29/01/2026
Being a Personal Trainer with a frozen shoulder throughout 2025 was certainly challenging.
I had an enormous collision with my large & fast Labrador puppy at the beginning of ‘25 landing heavily on my right hand side. a couple of weeks later my shoulder was agony & I was losing a huge range of motion. I was initially misdiagnosed & told to take a short course of NSAIDS which I reluctantly took. (I’m not one for NSAIDS 😬). They did nothing, zero for the pain, zero for the mobility of my shoulder. It slowly got much worse, more painful and more immobile. I couldn’t sleep properly, it woke me at night, often waking from sleep in tears. if I made any sudden movements like a flinch, or instinctively going to move my arm to do something normal… THE PAIN..the eye watering 5/10 seconds until it calmed back down 😱 (a bit like the pain of when you stub your toe and have to count to 10) I couldn’t physically put a jumper on or off let alone a bra strap 🥴. Aside from the pain, it was the inconvenience & frustration… taking multiple private clients and exercise classes a week, having to physically set up a room full of weights and other heavy items while bringing the energy 🥺. I couldn’t try out or demonstrate half of the exercises… 🤦♀️
Not long before the collision with my dog I had gone from building on my goal of reaching 10 chin ups (I had got to 6 consecutive ones) pics above. Managing more press ups than I ever could and enjoying upper body strength and tone i had never achieved in my life before (we can do it in our forties ladies! 👊). To suddenly even going on all fours, let alone doing a plank was impossible.
I continued to exercise. Mainly lots of walking and leg exercises. No weight bearing for my arms for a good 7 months. I researched frozen shoulder exhaustively & went down the route of my age (then 46) playing a part. I now believe the frozen shoulder was 💯 the collision with my dog. I understand a lot more about the role of oestrogen/hormones and aching/aging female joints.
(Continued in comments)
