Frozen Shoulder - How ATM & FI can Aid Recovery

What is Frozen Shoulder?

Frozen Shoulder can evolve from many types of injuries or conditions of your shoulder.  It can be the result of inflammation, tissue damage, injury to any rotator Cuff muscles, bursitis  or not using the range of shoulder movement we ideally can. Jobs such as computer work often really limit how much range we use in our shoulders. On the other end of the spectrum are jobs where you often have your shoulder in a very particular angle for many hours. It can range from mild to severe pain & you will have limited range of movement, especially as you lift your arm higher. 

What is (ATM)Awareness Through Movement & (FI)Functional Integration?

ATM & FI are both part of the Feldenkrais Method. They both include retraining your brain with new movement patterns. Generally ATM is done in a group class setting, whereas FI is a 1-1 treatment. The short & sweet of it is that in ATM, you are searching for the easier, lighter way for your body to move as a system. By using our inbuilt senses eg; weight shifting & how we move through space, an ATM lesson teaches you to become aware of our unconscious movement patterns. Our habits. You then slowly retrain your brain, both by un-learning bad or non useful habits & creating new improved movement patterns.Functional Integration is still all of the above but with the help of a practitioner. 

As the practitioner, I will ask you to notice certain movements so you can begin to feel subtle changes. In the case of Frozen Shoulder, I would gently search for an easier pathway for your arm to travel, assisting in ‘reminding’ it of some of the movements your shoulder has ‘forgotten’ it can do. I then look at how to  work with your system as a whole, not just a shoulder. Never forcefully but exploring how we can find some ease of movement and ask your whole self to support the shoulder.

Clients Cases

My partner came home one day, unable to lift his arm above 90dg. And it was painful. I could see it on his face. I had almost finished my studies of The Feldenkrais Method, so I was keen to see what awareness could do!

So step 1, I asked him to show me how he lifted his arm. I asked him to slow it down! As he slowly started lifting his arm, I noticed he lifted it on his inhale, then at a point, held his breath. I know we do this with pain, but believe me, it does not help. 

What I did get him to do was notice & become aware of his breath cycle as he raised his arm. “In” he said, “I definitely breathe in.” Next time his arm was down, I asked him to change his breath to exhale as he raised it slowly. Each time his arm got to the painful point, I asked him to halve the speed, inhale on the way down, and exhale on the lift. After 20 or so cycles of this, he was easily lifting his arm above his head, without pain.

Many people I’ve worked with who have pain when lifting their arm have had a little less pain just by changing their breath pattern. 

But it's not always that simple. Everybody is different.

I have found with some people, it's how the rest of their system supports their arm. In one instance, a lady, who when lifting her left arm always had her weight on her left leg. We worked through her learning to shift her weight to her right leg, then gradually adding the movement of her arm as her weight shifted. She found that by having this sense of diagonal support through her system, plus her ribcage softening as she exhaled on the lift, that she could lift her arm pain-free.

Another was an office worker who, once she became aware of the sequence in which she was lifting her arm, became aware that her system (most probably due to her desk job,) had created a habit of initiating movement of her arm with her hand. Once you begin to somatically feel the difference, you soon notice it's much heavier to lift your arm with your hand! We retrained her habitual pattern & she learned a new sequence of movement ( using the right joint for the right job!) By retraining her brain via a new movement pattern & initiating the movement with her shoulder joint instead of her hand to lift her arm, she was able to do it pain free. She announced she could be doing backstroke movement by the end of the session.

Tips To Help Frozen Shoulder 

We all have our muscular habits, which can be retrained, sometimes surprisingly easily. 

If you do have pain in your shoulder or have been told you have a frozen shoulder, here's a couple of things you could try. (Before you do though, you need to remember a few things. Go slowly, then halve that speed! You cannot sense what you are doing when you move quickly.)

Do not go to the point of pain. If you move slowly enough, you can feel the moment before it becomes painful and stop before it. There's no point solidifying messages to your brain that it’s a painful movement. 

If some of these suggestions are not easy for you to sense, don’t worry. Simply notice what you feel. For many people, these questions of self-awareness are not something we have ever asked or asked about ourselves. Give yourself time to explore each section, don’t rush it.

I  recommend that you don’t leave things too long. If your system is giving you a warning signal, (and that is what those niggly pains are) or if its gone beyond that & your body is giving you the message loud & clear,  the healing process can often be remedied more easily than we think, especially when you don’t wait for it to go away! 

How Evoke Mind Move Can Help You

If you have difficulty ‘searching’ for a feeling of lightness or ease, don't feel discouraged. Our patterns are so ingrained that it can be difficult to sense ourselves at first. As a practitioner, I can often see, feel & sense which direction would be helpful.

If you would like to try a Functional Integration session Register your interest below.

Note : Appointments are ideal face to face but can also be done online.