What is frozen shoulder?
Frozen shoulder is the more commonly used when the tissues around the shoulder joint tighten.Over time limiting the space around the shoulder joint and restricting movement. Occurrence is more in women than men, and mostly in people between 40 and 60 years of age. Symptoms include pain and stiffness – usually in one shoulder. The symptoms develops slowly from two to nine months of initial condition.
What are the symptoms of frozen shoulder?
Frozen shoulder starts with pain in the shoulder joint during movement. The condition progresses first with increased pain followed by restriction in movement. At first during first 2 to 3 months, frozen shoulder starts with a gradual increase in joint pain. Pain will likely spread around the shoulder and become worse at night, making lying on the affected side uncomfortable.
Later, shoulder pain will persist and stiffness will be noticed. Normal day-to-day tasks such as lifting objects or movements will become more difficult. Shoulder muscle becomes weaker as the shoulder is used less and less to avoid pain.
What causes frozen shoulder?
Although the root cause of frozen shoulder is unknown, its noticed that the capsule becomes inflamed, causing scar tissue to form around the joint. This leaves less room for the joint to move, and it will slowly stiffen as inflammation and scar tissue increases.
It can also occur when there is an event such as trauma, surgery or illness that is likely to have triggered the inflammation.
Primary frozen shoulder can often occur in diabetics, people with a hormonal imbalance, a weakened immune system or prone to joint inflammation.
Frozen shoulder may be more common among people with diabetes (particularly insulindependent diabetics). Diabetics are also more likely to have both shoulders affected. There are some indications that poor posture, in particular rounded shoulders, may cause the shortening of one of the ligaments of the shoulder, which can also contribute to developing this condition.
Treatments for frozen shoulder
If the Frozen shoulder left untreated, the pain and stiffness may persist for up to three years. Recovery can be significantly improved with one or more of the following courses of treatment:
- Physiotherapy
- Medication
- Surgery
Physiotherapy
The most common, and often most successful treatment for frozen shoulder is physiotherapy. A trained physiotherapist will focus on stretching the shoulder joint to improve mobility and relieve pressure on the joint. Therapy can take anywhere from a few weeks to nine months depending on age, severity and other contributing conditions.
Physiotherapy Treatment for Frozen Shoulder include:
Care Therapy, Ultrasound to reduce the inflammation and improve the healing.
Mobilisation, Heat therapy for improving joint movement.
Hydrotherapy, taping & Exercise to improve the stability of the joint
Medications & Surgery
If physiotherapy does not improve the frozen shoulder symptoms, a doctor may recommend surgery. Surgery can range in complexity and invasiveness depending on the severity of scar tissue buildup.
Post-operative physiotherapy is still required. Most patients will have their full range of motion back within three months.
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