A Frozen Shoulder is where the shoulder lining contracts. It means that you have a stiff shoulder that doesn’t move as far as you think it should!
Frozen shoulder can be horrible!
It can be very painful yet it still has a normal shoulder x- ray as the bones themselves are fine.
For a start you have pain in your upper arm (often not the shoulder) and then as it gets worse it can spread down your whole arm even into your hand.
Frozen shoulder typically lasts 1-3 years for most people.
But don’t worry most of that time it is more stiff than constantly sore!
Physiotherapy has a large role to play in helping you recover.
When pain is constant, even when there is pain when you are resting your arm.
Then the treatment is actually to further rest.
Don’t do exercises.
This is when a cortico- steroid injection helps the most. It is an anti – inflammatory injection and recommended in NICE guidelines for consideration as first line management. Basically injections are just a powerful anti- inflammatory. If you have constant pain even when you are resting but hate the thought of injections, then it can also work well if you completely rest your arm even in a collar and cuff for 2 weeks.
When pain is constant like this, your shoulder may be inflamed inside – but that stage will settle.
Finally the inflammation settles then your shoulder feels very stiff. Usually you will struggle to reach forwards or reach behind your back. Physiotherapy here can show you the best exercises to recover your movement and how hard or gentle to push exercises to help you recover. In most cases Frozen Shoulder is very quick to diagnose and treatment can start immediately with Physiotherapy.