This disorder is also known as adhesive capsulitis, and it causes stiffness, pain and you will not be able to move your shoulder through the full range of motion. Therefore, because of this stiffness and resistance to movement, the name frozen shoulder was given to this condition. The situation can get worse with time if it is not treated properly in its early stages and can even lead to a serious disability. It usually occurs in people who are between forty to sixty years; it is not common to young people, and is noticed to affect more women compared to men. The process of the shoulder being ‘frozen’ usually starts with an inflammation or injury. This irritation particularly affects the soft tissues of the rotator cuff in your shoulder, which include bursitis and tendinitis. These tissues consequently undergo inflammation and make you feel pain as you try to move that area, so you will only have limited range of motion that you will be able to achieve without feeling any pain.
Your shoulder experiences this immobilization because the connective tissue that surrounds the joint capsule swells and loses its usual ability to stretch. As you try to limit the movement of your shoulder to avoid the agony, it allows the joint capsule to contract even further. This condition may take as long as nine months to develop, and the pain will slowly improve but the stiffness will be persistent. One main method to treat a frozen shoulder is by doing stretching exercises, but first you have to warm up your shoulder. You can do that by applying a warm cloth on the affected area for about fifteen minutes. Here are some of the exercises you can do, but make sure that once you begin to feel pain you should stop the exercise.
1. Pendulum Stretch
This is the first exercise you should do for your frozen shoulder remedy. Make sure your shoulders are relaxed, then stand and lean forward slightly. After you have allowed the affected arm to hang, swing the arm in circular motion, within the diameter of one foot. You can do a sustainable, ten revolutions each day, in each direction both clockwise and anti-clockwise. As you consistently perform this exercise, your symptoms will begin to improve and you can increase the diameter of your swing, but do not force the muscles. When your joint gets used to this, you can even carry a small weight as you swing the arm.
2. Armpit Stretch
In this exercise, using your good arm, lift the irritated arm to a shelf that reaches the height of your chest. Bend your knees to open up your armpit. Bend your knees further to now gently stretch your armpit, and then straighten it. Stretch your armpit a little more with each knee bend. You can do this as often as ten to twenty times each day.
Bio
Ferad Jeraf is a medical doctor and a very experienced orthopedist. He is also a lecturer in a well-known university and has written a thesis on different natural ointments that you can use as a frozen shoulder remedy. He is also experienced in giving solutions for spinal disorders. Also he recommends muscle oil from Shankara.com.