Unlocking Your Shoulder: From Stiffness to Strength, Beating Frozen Shoulder with Physiotherapy
Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is a condition characterised by stiffness and pain in the shoulder joint. Often seen as a debilitating condition causing the inability to lift your arm up above your head or move your arm in different positions, this loss in movement due to the shoulder joint capsule thickening and tightening around the joint can significantly impact an individual’s daily activities and quality of life, making unlocking your shoulder an essential part of restoring comfortable function.
What is Frozen Shoulder?
While the exact reason for its occurrence remains unclear, it affects approximately 2-5% of the general population. However, studies have correlated risk factors, which include:
- Prolonged immobilisation
- Previous shoulder injuries
- Diabetes
- Thyroid disorder
Despite affecting only a small percentage of individuals, frozen shoulders are often under-recognised, leading to delays in treatment and prolonged disability. Therefore, it is vital that you know the signs and symptoms, and what you can do to help prevent and manage a frozen shoulder, including steps that help in unlocking your shoulder.
Frozen shoulders develop in 3 stages: painful, freezing and thawing phases, which can last from months to 2 years.
- Freezing stage: marked by disabling shoulder pain that worsens at night. In this stage, the pain intensifies as the range of motion begins to decrease and lasts from 2-9 months.
- Frozen stage: characterised by reduced pain, the shoulder becomes stiffer, making it even more challenging to use and generally lasts between 4-12 months
- Thawing stage: the capsule is loosened, and movement is slowly returned in the shoulder
How Can a Physio Help in Unlocking Your Shoulder?
Physiotherapy plays a crucial role in managing frozen shoulder. Initially, physiotherapists are able to assess, diagnose and differentiate your shoulder pain and limited range of motion and confirm frozen shoulder and/or other conditions.
Depending on which phase you are in, your physiotherapists will tailor their treatment and guide you through rehabilitation to help reduce long-term stiffness. Applied through a combination of manual therapy techniques such as stretching, joint mobilisation, soft tissue massages and specific exercises to strengthen and provide the support your shoulder needs. Additionally, physiotherapists may aid in providing insight into other modalities of treatment. Such as corticosteroid or hydrodilatation injections, which have been shown to help significantly in the short term.
When treating frozen shoulder a holistic approach should be taken, from the education and reassurance to manual and exercise therapy.
Unlocking your Shoulder with Hoppers Physio
Our experienced team of physiotherapists will support you through each stage of your frozen shoulder journey. Providing a personalised treatment plan designed to improve movement and help you regain confidence in using your shoulder.
Book an appointment at Hoppers Physiotherapy today.
