Shoulder Pain? The Solution & Prevention, Revised & Expanded Paperback – January 1, 2013

6 yr update: 56, still gratefull this book gave me the active life I have today, as an older woman, no gyms, nearly no fitness regimen, but staying very active with bulletproof shoulders & upper back that had held me back and even debilitated me in younger years. Shoulders are better and stronger than 30, 20 and 10 years ago. Just changed my heavy wheels, lifted them onto storage hangers, going kayaking. Buy the book, or just HANG.2 yr update: Still at the top of this grey haired windsurfer's gratitude list for changing my life massively. My shoulders are strong as heck and my old back is grateful, too. If I forget to hang for too long, I start to feel the torn cuff when kayaking, lifting weights, windsurfing etc. but go right back to a bit of hanging most days and the pain and tightness is gone.1 yr update: still a freaking miracle, and this old lady will arm wrestle all naysayers! If you aren't already hanging, but are taking time to read this review, just buy the book. I honestly don't hang every day, still don't have a real bar, but occasional hanging has kept my shoulders fully functioning and pain free for a year, now. Really feels good for my back, too, when it gets sore from all the heavy lifting I can do, now.6-month review:Total miracle for a nonbeliever!!! The book looks hokey, but buy it. Knowing how well it works, this was worth a fortune to me. It was other reviewers here and on youtube that convinced me to try this after 10 months of pain and life limitations from torn rotator cuff with severely frozen shoulder, so I'll add my testimony as a former skeptic.Yes, one word synopsis is accurate: HANG. That seemed impossible to me, but by the third day and a total of about 20 seconds of sort-of-trying-to-hang, my life changed. But if you are reading this review and haven't already reshaped your shoulder by hanging, you must be like me - one of those people who need to buy the dang book, read it, criticize it in your mind, google Dr. Kirsch and wonder if he's still alive and why his website is so funky. THEN HANG! Then bless his name as your shoulder savior, forever.The book does include imaging of the way hanging reshapes shoulder anatomy, and I needed to see that as a skeptic who was too scared/lazy/dumb to just try hanging without the book.I was ready to spend tens of thousands on iffy surgery just to be able to live with the pain. I was a middle-aged woman with one shoulder about ten years post rotator cuff tear - sort of OK, but feeling precarious - and the other cuff now very torn for ten months and completely (painfully) frozen for many of those months. You could see the knotted up torn part just looking at my arm - even without the MRI - it was that bad. The frozen shoulder was even worse for me, though. I just wanted to be able to sleep through the night, maybe brush my hair, and had totally given up hope of ever getting back to the sports and activities of my younger years. I was even considering MUA, but read a lot of publications on the high instance of broken bones, low instance of happy shoulders one, two, five, ten years later, and was very discouraged.Basically, I could not imagine how my arm could get up to a hanging position ever again, but saw with MUA they just yank it up there (under anesthesia) and charge you like that's surgery. In a scary percentage of patients, this actually breaks the arm bone and not encouraging one-year odds of good recovery! I figured - if I was ready to pay someone a fortune to drug me, give a quick yank to tear through all that scar-like encapsulating "frozen" tissue, maybe break my arm, very likely leave me back with same problem or even worse soon after - then I could try to do it myself with a more incremental approach.I was honestly scared to try to hang, as it hurt to barely jostle my arm. So, I spent too much time reading the part of the book that some guest contributor added to this edition - how to make hanging bars, what kind of hand hooks to use, etc. I shopped for those online without buying, and otherwise dithered.I especially worried for too long how, exactly, I should move all the way from the barely 45 degrees I could push my upper arm to (barely parallel with the floor) to somehow hanging with my hands overhead. To even get my upper arm parallel with the ground, I had to use the other hand to push it, and had to "cheat" with extreme contortion of my torso and hunching. The detail of how exactly to "hang" from there isn't really explained in the book, but I'll tell you how I awkwardly started what seemed impossible.First, don't be scared - you do