Have you ever played any sports? Been in a car accident? Have you ever had shoulder pain? Ever heard of Frozen Shoulder? When you have pain in your shoulder, most people will try to quit using that arm. Problem with that scenario is if you quit moving your arm due to pain, you can end up with Frozen Shoulder. Frozen shoulder is NOT FUN and takes a significant amount of time to “fix“.

Where Is the Pain Coming From?

Believe it or not, shoulder pain has many “types“. It can be true shoulder pain, the pain can be referred from your neck, or it can be a combination of both.

Referred pain: there is a big branch of nerves and blood vessels that exit the front of both sides of your neck. This is called the “Brachial Plexus“, the Brachial Plexus supplies blood and nerve innervation to your arms, shoulders, shoulder blades and fingers. When you have severe problems with your Brachial Plexus you can end up losing strength in your hand which starts with numbness or tingling in your fingers, or have burning and pain in your shoulder blades and shoulders.

True Shoulder Pain

Once neck issues are ruled out and it is a true shoulder issue, there are a few types of shoulder pain. The most common types of shoulder injury are: Rotator Cuff pain, Bicipital Tendonitis, bursitis and muscle strain from either Biceps or Pectoralis major and/or minor. (This isn’t including tears.) All these types of injury can lead to frozen shoulder due to not keeping the shoulder mobilized.

There are several shoulder exercises and stretches that you can do to mobilize and help strengthen your shoulder. During times of pain, it is very important to keep moving and not quit using your arm.

What is Frozen Shoulder?

Adhesive Capsulitis is the medical term for frozen shoulder. In frozen shoulder the capsule thickens and becomes stiff and tight. There is sever pain and the inability to move the shoulder. There are three stages of frozen shoulder:

Stage 1: Freezing

In the “freezing” stage, you slowly have more and more pain. As the pain worsens, your shoulder loses range of motion. (Due to not moving the shoulder because of pain.) Freezing can last from 6 weeks to 9 months.

Stage 2: Frozen

Painful symptoms may actually improve during this stage, but the stiffness remains. During the 4 to 6 months of the “frozen” stage, daily activities may be very difficult.

Stage 3: Thawing

Shoulder motion slowly improves during the “thawing” stage. Complete return to normal or close to normal strength and motion can take from 6 months to 2 years.

Chiropractic Treatment

A combination of therapies, High volt with ultrasound, Interferential current, Cold Laser, Acupuncture and/or Active Release Technique (and of course ADJUSTMENTS!) help reduce the amount of time of healing for frozen shoulder. While at home, there are several great exercises and stretches to do.

Towel Stretch: Hold one end of a three-foot-long towel behind your back and grab the opposite end with your other hand. Hold the towel in a horizontal position. Use your good arm to pull the affected arm upward to stretch it. You can also do an advanced version of this exercise with the towel draped over your good shoulder. Hold the bottom of the towel with the affected arm and pull it toward the lower back with the unaffected arm. Do this 10 to 20 times a day.

Finger Walk: Face a wall three-quarters of an arm’s length away. Reach out and touch the wall at waist level with the fingertips of the affected arm. With your elbow slightly bent, slowly walk your fingers up the wall, spider-like, until you’ve raised your arm as far as you comfortably can. Your fingers should be doing the work, not your shoulder muscles. Slowly lower the arm (with the help of the good arm, if necessary) and repeat. Perform this exercise 10 to 20 times a day.

If you have any questions about your shoulder pain and what to do, give us or a chiropractor near you a call! You don’t have to live in pain and you can speed the recovery with chiropractic care.

~Dr. Lacey~
Carder Chiropractic Clinic, INC.
El Reno, OK 73036