TREATMENT FOR STIFF SHOULDER OR FROZEN SHOULDER
STIFF SHOULDER OR FROZEN SHOULDER
Stiff shoulder or Frozen shoulder (also called adhesive capsulitis) is a common disorder that causes pain, stiffness, and loss of normal range of motion in the shoulder. The resulting disability can be serious, and the condition tends to get worse with time if it's not treated. It affects mainly people ages 40 to 60 — women more often than men.
The exact cause of a frozen shoulder is unknown, but an inflammatory process is probably involved. Sometimes freezing occurs because the shoulder has been immobilized for a long time by injury, surgery, or illness.
SYMPTOMS
The main symptoms of a stiff or frozen shoulder are pain and stiffness that make it difficult or impossible to move it.
If you have a frozen shoulder, you’ll likely feel a dull or achy pain in one shoulder. You might also feel the pain in the shoulder muscles that wrap around the top of your arm. You might feel the same sensation in your upper arm. Your pain could get worse at night, which can make it hard to sleep.
You’ll typically go through three phases with a frozen shoulder. Each has its own unique symptoms and timeline.
Freezing stage:
- You develop a pain (sometimes severe) in your shoulder any time you move it.
- It slowly gets worse over time and may hurt more at night
- This can last anywhere from 6 to 9 months.
- You’re limited in how far you can move your shoulder.
Frozen stage:
- Your pain might get better but your stiffness gets worse.
- Moving your shoulder becomes more difficult and it becomes harder to get through daily activities.
- This stage can last 4-12 months.
Thawing stage:
- Your range of motion starts to go back to normal.
- This can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years.
CAUSES
The exact cause is not fully understood, and it cannot always be identified.
- recent injury or fracture.
- common in people with diabetes.
RISK FACTORS
Common risk factors for stiff or frozen shoulder are:
- Age : Being over 40 years of age.
- Gender : 70 percent of people with frozen shoulders are women.
- Recent trauma : Surgery or an arm fracture can lead to immobility during recovery, and this may cause the shoulder capsule to stiffen.
- Diabetes : 10 to 20 percent of people with diabetes develop frozen shoulders, and symptoms may be more severe. The reasons are unclear
Other conditions that can increase the risk are:
- stroke
- hyperthyroidism, or overactive thyroid
- hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid
- cardiovascular disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- mastectomy
PREVENTION
Frozen shoulder can only be prevented if it is caused by an injury that makes shoulder movement difficult.
COMPLICATIONS
- Disability
- Permanent nerve damage
- Poor arm and shoulder movement
- Poor quality of life
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DIAGNOSIS
- X-rays. These pictures will show any injuries to the bones that make up your shoulder joint.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound. These imaging studies create better pictures of soft tissues. MRI may help your doctor identify injuries to the ligaments and tendons surrounding your shoulder joint.
- Computed tomography (CT) scan. This tool combines x-rays with computer technology to produce a very detailed view of the bones in the shoulder area.
- Electrical studies. Your doctor may order a test, such as an EMG (electromyogram), to evaluate nerve function.
- Arthrogram. During this x-ray study, dye is injected into the shoulder to better show the joint and its surrounding muscles and tendons. It may be combined with an MRI.
- Arthroscopy. In this surgical procedure, your doctor looks inside the joint with a fiber-optic camera. Arthroscopy may show soft tissue injuries that are not apparent from the physical examination, x-rays, and other tests. In addition to helping find the cause of pain, arthroscopy may be used to correct the problem.
TREATMENT
Over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin or ibuprofen can help relieve the pain and inflammation in your shoulder.If your symptoms are intense or don’t improve over time, your doctor might recommend other kinds of treatments, including:
- A corticosteroid injection in your shoulder joint to reduce your pain and improve your range of motion.
- Joint distension. This means your doctor will inject sterile water into your shoulder capsule to stretch it. This can help you move your shoulder more easily
- Physical therapy. Results with this are mixed, and it may be more useful during certain phases of frozen shoulder than others.
- Surgery. This is very rarely necessary to treat frozen shoulders. But if other treatments haven’t helped, your doctor may suggest surgery. It likely would be an arthroscopic procedure. That means it’s done with lighted, pencil-sized tools that are inserted through tiny cuts in your shoulder.
- Shoulder manipulation can help loosen up your shoulder tissue, but is very rarely done anymore because arthroscopic surgery has replaced it. Surgeons would forcefully move the shoulder under general anesthesia. With this method, there was an increased risk of complications including fractures.
EFFECTIVENESS OF ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT:
Acupuncture helps relieve pain, reduce inflammation, release tight muscles, and increase range of motion for stiff or frozen shoulder.
The Acupuncture Evidence Project shows that there is moderate evidence to support the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of stiff or frozen shoulder and shoulder impingement syndrome. Electroacupuncture is also often used in the treatment of injuries as it has been found to release powerful pain-relieving substances within the body.Acupuncture can reduce pain naturally by decreasing inflammation, improving blood flow to the area, and helping damaged or torn tissues to heal.Acupuncture can be tremendously helpful in naturally managing acute or chronic shoulder pain, and may even help resolve the pain completely.
