What should I do if I have frozen shoulder?

Frozen shoulder, also called ‘adhesive capsulitis’ is a painful shoulder condition that also results in limited motion. It results when inflammation develops surrounding the shoulder joint tissues. Excessive scarring of these tissues result in a lack of flexibility of the shoulder that typically persists for months or years.

So, what to do if you have developed ‘frozen shoulder?’

1) Seek a corticosteroid injection for your shoulder - recent studies have suggested that those with frozen shoulder who get cortisone injections in their shoulders have a shorter duration of symptoms. Think of the corticosteroid injection as a ‘fire extinguisher’ for the ‘fire’ in your shoulder. It takes away a lot of the burning sensation in your shoulder but does not prevent the scarring or ‘charring’ that causes the stiffness of the shoulder.

2) Use heat and ice to manage pain - Frozen shoulder takes months or years to resolve sometimes. This is too long a time to rely solely on pain medications as the cumulative side effects of ibuprofen, tylenol, and aleve, etc, are prevalent if these are taken for weeks or months at a time.

3) Determine what stage of frozen shoulder you are in: The main stages of frozen shoulder, in order, are the freezing, frozen, and thawing stages. The freezing stage typically means your shoulder is progressively losing flexibility and there is gradually more pain in your shoulder when you reach over head or reach behind your body. The frozen stage refers to the stage when your shoulder motion is greatly limited, and there is significant shoulder pain that gradually resolves over months. The thawing stage refers to the stage when your shoulder is slowly gaining more motion, and there is pain at the end ranges of motion. If you are in the frozen stage or thawing phase, this is the time where physical therapy will likely be most effective.

4) Seek physical therapy for stretching exercises for the shoulder and hands-on stretching - Guidelines suggest that stretching exercise of the correct intensity, coupled with hands-on stretching of the shoulder, results in the fastest improvement of shoulder motion. Once the shoulder motion comes back, a physical therapist should also instruct you in strengthening exercises to build up the strength of your arm which is typically impacted during the course of frozen shoulder.

Hope this helps in your journey to recovering from frozen shoulder or helping those with frozen shoulder!