A frozen shoulder is a shoulder joint with significant loss of its range of motion in all directions. It is often associated with significant pain in the shoulder when moving it, but some patients report just the inability to raise their arm overhead (even without pain). The other interesting piece is that most people don’t report an injury that caused the frozen shoulder, they just say that all of a sudden they couldn’t raise their arm! There are no definitive causes of this condition, but we do know that long-term immobility of the shoulder joint can put people at risk to developing a frozen shoulder. We also believe that repetitive trauma (or use and abuse) over time will predispose people to frozen shoulder.
So what happens in frozen shoulder? Well, it is the result of inflammation, scarring, thickening, and shrinkage of the capsule that surrounds the shoulder joint to where it tightens down on the shoulder and locks it up – thus the medical term adhesive capsulitis. This condition can be difficult to treat, but we do see fantastic results with rehab exercises (especially those that strengthen the muscles around the shoulder blade) and manual therapy like chiropractic, myotherapy, deep tissue massage and stretching.
The team at Waverley Central Chiropractic Clinic will be able to properly diagnose your condition by doing a thorough exam. We will then provide treatment to help you get back to living your life the way you want