not have to feel like you are ripping through that frozen shoulder stuff, or busting past that hard-stop bone-on-bone feeling. Doctors tell you frozen shoulder is sort of like scar tissue, and it feels like bone-on-bone with painful nerves trapped between. But it is also different from scar tissue. For me - even though it felt like physical tissue, bone, nerve that would need to be torn and forced to move again - it only took a tiny bit of pulling via gravity, and my acromium was quickly reshaped enough to relieve those pinched nerves and tendons, and then the encapsulation/scar-like stuff faded away unbelievably quickly.So, just try it like I finally did. With bent elbows down, and hands up, I finally just grabbed what I could reach - the top of my shower's tub door frame - overhand grip, shoulder-width apart. The "bar" was only about eye level. Once I had grabbed it, I bent my knees just a little to drop my body down a bit try to pull my arms a bit more over my head. I still had bent elbows and my hands were barely higher than my head and a little ways in front of me. I felt that frozen-shoulder block that seems like bone on bone, and I let gravity push against that just a bit for maybe two seconds of OUCH! It wasn't much of a lasting pain, though, and within ten minutes after hanging, I didn't feel like I had really pushed it. This was surprising, as doing PT things like gently pushing my arm into some rotation, walking my hand up a wall, or using pulleys to try to get it out to the side would all leave lasting pain (and never made a dent in the frozen shoulder situation).So, I tried the fake hanging again a little later in the day and a few times the next day. By the third day and - maybe with an accumulated total of 20 SECONDS of half-a$$ approximation of hanging - my horribly frozen shoulder was unbelievably unfreezing!Within a week of doing this a few times a day, I could brush my hair! Not only could I finally rotate inward far enough to touch my stomach like I couldn't do for months, I could reach a tiny bit behind my back. I could even just sit, and not worry about carefully positioning my arm to avoid pain just from normal gravity.In week two, I started working to regain the atrophied muscle tone in that arm, but I could already do almost all the everyday chores I couldn't do for 10 months - put groceries away over my head, ride a bike, etc. and I could sleep through the night without waking myself in pain with any little movement. Within three weeks, I could lift my arm all the way out to the side and then nearly straight up - a smooth motion, with just a little cheating toward the front . (I could not lift it even a few inches out from my side before my sort-of-hanging.)By the third week, I was thrilled to be working out, planking, internal and external rotating with strong therapy bands, lifting 8 lb dumbbells overhead, etc. I could see my shoulder movement becoming more and more normal in the mirror - no hunching up - and see the totally atrophied muscles returning.Now, six months later, I can't believe it, but I really can do everything I was doing two decades ago, and more. When I tore my other rotator cuff about ten years ago, doctors said it could never heal on its own, but I procrastinated on surgery and it maybe 70% healed over three years (no hanging, just pushing it with regular PT exercises as hard as I could). That was my first clue that MRIs and surgeons are not always right about what might heal on its own. Now, after a bit of hanging here and there for six months, my only limitation is that I can't reach very high behind my back, but who cares? I'm a 50 year old woman, working on cars over my head, windsurfing, kayaking, and now think I'll try kiteboarding.I honestly did not put a lot of effort into this, but it was enough to quickly transform my shoulders (and my life). I like adrenaline sports and hate gyms and boring working out stuff. I still don't hang my full body weight because I've been too lazy to put a bar up. Most days, once or twice a day, I grab the top of a door frame, a metal cabinet at work, or my shower door and only sort of bent-knee hang, but I can now relax into it, feel my shoulders rotate normally up around my ears, and open up the joint as that arch thing gets bent. At any hint of shoulder pain, stiffness or impinging, I'll look for something I can sort of hang from - a metal cabinet at work, stair railings in my parking garage, or whatever I can use to traction that arm out and open up the shoulder. I do just a few exercises with therapy bands over a door and dumbbells, and both my shoulders are now fully ripped after a decade of being torn and/or frozen.

