Views on Frozen Shoulder

Causes, symptoms and treatment of Frozen shoulder

Hello friends! I am doctor Shekhar Srivastav a senior orthopedic consultant at Sant Parmanand hospital in Delhi. Today we will discuss a very common topic that is frozen shoulder. It is commonly seen in general population, more commonly seen in middle aged persons. Though it is seen in almost all classes of people, but it is more commonly seen in people who have diabetes, thyroid problems or if they have any heart problem.
Sometimes it is also seen after trivial trauma. It usually happens because of the capsule which surrounds the shoulder joint, it becomes stiff and inelastic.

Gradually the patient starts having pain and it also reduces the movement of the shoulder joints. Initially the patient gets pain while moving the shoulder but then gradually he can also feel the pain during the rest period. Sometimes it even disturbs the sleep. The treatment includes usually exercises and medication. Now many a times we see patients going to quacks for treatment where they forcibly move the joint and this can lead to complications such as fractures or damage to muscles and ligaments inside the joints. So this should be totally avoided. The proper treatment would be to consult an orthopedic surgeon who will give you some medication and will also send you for some supervised physiotherapy.

Exercises to stretch the stiff capsules are very essential for treatment. It usually takes two to three months to get resolved. Sometimes the stiffness is too much and it may persist for months together. If it doesn't improve with medications and exercises in that case we go for surgery. The surgery in this case is not an open surgery but it’s a key hole surgery where we make small cuts like the size of a tip of a pen. So we make few cuts behind and infront of the shoulder and through these cuts we release the capsule all around the shoulder. So the patient gets his motion and pain also decreases. But this is reserved for only those patients who don’t improve with medications and exercises. The mainstay of the treatment remains medications and exercises.

So in frozen shoulders what I would like to suggest is you should take proper treatment, you shouldn't go to quacks which may cause more damage to your shoulder joint, but instead you should consult an orthopedic surgeon. For that you can visit Lybrate to find out the appropriate orthopedic surgeon for you. Thank You.