Is It Really Frozen Shoulder / Adhesive Capsulitis?

Many people in San Diego are needlessly suffering from frozen shoulder. If you’ve already seen your doctor, chances are they told you you’re suffering from Adhesive Capsulitis — the medical term for frozen shoulder. What this likely means is that you can’t lift your arm because your shoulder joint is stuck too tightly to itself. Most likely you have been experiencing pain with either a particular shoulder motion or pain with most shoulder movements for at least a few months.

What Does Frozen Shoulder / Adhesive Capsulitis Feel Like?

Frozen shoulder will feel different depending on which of the three stages of adhesive capsulitis you’re currently in, and may be worse at night, disrupting sleep.

Why Do We Get Frozen Shoulder?

Common Causes

• Injury-Induced Frozen Shoulder

  There are many ways to sustain a shoulder injury. Avoiding movements that cause pain seems sensible; however, allowing pain to persist or using a decreased range of motion to avoid pain is the most common path to frozen shoulder. This does not suggest that you actively seek out painful movements — just that avoiding your full range of motion can cause adhesive capsulitis to develop.

• Repetitive Motion-Induced Frozen Shoulder

  Being injured is one way to start down the path of adhesive capsulitis, but it is not the only one. Simple, repetitive, daily overuse or misuse of the shoulder can also lead to frozen shoulder. The simplest way to understand this: use it or lose it. If you’re not using your shoulder’s full range of motion on a daily basis, your body has no reason to maintain a full, healthy range of motion.

Technical Causes

• Hypertonicity of the joint capsule (excessive tightness)
• Decreased shoulder flexibility
• Decreased glenohumeral bursae fluid
• Inflammation in the joint capsule
• Inflammation in the structures crossing the shoulder joint (biceps, pecs, lats, serratus, infraspinatus, supraspinatus)

How Does Massage Help Frozen Shoulder?

The primary role of massage in preventing frozen shoulder — or helping rehabilitation once frozen shoulder has occurred — is to promote full, pain-free motion in the shoulder by removing restrictions and helping to re-balance the muscle tone of the shoulder girdle. By releasing the chronically tight patterns that your muscles and fascia have developed, massage can help speed recovery from frozen shoulder and greatly increase your range of motion while you heal.