty much what Sok said. I recon about 1/3rd of the gp diagnosed "frozen shoulders" we get through are true capsulitis. Allot of the time post immobilization (sling) there is an apparent 'frozen shoulder" that can be encouraged to get going with gentle mobilizing exercises, joint mobilizations and passive stretches, getting the muscles that stabilize your shoulder blade working properly and the small muscles that stabilize the head of your humerus in the socket (rotator cuff) working as well as they can, all can helps to aid recovery.
BUT it need to be properly diagnosed and as someone who's resisted leaflet + get on with physio for years, I'd be pushing your physio to see if some manual therapy can help. There is a small amount of evidence to say that a steroid injection may help getting it going better earlier, but recovery times vary allot + if it is a true frozen shoulder 18 months is not uncommon. On the positive side if this is the case, once resolved they don't tend to give you lots of on going problems.

What Andy said about getting in the pool is great advice.

thanks everyone,all very helpful stuff.

Been suffering similar thing for last 6 months, physio thinks it may be a frozen shoulder and these can take anything up to 2 years to fully heal. Hasn't stopped me riding but have found that when I fall off and land in a way that jars the bad shoulder it hurts like **** but increases the range of mobility after a couple of hours, not a suggested course of treatment but with the amount of times I fall off it works for me 😯

c9tln – sorry only just got back to you.

I could only ride my bike after 7 months ( I was ill at the time anyway with chronic fatigue syndrome).
I did however have a fantastic G.P., who happens to be the 'Manchester city' doctor and is a fully qualified sports therapist too. He was really patient and showed me exactly what exercise to do, how often and how to build the shoulder up. He always made follow up appointments for me. I was careful to follow all his instructions, as I have known people in the past who don't follow up what the Physio says and hope that things get better by themselves.

Yes it was nearly 18 months for me, but I do know people who have managed to sort their shoulder out a lot quicker.

Hope everyone gets back to full recovery and out riding again soon.