Ask Doctor Cameron

Treatment for Shoulder Bursitis

A good review of shoulder bursitis can be found on the Treatment-for.com website.

The site contains easy to read articles about almost all common causes of shoulder pain

You'll find it's worth taking a look since the site is having new content added regularly

Blood Pressure and Joint Pains

Many muscle pain patients have symptoms that are either caused by or made worse by medication that they are taking for another reason. One of the commonest culprits for this is medication intended for blood pressure treatment. Statins - for cholesterol treatment also often cause joint or muscle symptoms. You should check with your doctor if you think that the onset of your joint pain symptoms co-incides with the start of your muscle pains

Frozen Shoulder

Sue wrote:

My husband has frozen shoulder. Also another  friend also suffers from the same condition. I have noticed when we go on a long walk my husband and friend instead of wearing gloves puts their hands in their pockets for as much as 4 miles. Might there be a link restricting movement in this way to frozen shoulder? Has this ever been looked at?

Dr Cameron replies

In truth I haven't heard of this before Sue - but there might be a link. What do other readers think? I'll leave the comments open on this post - please get in touch if you think you can contribute.

In general the cause of frozen shoulder is unknown but certainly prolonged immobility can play a part.

Cold Cold Cold

I may have gone a bit mad here folks but I've taken the plunge.

My wife and I have booked into The Ice Hotel for an overnight stay. What will the cold do for my back ache? Check back later and find out !!

Lower Back Pain Treatment

Click on the link for information about Lower Back Pain Treatment

New Update to site

I've updated my frozen shoulder site

You'll find new content and a revamped index

Take a look for details of frozen shoulder treatment and diabetic frozen shoulder

Manuka Honey

I've had so many questions about the benefits of Manuka Honey lately that I've created a question and answer page about the health benefits of Manuka Honey Products

Let me know if you find it helpful

Frozen Shoulder Pain

Sandy from Australia got in touch to ask about frozen shoulder pain.

She's had three steroid injections and physiotherapy but still has pain at night and pins and needles in the hand. The other arm is also starting to get painful

This phenomenon of pain in the other shoulder is common in frozen shoulder problems. It's almost as if the non-affected shoulder has to work harder than before to compensate for the frozen shoulder's lack of use. This often causes concern but settles as the painful frozen shoulder improves.

Pins and needles in the hand can go along with frozen shoulder but it's a symptom more commonly associated with a trapped or irritated nerve in the neck. Neck nerve pain can sometimes mimic a frozen shoulder in the early stages. If Sandy's pain doesn't show signs of improvement then it might be worth her asking her doctor or physiotherapist to reassess her cervical spine.

Diabetic Frozen Shoulder in Both Shoulders

Julie got in touch to ask about frozen shoulder in diabetic patients.

She's had a really rough time. She has frozen shoulder in both shoulders and is an insulin dependent diabetic. Frozen shoulder is much more common in diabetic patients and diabetic patients are more likely to have both shoulders involved in the frozen shoulder problem.

Julie said that manipulation under anesthetic didn't help her frozen shoulder previously and is now getting very concerned that the other shoulder is heading in the same direction. The hospital have offered to repeat the manipulation under anesthetic but she's not keen on this and is worried about diabetes control afterwards.

My suggestions would be to explore the following possible options. Julie should discuss these with her orthopedic specialist or with her family doctor.

• Injection of steroid and local anesthetic might be worthwhile. This can result in a transient disturbance in diabetic control but might help overall. It's relatively easy and relatively painless. Possibly worth a go.
• Arthroscopic cleaning of the shoulder is another option - she should speak to her orthopedic specialist about this
• Suprascapular nerve block can also work very well in this type of chronic frozen shoulder. The suprascapular nerve supplies the shoulder joint and blocking this nerve can result in considerable pain relief from frozen shoulder. The shoulder might still be stiff but at least it's painfree.

I hope this helps

Bone on Bone Arthritis

Synvisc and Bone on Bone Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Victoria emailed me to ask if synvisc would help in a severely osteoarthritic knee when the arthritis has progressed to the point that there is almost complete wearing away of the cartilage - leaving the joint with bone on bone arthritis.
This bone-on-bone knee artrarthritis is the most severe version of knee osteoarthritis and often causes severe knee pain.
Synvisc devotees - by that I mean doctors who regularly perform synvisc injections - do often claim that it's worth trying a course of treatment in this bone on bone scenario. I must say that, in my own experience, it rarely provides lasting benefit.
I have seen a few patients gain a month or so of partial relief but lasting benefit from Synvisc is unlikely in my view.

In Victoria's case her mother also has Rheumatoid Arthritis. The joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis progresses in a fundamentally different way from the damage to the knee caused by osteoarthritis. Synvisc injection treatment is much less likely to work in this case.