This book is a gift, literally and figuratively.After a car accident and wearing a body brace, I lost muscle tone in my body. Although the brace allowed my whiplash injury (mid-back) to heal, I did not have physical therapy while wearing it and I lost normal muscle tone and ended up with tendinitis in my left arm. After six months of left arm elbow pain I was given this book as a gift. The bookstore owner said it helped his shoulder and his wife's back. He knew I had been having back complications from the car accident and thought it might help me. Dr. Kirsch's book was one of the best gifts I have ever received. I was unable to begin hanging right away because of tendinitis in my left elbow. But ironically 4 months after I received the book, as my left elbow was healing, I developed pain in my right shoulder. An MRI revealed a partial tear in my subscapularis rotator cuff tendon. My left elbow seemed "healed" so I began to do a partial hang using a chair. Full body hanging was much too painful. (my routine: hang 6 times for 10 seconds over a 15 minute period which I gradually increased to 30 seconds over 20 minutes today with 1 to 2 minute breaks between each "hang"-then the 3 exercises in the book with NO weights. It took me at least a month before I was able to add weight, and then I could only handle 1/2 lb. Note that I experienced 1 step forward and 2 steps back along the way, as I test how much I can do. It is something to approach conservatively and slowly so as not to cause further discomfort.)It has been 3 months since I started "hanging" and doing the strengthening exercises. Not only do I have improved range of motion in my right arm due to hanging, I am very encouraged that the strength I have built during the program will help me overall. It is important to remember that I couldn't begin to hang for very long, but gradually this changed, although it was painful... but I persevered. Hanging is no longer painful to my right rotator cuff. Something that helped immensely is exercising (walking outside or indoors for a minimum of 30 minutes BEFORE doing the hanging/ strengthening protocol.) It warms up the muscles making the body more pliable.At first I tried the routine everyday and that was too much, so after about 1 month I began to do it every other day because my left elbow started to bother me. After 2 months I had to stop hanging with both arms as my left arm tendinitis became re-inflamed. I had to use my left arm so much due to the onset of right shoulder pain and I was never able to get my left arm strengthened completely. It has been 3 months since I started the program. I continue to do the program with my right arm only and have full range of motion for all three exercises. Although I couldn't use a weight for a long time, I finally tolerated 1/2 lb after 2 months and I have begun to use a 1 lb weight now after 3 months. This program designed by Dr. Kirsch definitely has merit but take note: this takes time and patience and pain does not disappear miraculously. I am much improved but my pain has not gone away entirely - yet. Based on what I have experienced so far I hope to in another six months be pain free.What has been extremely helpful is that Dr. Kirsch has been so willing to correspond via email to answer questions to help me out along the way. It is rare in today's world to find a doctor who is so altruistic! I hold Dr. John Kirsch in high esteem. After 33 years of being an Orthopedic Surgeon here is a doctor that is more concerned with helping others heal themselves, than in trying to encourage surgery for more income stream. We need more doctors like Dr. Kirsch in the world. Again, I still have pain and am unable to adduct my right arm fully to my left shoulder, but I am able to tolerate lying on my right shoulder longer and have gradually gotten back much of the range of motion I had lost. This is something everyone would benefit from learning in grade school, along with the weight lifting exercises. I plan on practicing this for the rest of my life. As we age we lose collagen-I believe this is one of the reasons our tendons become weakened - and one of the most effective ways to prevent that loss is by weight lifting. By keeping the CA arch in the shoulder open, and strengthening our bodies we all can have healthier shoulders! So exercise means weight lifting too-it's not all for vanity this is essential keep our bodies more functional as we age. I highly recommend this book not only because the concept is ingenious but also because it is written by a well-seasoned doctor who has taken much time and effort to relay a very important mechanical issue that no one else has brought to light. Buy this book if you are interested in helping yourself, with the guidance of a knowledgeable Orthopedic Surgeon. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Nice book and very informative

I had been dealing with some right shoulder pain and also under both collar bones for a few years now. Saw a TON of doctors and no one could really tell me whats wrong. I had diagnosis of Thoracic Outlet to AC Joint problems. I came across this book randomly and decided to give it a try.I didn't have a pull up bar at home so I started with hanging lightly from the door frame. My shoulders were super tight and on fire when starting. I kept it up each day and started the light weights(2 lbs). The weights ended up causing me to have pain again, so I stopped them for the time being.Its been a few weeks now. I bought a pull up bar and hang everyday. The pain in my right shoulder has went from a 7 to a 2 and sometimes less.I haven't started the weights back in fear of pushing my shoulder too soon, but plan on trying in the next few weeks. When I hang now, my bodies full weight is there and I have to squat a little to really get a nice stretch. Since I noticed I have to squat a little, I went back to the original door frame I started on and hung from it. I had to squat down a LOT this time vs the first which I could barely grab.This tells me my upper body is being stretched properly and my pain is going away. It may take me a few months to get better, but this has been amazing.Doctors couldn't tell me what was wrong and I honestly still don't know. What I do know is my shoulder pain is going away and I can feel/see a physical difference in my hangs. Will I ever get 100% better? Who knows? At the rate I am going, I hope so.