rozen Shoulder

A few years back I had a client come to me with a Frozen Shoulder, aka adhesive capsulitis.

A condition that is characterized by stiffness and/or pain in the shoulder.

This stiffness and pain normally starts out gradually, worsening over time and can often take 1-3 years to resolve itself (2).

So what Causes Frozen Shoulder exactly?

Simply put there is a shrinkage and tightening of the joint capsule around the shoulder, this can lead to pain and a reduced range of movement (1).

There are 3 main Stages to this condition:

1. Freezing (Pain, followed by a progressive loss of range of movement).
2. Frozen – (Minimal pain, with no further loss or regain of range)
3. Thawing – (Gradual return of movement, some weakness due to disuse of the shoulder)

Depending on the stage the shoulder is at the recovery protocol will differ slightly. However 1 year on with NO pain and my client was still on corticosteroid injections with a few rotator cuff exercises with a band (External and internal).

When I muscle tested her:

External/Internal strength was similar in both shoulders but Supraspinatus was piss weak on the effected side. So after a supraspinatus activation and a gentle joint mobilization we got more movement in 5 min than she had in the last 5 months.

In the Freezing and Frozen stages, joint mobilizations, muscle activation and stretches can all significantly improve the condition.

However it is vitally important to err on the side of caution as too much aggravation of the shoulder can actually make the conditioning worse (1).

In the Thawing stage however when the conditioning is starting to resolve itself movement is key. Drugs aren’t always the answer sometimes the body just needs to move correctly.

References:

1) physioworks.com.au/injuries-conditions-1/frozen_shoulder
2) www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditio…/frozen-shoulder/