Frozen Shoulder is a condition wherein the joint capsule of the shoulder joint becomes tight, restricted and painful and may become completely immobile.  It may come on gradually or following certain injuries or invasive procedures such as surgery.  People who are more likely to experience frozen shoulder are those with diabetes or who have been required to immobilize their arm for extended periods.

The most common cause of Frozen Shoulder is a chronic Rotator Cuff Injury.  What may have started as a simple shoulder strain may then worsen as the rotator cuff muscles have a harder time moving the arm correctly and begin to inflame or tear.  If caught early and treated with gentle tension-reducing therapies such as: Massage, Laser Therapy, or Traumeel injections, many shoulder and/or rotator cuff injuries are healed before reaching the state of Frozen Shoulder.  As the shoulder begins to loosen, gentle exercises that help restore range of motion may be prescribed.

The mistake that most suffering from Frozen Shoulder make is that they wait too long as the condition progresses.  Primarily, this is because they think that the initial injury isn’t very bad, so they wait and wait thinking that it will simply heal on it’s own.  This thinking is not flawed, because most simple strain injuries in the body will heal within one to two weeks.  Therefore, I advise those who have shoulder pain for longer than 2 weeks call for an examination to discover the source of the pain and find out whether or not treatment is needed.  Doing this can save many months of “Frozen” time and help the shoulder return to normal range of motion and get rid of the pain.