How to Fix Frozen Shoulder?
Adhesive capsulitis, often known as frozen shoulder, is a condition that causes the shoulder joint to become painful and stiff. The symptoms usually start mild and gradually become more severe over time.
However, symptoms usually improve in one to three years. If you have to keep your shoulder immobile for extended periods of time, your chances of getting frozen shoulder increase.
Table of Contents
What Is Frozen Shoulder?
- The term adhesive capsulitis is another term for frozen shoulder.
- Frozen shoulder is caused by thickening, stiffening, and inflammation of the shoulder joint capsule, the strong connective tissue that surrounds the shoulder joint. These ligaments connect the glenoid, or shoulder socket, to the humeral head, or top of your upper arm bone. This joint is more frequently referred to as a ball-and-socket joint.
- The reason this condition is known as the “frozen” shoulder is that you are less inclined to utilize your shoulder, and the more pain you experience. When your shoulder capsule thickens and tightens from lack of usage, it becomes “frozen” in place, making movement even more challenging.
Causes Of Frozen Shoulder
- Age
- Sex
- Recent shoulder injury
- Diabetes
- Other health diseases and conditions
Age: Most often, individuals between the ages of 40 and 60 are affected with frozen shoulder.
Sex: Women are more likely to be impacted than men.
Recent shoulder injury: Any shoulder injury or surgery that involves immobilization of the shoulder (such as with a sling, brace, or wrap) increases the risk of developing frozen shoulder. Examples include fractures of your upper arm, collarbone, or shoulder blade, as well as a rotator cuff rupture.
Diabetes: Ten to twenty percent of diabetics get frozen shoulder.
Other health diseases and conditions: Heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland) and hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid gland) are among them. A stroke raises your risk of getting frozen shoulder since it may impair your arm and shoulder mobility. It is unknown to researchers why certain illnesses and ailments make frozen shoulder more likely.
Symptoms Of Frozen Shoulder
- An inability to move due to pain and stiffness is the primary sign of a frozen shoulder.
- Most often, one shoulder will hurt dullly or achingly. You may also experience pain in the shoulder muscles surrounding your upper arm.
- You may get a similar feeling in your upper arm. Your pain may worsen at night, making it difficult for you to fall asleep.
Stages Of Frozen Shoulder
A frozen shoulder often goes through three stages
- Freezing stage
- Frozen stage
- Thawing stage
Freezing stage:
- Every time you move your shoulder, it hurts, sometimes rather severely.
- Over time, it gradually worsens and could ache more at night.
- Your shoulder range is restricted.
- Six to nine months may pass during this phase.
Frozen stage:
- Your stiffness can get worse, but the pain might go away.
- Doing certain everyday tasks becomes more challenging as your shoulder becomes more difficult to move.
- The duration of this period is 4–12 months.
Thawing stage:
- Your range of motion begins to stabilize.
- The duration of this might range from five months to two years.
Diagnosis of Frozen Shoulder
- You may be asked to move your arm in specific ways by a medical professional during the physical examination.
- Checking for pain and measuring your arm’s active range of motion are the goals of this exercise. Following that, you may be instructed to rest your muscles as the physician does passive range of motion movements with your arm.
- Range of motion is impacted by frozen shoulder in both active and passive ways.
- The signs and symptoms of frozen shoulder are generally sufficient to identify the condition. Imaging studies such as MRIs, ultrasounds, and X-rays can help rule out other problems.
Treatment For Frozen Shoulder
In order to treat frozen shoulder, pain management techniques are often used until the first phase is over. If your mobility does not recover on its own, you may require surgery or rehabilitation.
Among the easy ways to cure adhesive capsulitis are:
- Hot and cold compresses
- Medicines that reduce pain and swelling
- Physical therapy
- Home exercise program
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
- Manipulation under anesthesia
- Shoulder arthroscopy
Hot and cold compresses: These aid in reducing swelling and pain.
Medicines that reduce pain and swelling: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs) include acetaminophen (Tylenol®) and ibuprofen (Advil®, Motrin®). Your doctor could recommend more anti-inflammatories and painkillers. With steroid injections, you can control more severe pain and swelling. Your doctor will give you a direct injection of a corticosteroid, such as cortisone, into your shoulder joint.
Physical therapy: A physical therapist might prescribe range-of-motion exercises to help you restore shoulder mobility. The key to regaining as much mobility as possible is your dedication to performing these exercises.
Home exercise program: You can learn exercises to perform at home from your healthcare physician.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): Key locations along a nerve’s course are stimulated with a small electrical current using a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device. Delivered with electrodes applied to the skin, the electricity is neither uncomfortable nor dangerous.
TENS’s precise mechanism of action is unknown. It may result in the production of endorphins, which are chemicals that reduce pain, or it may block the fibers that transmit pain.
