The Frozen Shoulder Workbook: Trigger Point Therapy for Overcoming Pain & Regaining Range of Motion

This book was intrumental in helping me release many trigger points on the muscles affected by a recent rotator cuff and arm injury. It is now my daily reference book until I am healed. It is a must for one's library for times of injury.

This book is by Clair Davies, author of the famous "Trigger Point Therapy Workbook", and it concentrates on Davies' own personal fascination -- the shoulder.Though I have a shoulder separation, not a frozen shoulder, this book has become remarkably useful to me. Not only is it helping me understand (and possibly, partially correct) my injured shoulder, it is helping to expose and correct all the other little niggling aches and pains in my neck and upper back -- unrelated to the injury -- that I've lived with for ages. -- In fact, the greatest benefit for me is an unexpected one -- I'm seeing some relief with a weird problem that I've only recently learned is called "thoracic outlet syndrome".I would recommend this material for anyone who wants to understand muscle-related upper-body pain, whether that pain is from injury, chronic tension, poor posture/ muscle imbalance, or repetitive motion from work and sports. (And because shortened muscles sometimes impinge upon nerves, this book would probably help with many nerve-related upper-body problems as well, as is the case with the thoracic outlet syndrome I mentioned above.)The information isn't super-easy, and it isn't about quick fixes (though that may be possible for you). To get anything out of it, you'll have to painstakingly locate the relevant muscles (some of which are small and/or hard to get to) and learn how to manipulate them -- it's a great lesson in anatomy. And then you'll have to seek out, experiment with, and work on your own individual pain-spots with persistence and perseverance.All you need to cure yourself of shoulder (and probably any upper-back pain) is most likely right here, in these pages, somewhere. And that when you decide to really fully take your well-being into your own hands (literally) -- you can become well with this help of this workable, comprehensive information.Highly recommended.

I would like to tell you how the Frozen Shoulder Workbook helped me overcome a painful but common illness with no surgery or manipulation under anesthesia. I found relief!This past spring I fell while carrying a folding chair and bruised my ribs. Due to the rib pain I stopped my daily stretching and swimming. I was also under a lot of stress at work. The rib healed but I began to have arm pain on reaching down. One time when plugging in a power cord I had shooting pains in my shoulder and arm. (ten on a 1 to 10 pain scale) I returned to swimming and found it to be painful so I went to my primary doctor. She said it was bursitis and gave me an anti-inflammation drug and sent we to physical therapy. It got worse and my shoulder froze up. PT was no help and the pain got worse. X-rays showed a normal joint when I went to a shoulder specialist. He said it was bursitis and possible tendonitis. He gave me a cortisone shot in the shoulder and a prescription for a shoulder MRI, if it didn't resolve itself in a week. No relief from the shot and the MRI would have cost me US $195 out of pocket so I looked for an alternate plan. I went to a Chiropractor and I sent off for this book. The Chiropractor told me I should have come to him sooner before the shoulder froze up. I could not lift my arm over my head, work was very difficult and nighttime required sleeping pills and painkillers. My neck muscles on that side where very tight and the scapula (shoulder blade) was not moving. (I learned that the scapula must rotate 30 degrees for the arm to reach over the head completely.) Clair Davies book is excellent, I began using his techniques to massage my tight neck, chest, shoulder, and arm muscles. The first thing to improve was the pain. I found a great massage therapist to help me and the Chiropractor worked to free up the shoulder joint capsule by stretching after 15 minutes of icing the shoulder . The Trigger Point Therapy truly works if you follow this books instruction carefully. Work through chapter 5 and 6, massage with the book open. It is not an easy path but your diligent self-treatment will pay off (there are 24 muscles that help the shoulder move). Stay positive, work on standing up strait and reducing stress. Today I was able to hang from a chin up bar and pain is almost gone. I have resumed swimming and next week I will begin upper body strengthening exercises. One tip not in the book is that I suggest is to rest your shoulder completely one day per week, the following day you will see improved range of motion from the relaxed trigger points. Good Luck!