MECHANISM OF ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture is a non-drug therapy being used more and more to treat stiff or frozen shoulders. It is thought that acupuncture works by releasing chemical compounds in the body that relieve pain, by overriding pain signals in the nerves or by allowing energy (Qi) or blood to flow freely through the body.Studies have shown that acupuncture can provide pain relief, improve range of motion and speed up recovery time.Acupuncture for stiff or frozen shoulder is an essential pain management approach for relieving this type of pain. Acupuncture can increase blood flow and circulation to your shoulder joint by balancing the electrical gradient in the fascia, nerves, and cells. This medical specialty relieves pain, promotes healing, and increases the production of synovial fluid in your shoulder to encourage smoother movement.
BEST CURE FOR STIFF OR FROZEN SHOULDER
Looking for the best relief for stiff or frozen shoulders in Chennai, here’s why you should reach out to the expert Acupuncturist. A. Shaji Bharath from the best rated clinic Dr.Bharath’s Acu Heal. He is currently treating patients for a wide range of conditions. As a best acupuncture practitioner with 15 years of experience, and having worked with several orthopedician and physiotherapist, Acupuncturist. A. Shaji Bharath can create the treatment plan for the best cure for stiff or frozen shoulder to manage the condition that's tailored to your needs, which can break a cycle of long-lasting stiffness in the shoulder. As the top acupuncture doctor in Chennai he has witnessed acupuncture doing wonders for people suffering from shoulder stiffness and pain. The effectiveness rate increases several times just with one course of Acupuncture. So, take some time to find the right pain management and best remedy for acupuncture approach that suits you. Most of the people swear by acupuncture, citing it as a best cure and a ‘miracle’ to improving their quality of life. To contact the top acupuncture doctor in Chennai, Dial: +91 9884746916 or Visit: drbharathsacuheal.com for more details.
BEST ACUPUNCTURE DOCTOR NEAR ME
To choose the Best doctor for Acupuncture, it's important that the Acupuncturist should have a decade of experience and treated at least 1000 to 2000 patients.
You can also search for the Best Acupuncture Doctor near me or ask your primary care physician to refer an experienced Acupuncturist nearby. Once you find the Best Acupuncture Doctor in Chennai, you may go through their google reviews first and then fix an appointment with the doctor only when you are satisfied with the reviews.
The Best Acupuncture Doctor should address your concerns and help you feel more comfortable before your first session. Acupuncture usually takes numerous sessions or several weeks to get a complete cure in any ailment but within 3 or 4 sessions the patients will experience positive differences.
BEST ACUPUNCTURE CLINIC NEAR ME
There are numerous clinics popping up and it is sometimes skeptical to choose the best or even the safe one. To address such concerns, you can look into the following points to choose the best acupuncture clinic for treating stiff or frozen shoulders. Acupuncture is also offered in hospital, pain clinics and by healthcare organizations but it is ideal to visit the best Acupuncture Clinic. If you are not sure, it would be a good idea to contact your local doctor to see if they would be prepared to refer to the best rated acupuncture clinics.Acupuncture is offered in top rated acupuncture clinics near me because conventional treatment has failed or produces unacceptable side effects. Most of the best acupuncture clinics will spell out very clearly what type of acupuncture they practice and how professional they are - at present anyone can set themselves up as an acupuncturist but reputable practitioners will belong to an organization. So while you are filtering the best clinics for acupuncture that treats shoulder stiffness and pain, you can look out for these factors.Treatment without surgery for stiff or frozen shoulder is possible through acupuncture and it gives the best result.
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THE BOTTOM LINE
Frozen shoulder makes the shoulder movement stiff and difficult to move. Anyone who experiences such stiffness should talk to the doctor for maintaining mobility and flexibility of the shoulder joint.Dial +91 9884746916 or Visit: drbharathsacuheal.com to get the best remedy for stiff or frozen shoulder.
SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES
- Waldburger M, Meier JL, Gobelet C. The frozen shoulder:diagnosis and treatment. Prospective study of 50 cases of adhesive capsulitis. Clin Rheumatol 1992;11:364-8
- Camp V. Acupuncture for shoulder pain. Acupunct Med 1986;3:28-32.
- Sun K, Chan K, Lo S, Fong D. Acupuncture for frozen shoulder. Hong Kong Medical Journal. 2001;7(4):381–91
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FAQ:
What are the services provided for stiff or frozen shoulder by Dr. Bharath’s Acu Heal?
Stiff shoulder or frozen shoulder (also called adhesive capsulitis) is a common disorder that causes pain, stiffness, and loss of normal range of motion in the shoulder. The resulting disability can be serious, and the condition tends to get worse with time if it's not treated. It affects mainly people ages 40 to 60 — women more often than men.
After a thorough physical investigation and listening to the patient’s complaints, condition of the ailment is understood by the Acupuncturist.
The treatment will be given based on the ailment’s chronicity and acuteness. In the first few sessions, positive changes in symptoms may be experienced and after several more sessions there are 90 to 100% chances that the patient be cured of this ailment. This treatment will help in inducing sound sleep which will help and play a vital role in reversing this ailment. Simultaneously the patient will be advised on a diet and exercise regime.
What are the benefits of acupuncture for stiff or frozen shoulder?
This is a drugless therapy and there are no side effects. During or after completing the course of treatment any form of medication if any can be stopped.
How many sessions do you need for stiff or frozen shoulder?
It takes around 25 to 35 sessions in a period of 3 to 4 months.