Kate Garraway helps gran living in agony unable to use her arm on Your Body Uncovered
KATE Garraway helps a gran living in agony with a frozen shoulder get her life back, in a new show.
Trudi, 50, started out with a “niggly pain” before steadily losing the use of her left arm.
She needed her granddaughter to help her shop, and her sons to help cook while in horrendous pain for months.
The gran was diagnosed with a frozen shoulder, but had little idea of what that meant – so sought out help on Your Body Uncovered.
Trudi appeared on this evening’s installment, presented by Kate Garraway.
She told how she’s been forced to take time off work due to the pain, saying: “It always hurts, some days it’s excruciating.”
Pain would shoot from her shoulder up her neck, making it impossible to use that arm or turn her head with ease.
Sleeping, getting dressed and undressed had all become an ordeal for the gran, she added she didn’t know how long she could put up with it.
The receptionist said she hoped to understand what was actually wrong with her, before being shown an astonishing image of a healthy shoulder joint, with a properly working shoulder capsule.
Using augmented reality Musculoskeletal Consultant Radiologist Dr Dimitri Amiras explained what it should look like and how it works.
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Then, Trudi saw what her damaged joint looks like from an MRI scan.
In comparison her shoulder capsule – the group of ligaments that encapsulate the ball-and-socket joint – looked very red and stiff.
Dr Amiras told her this happened because her shoulder became injured somehow and her body started trying to fix it – but it never stopped.
He explained she had two options, try and deal with the pain and continue living as she is, or go for a painful procedure which would likely cure it.
Trudi opted for the latter, saying: “I just want to be able to get on and live my own life again.”
Kate then accompanies her to the treatment, where viewers watch on as she grimaces through the doctor’s efforts to regain the use of her left arm.
She had a painful injection of steroids into her shoulder to deal with the swelling, and encourage the joint to heal.
‘IT’S WORKING’
The gran then had physio sessions and more injections over several weeks, before revealing she could move her arm again four months on.
She said: “Since my last injection I’ve been doing physio on a weekly basis, daily at home and at work. And it seems to be working.
“I do feel positive about the future, I can see the change.
“It’s been a great help with the grandchildren because I can do so much for them.
“It was a real role reversal before, now it’s nice to get back to being nan.”
One in 20 people will suffer from frozen shoulder in their lifetime.
It’s often not clear why people get a frozen shoulder – it happens when the tissue around your shoulder joint becomes inflamed.
The tissue then gets tighter and shrinks, which causes pain.
GROUNDBREAKING TV
In the ground-breaking series, Kate meets patients with everyday medical conditions.
Together with Dr Guddi Singh, she guides them through an immersive journey inside their own bodies to help better understand their illness.
The medical world is something Kate knows well. During the pandemic, she was thrust into it when her husband Derek developed Covid. She’s experienced the frustration of not fully understanding what is happening inside the human body.
26 million people in the UK have a long-term medical condition. For many, those conditions feel hidden inside their body, invisible to the naked eye.
But now, with incredible new technology, we show our patients what is happening to them, so they can understand their condition better.
- Your Body Uncovered airs at 8pm on Wednesdays on BBC2.
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