The shoulder has a broader range of movement than the rest of the body. It mainly rotates in a ball and socket joint assembly called the Glenohumeral Joint, which connects the upper shoulder (upper arm bone) with a scapula (shoulder blade)called the Glenoid Cavity.
Glenohumeral joint help move the shoulders to and fro, allowing the arms to rotate and extend outward from the body. Flexible capsules filled with lubricants called synovial fluid protect the joints and help move smoothly. The capsule is surrounded by a ligament that connects bone to bone, tendons that attach muscles to bones, and bursae contain fluid that protects the tendons and bones as they move.
Muscle and tendon ligaments, which stabilise the shoulder and control its movements, are called the rotator cuff. This sophisticated soft tissue helps in great shoulder flexibility, but also makes it vulnerable to chronic injury and wear and tear. The one is Frozen shoulder that we are going to learn in this blog.
A frozen shoulder is a common disorder that causes pain, stiffness, and loss of normal range of motion in the shoulder. The resulting disability can be severe, and the condition can worsen over time if left untreated. Frozen shoulder most often affects people aged between 40 and 60 years and is more common in women than men. Also, some people have a higher risk of the frozen shoulder like diabetes.
We do not know the exact cause of a frozen shoulder, but there may be an inflammatory process that occurs. Sometimes frozen shoulder occurs because the arm cannot move for a long time due to injury, surgery or disease. In many cases, the cause is unclear. The frozen shoulder can usually be treated, though full recovery that takes time and lots of own help.
This blog provided by Dr Chandra Sekhar from Hyderabad Shoulder Clinic gives you the information about frozen shoulder, and how to treat frozen shoulder by doing different types of exercises by own.
Frozen Shoulder:
Another name of frozen shoulder is adhesive capsulitis, is a condition that causes pain and stiffness in the arm and has limited movement in all directions. Over time, it will be challenging to move your arms. Frozen shoulder exercises are usually the foundation in treating frozen shoulder.
What to Do With Frozen Shoulder to Recover Quickly:
If you think you have or developing frozen shoulder, ask a doctor or orthopaedic Dr Chandra Sekhar from Hyderabad Shoulder Clinic to physical examination. To determine the range of motion of your shoulder movements, the doctor will ask you to do various moves with your arm, reaching across your chest to touch the opposite shoulder.
He can take an x-ray to make sure there are no other significant problems such as changes in arthritis or dislocation. The MRI can be ordered to check whether the rotator cuff has a tear.
Treatment focuses on relieving pain and restoring the normal range of arm movement. Your doctor can recommend anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve, Anaprox). Ice packs or a bag of frozen thing, which is applied to the shoulder for 10 to 15 minutes several times a day, can also help with the pain.
You might receive corticosteroid injections into your shoulder joint or your soft tissue. The treatment, however, is physiotherapy, which initially focuses on exercises that stretch the joint capsule, and then on strengthening exercises. A physiotherapist can show you how far you need to stretch and will teach you the right exercises. After knowing your limits, you can do most of the exercises at home.
When you are trying to stretch a shoulder capsule, you should avoid any activity that requires shoulder lifting, or anything that makes your pain worse. If you follow the exercise program carefully, you may be able to restore your normal activity level (more than 90% of people will improve with these non-surgical measures).
However, full recovery takes time – from a few months to two or three years. If you do regularly, you can improve or reach the plateau. In rare cases, surgery is needed.
Below are given some of the exercises that help to improve the pain and movement of the shoulder caused by frozen shoulder.
Exercises to Recover Quickly From Frozen Shoulder:
It’s best to take a bath for 10 to 15 minutes, always warm your shoulders before doing exercises.
Also, use a moist heating pad or a wet cloth warmed in a microwave, but this might not be as effective. After a period of worsening symptoms, frozen arms tend to improve, although full recovery may take up to 3 years. Physiotherapy that focuses on shoulder flexibility is the primary recommendation for treatment of the frozen shoulder.