Manipulation under anesthesia: You won’t feel any pain during this surgery since it uses a drug known as general anesthesia. The caregiver then helps to release the tension tissue by manipulating the shoulder joint in different ways.
Shoulder arthroscopy:
Frozen shoulder rarely requires surgery. However, scar tissue inside the shoulder joint can be removed surgically if no other treatment works. During this procedure, tiny incisions are often made for tiny instruments that are guided by a tiny camera within the joint (arthroscopy).
Exercises For Frozen Shoulder
Both treating and preventing frozen shoulder can be improved by performing mild stretching exercises to increase shoulder mobility. Seeing your doctor before beginning any frozen shoulder exercises is a beneficial idea. Take it easy and stop or adjust any extremely uncomfortable exercises.
Get your shoulder warmed up before you begin. Warm baths or showers are the best method to do that. Using a damp towel that has been microwaved or a heating pad is another option.
Stretch till you feel tense, but not so much that it hurts, for the next exercises.
- Pendulum stretch
- Cross-body reach
- Towel stretch
- Outward rotation
- Inward rotation
Pendulum stretch:
Relax your affected arm and lean forward slightly. If you require assistance, you can place your good arm’s hand on a table. Swing your dangling arm ten times in one direction and ten times in the opposite direction in a circle that is about a foot in diameter. As you get more flexible and the pain subsides, expand the circles. The exercises can be performed with a modest weight of no more than 3 to 5 pounds as your symptoms improve.
Cross-body reach:
Place your strong arm’s hand on the elbow of your damaged arm. Lift your affected arm and place it across your chest until you feel a stretch in your shoulder. Wait 15 to 20 seconds. Do this 10–20 times per day.
Towel stretch:
With your healthy arm supporting the higher end of the 3-foot towel and your damaged arm holding the lower end, stand with the towel held vertically behind your back. Pull up gently with your unaffected arm until your shoulder starts to feel tense. Wait ten seconds. Repeat five times, twice daily, for five days.
Outward rotation:
While standing, keep your upper arms close to your sides and bend your elbows so they form a 90-degree angle. A rubber workout band should be held in each hand at both ends. Pull the afflicted arm out to your side gently, about 2 to 3 inches, while keeping your healthy arm still. Wait five seconds. Repeat ten to fifteen times per day.
Inward rotation:
Beside a closed door, stand. Holding the opposite end of an exercise band in the palm of your afflicted arm, loop the first end around the doorknob. Pull the band inward by two to three inches, keeping your elbow bent at 90 degrees and your upper arm tucked at your side. After 5 seconds of holding, repeat 10–15 times.
How to Fix Frozen Shoulder Video
Prevention of Frozen Shoulder
Physical therapy can help lower your risk of frozen shoulder if you begin it soon after any shoulder injury that causes pain or difficulty moving your shoulder. An exercise program tailored to your requirements might be created by your physical therapist or orthopedic surgeon.
Summary
- Adhesive capsulitis, commonly referred to as frozen shoulder, can be quite challenging. Your shoulder joint pain and stiffness might make it difficult, even impossible, to carry out everyday tasks that you used to do without any issues.
- Consult your healthcare physician if painkillers and rest are ineffective as home remedies. To begin, they could suggest noninvasive methods like physical therapy.
- After a long time, a frozen shoulder that doesn’t go away may require surgery. Your physician can assist you in determining which course of therapy is appropriate for you.
FAQ’s
Since rehabilitation from frozen shoulder requires patience and time—possibly up to two or three years—there is no quick solution. Nevertheless, you may speed the process by combining painkillers, heat/ice treatment, and physical therapy exercises to increase flexibility and decrease stiffness. In situations that are chronic, a physician may suggest corticosteroid injections to decrease inflammation or, in rare circumstances, surgery to improve the range of motion.
The shoulder joint capsule thickening and tightening is the cause of frozen shoulder, which causes pain and stiffness, although the specific origin is yet unknown. Some common contributing factors include long-term immobilization following surgery or injury, as well as specific medical illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and thyroid issues.
The Painful/Freezing, Frozen, and Thawing phases are usually the four stages of frozen shoulder; however, other sources include a “painful” stage that occurs prior to the Freezing stage. A person’s shoulder ache and stiffness increase throughout these phases, which are followed by a slow improvement in range of motion and a decrease in pain. The entire process often takes two years.
References:
- Frozen shoulder – Diagnosis and treatment – Mayo Clinic. (n.d.). https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/frozen-shoulder/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20372690
- Frozen shoulder (Adhesive capsulitis). (2025, June 2). Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/frozen-shoulder-adhesive-capsulitis
- Frozen shoulder (Adhesive capsulitis). (2023, November 7). WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-is-a-frozen-shoulder
