What is it?

A frozen shoulder is a very painful condition where your shoulder becomes severely restricted.  It is arguably the most painful shoulder problem to get.

It mainly effects people in their 50’s and 60’s in fact the Japanese even refer to it as ‘50’s shoulder’!

You can experience it in your 40's but it is very rare to get it when you are younger than that.  Another term sometimes used for a frozen shoulder is adhesive capsulitis.

Is it frozen or does it just hurt?

It is often misdiagnosed by doctors and physiotherapists.  The main 3 signs are:

1. Severe shoulder pain
2. You cannot turn your forearm out away from your body
3. You cannot raise your arm above shoulder height.

And when we say you cannot move it, we mean - because it physically won’t go, not just because it is painful.

Why have I got it?

Good question.  As a medical profession we actually don’t know!   It generally just occurs for no reason, but sometimes it is triggered following an injury.  We know that it is more prevalent in diabetics, and in people who have a Dupuytrens contracture,  but further than that we are not sure.

What is happening?

Despite us not knowing why it happens , we do know what happens. The capsule lining of the shoulder joint normally allows full normal shoulder flexibility.  In a frozen shoulder the capsule becomes inflamed, swollen, contracted and the capsule loses it's normal elasticity.  This leads to severe pain.

The 3 Phases:

There are said to be 3 phases to the condition.

1. Freezing - This is the very painful phase and pain can be worse at night
2. Frozen - The pain starts to reduce but you find more limitation of shoulder movement
3. Thawing - Pain eases and most of the movement returns

What can be done?

The current evidence offers the following advice and treatment options:

1. Pain relief - use pain killers and anti inflammatories
2. Injection - this can be very helpful in the early phase for pain relief
3. Physiotherapy - to prevent any further stiffness and to regain you r shoulder range of movement
4. Hydrodilatation - injection of a solution into the shoulder. Despite that this procedure can be painful it appears to be effective at reducing pain and improving range of movement.
5. Manipulation under anaesthetic - brutal but can be effective. Effectively they put you to sleep and wrench your shoulder about!
6. Capsular release/Arthroscopic (keyhole surgery) debridement - this is very effective but you will require physiotherapy shoulder rehab afterwards.

Physiotherapy treatment and time usually resolve things although it can take up to 2 years!

Depending what job you do for a living you may not be able to wait around and therefore surgery may be an option to consider.

Do I need a shoulder injection?

There is good evidence for injection for pain relief in the acute painful phase of the process but after that there may not be much benefit.  The injection will not ‘unfreeze’ your shoulder though unfortunately.

People in pain often leave it a long time before asking for help,

they don't know what is wrong, and worry about the future.

We specialise in modern physio to help people

live the life they want and keep doing the things they love.