In doing the following exercise given below, stretch your frozen shoulder to the point of tension, but not to the point of pain.
Stretching Exercises
Pendulum Stretch:
Do this exercise first. Relax your shoulders. Get up and bend a little so that the affected arm can hang. Rotate your arms in a small circle about one foot in diameter. Once a day, do ten turns in each direction. When your symptoms improve, increase the diameter of your swing, but never force it. When you are ready for more, increase your stretch by holding light weights (three to five pounds) on the swingarm.
Towel Stretch:
Hold one end of a towel about two meters behind your back and hold the other end with your other hand. Hold the towel horizontally. Pull the sore arm up with a good arm to stretch it. You can also do the advanced version of this exercise with a towel covering your good arm. Grasp the bottom of the towel with your diseased arm and pull it towards your lower back with an unaffected hand. Do this exercise for 10 to 20 times a day.
A towel or chest stretch should be done to stretch the front of your shoulder. Contact physical therapist working under Dr Chandra Sekhar from Hyderabad Shoulder Clinic to find out how to perform a comfortable towel stretches on your frozen shoulder.
Finger Walk
Face on the wall three-quarters of the length of the arm away. Reach out and touch the wall with the tip of a sore hand. Slowly move your fingers over the wall with your elbows slightly bent until you raise your hand as comfortable as possible. Your fingers should do the work, not your shoulder muscles. Lower your hands slowly (if necessary, with good hands) and repeat the process. Do this exercise 10 to 20 times a day.
Cross-body reach
Sit or stand. Raise the affected arm with a good arm at the elbow and bring it up and across the body. To stretch the shoulder, press the arms gently. Hold the stretched arm for 15 to 20 seconds and do this for 10 to 20 times a day.
Armpit Stretch:
Use your good arm, lift your affected arm on a rack around your chest. Bend your knees gently, and opening up armpits. Bend your knees deeply, stretching your armpits gently, then straighten. Stretch a little more with each knee bend, but don’t force it. Do this 10 to 20 times a day.
Began to strengthen Exercise:
As your range of motion increases, add exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff. Warm your shoulders and do stretching exercises before doing strengthening exercises.
Isometric Shoulder Exercises:
When you start increasing your shoulder mobility through stretching and ROM, it might be time to strengthen the muscles around your shoulder. To begin use of shoulder cuff and rotator muscles, isometric shoulder exercises can be performed. These exercises are easy to do without special equipment and can help increase the rotation of the neuromuscular muscles of the rotator cuff.
To do isometric shoulder exercises, push a specific direction on the wall. Hold the pressured hand for five seconds, then release. You can do isometric exercises with 10 to 15 repetitions two to three times a day.
Outward rotation
Hold the rubber band to exercise between your arms with elbow 90 degrees close to your body. Rotate the bottom of the affected arm two to three inches out and hold it for five seconds. Repeat 10 to 15 times a day.
Inward rotation
Stand with the door closed and hook one end of the rubber band around the doorknob. Hold the other end with the arm of the affected arm and hold the elbow at a 90-degree angle. Pull the rubber band two or three inches to your body and hold it for five seconds. Repeat 10 to 15 times a day.
A frozen shoulder is a state where everything is tight very tight. This does not mean that you should refrain from doing work to increase the strength of the arm and rotator muscles. By increasing the rotator cuff strength, you can return to normal activities and mobility if you have a frozen arm. Use band to strengthen your shoulders during flexion, abduction, inward and outward rotation, and extension.
Conclusion:
A frozen shoulder can be a painful condition that prevents you from moving your arm frequently. If you have frozen shoulders, it is essential to do specific exercises and movements so that your arms and shoulders can move again generally without pain. Before starting with exercises, contact physical therapist with your cell phone and work with the program step by step, so that you can solve your frozen shoulder quickly and safely.
Contact Dr Chandra Sekhar from Hyderabad Shoulder Clinic for more details on your frozen shoulder condition 91 9959588389
