ARE YOU LIVING WITH A FROZEN SHOULDER?

You become aware of a frozen shoulder when it begins to hurt. The pain then causes you to limit your movement. Moving the shoulder less and less increases its stiffness. Before long, you find that you can’t move your shoulder as you once did.

Reaching for an item on a high shelf becomes difficult, if not impossible. When it’s severe, you might not be able to do everyday tasks that involve shoulder movement such as dressing, combing hair, cleaning your back, reaching out for your back pocket.

If you have frozen shoulder, you’ll likely feel a dull aching pain in one shoulder. You might also feel the pain in the shoulder muscles that wrap around the top of your arm. You might feel the same sensation in your upper arm. Your pain could get worse at night, which can make it hard to sleep.

Frozen shoulder also called as adhesive capsulitis, is a shoulder condition that limits your range of motion. When the tissues in your shoulder joint become thicker and tighter, scar tissue develops over time.

As a result, your shoulder joint doesn’t have enough space to rotate properly. Common symptoms include swelling, pain, and stiffness. Symptoms start gradually and resolve around 1 -2 years.

WHAT CAUSES FROZEN SHOULDER?

  • Diabetes
  • Long period of Inactivity
  • Repeated Injuries
  • Stroke
  • Mastectomy

Who is at Risk of Developing Frozen Shoulder?

  • Middle aged (40-60yrs old)
  • Women>Men
  • Diabetics (3 times greater at risk)
  • People who wear slings for long periods after injury or surgery
  • People with Thyroid Disorders

IS IT REALLY FROZEN?

So, it is further categorized into 3 phases depending on its onset and progression.

  1. Acute/FREEZING/painful phase: The “freezing” or painful stage, which may last from six weeks to nine months, and in which the patient has a slow onset of pain. As the pain worsens, the shoulder loses motion
  2. Adhesive/FROZEN/stiffening phase: The “frozen” or adhesive stage is marked by a slow improvement in pain, but the stiffness remains. This stage generally lasts from four to nine months.
  3. Resolution/THAWING phase: The “thawing” or recovery when shoulder motion slowly returns toward normal. This generally lasts from 5 to 24 months.

Management of this disorder focuses on restoring joint movement and reducing shoulder pain, involving medications, physical therapy, and/or surgical intervention. Treatment may continue for months

 

PREVENTION

To prevent the problem, a common recommendation is to keep the shoulder joint fully moving to prevent a frozen shoulder.

Often a shoulder will hurt when it begins to freeze. Because pain discourages movement, further development of adhesions that restrict movement will occur unless the joint continues to move full range in all directions.

Physiotherapy can help with continued movement and decrease the pain.

You can completely cure this problem if the therapy starts at the right time and is approached in a disciplined manner.