Dieses Buch war das absolute AHA-Erlebnis.Auch nach monatelanger Internet-Recherche (ja, dafür hat man Zeit, wenn man den rechten Arm nur noch im Bereich weniger Kubikzentimeter bewegen kann) hatte ich keine befriedigenden Informationen zu Ursache, Ablauf und Behandlung einer Frozen Shoulder (Adhäsiver Kapsulitis etc) finden können. Jedenfalls nicht logisch und nicht widerspruchsfrei.Gerade noch rechtzeitig vor einer geplanten Operation (die völlig unnötig und mit einer relativ hohen Wahrscheinlichkeit auch wirkungslos gewesen wäre) fiel mir dieses Buch in die Hände und einige Tage später waren die nächtlichen Schmerzen auf ein erträgliches Maß reduziert und wurden mit zunehmender Selbstbehandlung immer weniger.Dafür war es nötig, das Buch immer wieder zur Hand zu nehmen, immer wieder alle Muskeln durchzutesten, manchmal findet man Triggerpunkte erst, wenn andere beseitigt sind oder wenn man mehr Erfahrung hat.Die Beweglichkeit hat sich bei mir dadurch allerdings kaum verändert, mittlerweile habe ich aber endlich eine Krankengymnastin gefunden, die in der Lage ist, mir zu helfen: Bei einem Krankheitsverlauf über viele Monate sind eben auch Bindegewebe verklebt, die Haltung verdreht, Schulterblatt verschoben usw.Der Anfang der ganzen Problematik liegt aber definitiv in der Entstehung von Triggerpunkten. Wenn diese rechtzeitig behandelt werden, bleibt einem eine lange Leidensgeschichte erspart.Wissenschaftlich gut begründet, logisch und auch von einer ganzen Reihe hochrangiger Fachleute empfohlen, handelt es sich hier um eine risikoarme und erfolgsversprechende Methode zur Selbstbehandlung.Wer Englisch kann und bereit ist, Zeit und Energie zu investieren, um dieses Buch zu verstehen (von den Fachbegriffen nicht abschrecken lassen - bei Diskussionen mit Orthopäden ist es sehr hilfreich, sich präzise ausdrücken zu können!) und sich über längere Zeit selber zu behandeln, ist mit diesem Buch ausgezeichnet bedient.Einfache Zeichnungen, Erläuterungen zu jedem einzelnen Muskel (Funktion und Aufgabe, Ursachen für Überlastung, typische Symptome) sorgen für einen hohen Wiedererkennungswert des Krankheitsbildes (endlich habe ich es nicht nur erlebt, sondern auch gelesen, dass es bei Frozen Shoulder typisch ist, dass eine reflexartige Ausholbewegung nach hinten solche mörderischen Schmerzen verursacht...).Die typisch amerikanischen Erfolgsstorys sind motivierend und erklären auch viele Symptome sehr anschaulich, sollten aber sicher nicht als Garantie mißverstanden werden.Ebenso empfehlenswert ist das  Arbeitsbuch Triggerpunkt-Therapie: Die bewährte Methode zur Linderung von Muskelschmerzen  vom gleichen Autor. In diesem Buch, das den gesamten Bewegungsapparat abhandelt, wird die Therapie der Schulter nicht ganz so ausführlich beschrieben, es ist aber trotzdem eine gute Option für alle, die sich die englische Version nicht zutrauen. Und natürlich für alle, denen es woanders wehtut :-) Arbeitsbuch Triggerpunkt-Therapie: Die bewährte Methode zur Linderung von Muskelschmerzen

What an amazingly useful book! I was in so much pain that I was barely managing anything but work, my social life had disappeared and I couldn't use that arm for even basic tasks. My physiotherapist had given up and referred me on, my GP, who told me I might have to just live like this for the next 2 - 5 years (a thought I couldn't bear) wanted to refer me for a cortisone injection or keyhole surgery - neither of which are guaranteed to make any difference. This book was my last attempt to avoid those.It's some of the best money I've ever spent. I thoroughly recommend anyone with a frozen shoulder try it - 2 weeks later I no longer have to lie down as soon as I get in from work, I've been out 4 nights in the last week and I'm enjoying life again. I'm not pain free yet, but it's manageable and I have almost 100% movement back in the mornings, maybe 85% overall, and when my shoulder stiffens up again, I've learnt the tools to release it.You have to be committed to working on the problem, it's not a pain-free solution (although it's much more manageable pain) and it's a complicated book to follow at times. My only criticism is that it would have been useful to have a quick "how to" guide and not have to plough through all the technical terms and anatomy.Everyone with a frozen shoulder should be given the strategies in this book - it would save years of pain for the patient and a huge amount of money for the NHS!