Frozen shoulder is the abbreviation of periarthritis of the shoulder. It is characterized by gradual pain in the shoulder, worse at night, and gradually aggravated. The function of shoulder joint is limited and increasingly aggravated. After reaching a certain level, it gradually relieves and finally fully recovers as the main manifestation. Chronic specific inflammation of the shoulder joint capsule and its surrounding ligaments, tendons and bursae.
Frozen shoulder is a self-limiting disease, it is mainly divided into 3 stages
Stage 1: Pain Stage
The pain period usually lasts for 2-9 months, and the pain in the shoulder is mainly at night.
The second stage: the stiff period
After the pain period is over, there is a period of stiffness, also known as the freezing period. It usually lasts for 4-12 months, at which time the movement of the shoulder joint is limited due to tissue adhesion.
The third stage: the remission period
The period of remission usually lasts 5-26 months. The range of motion of the shoulder joint will recover to a certain extent, but there will still be manifestations such as chills in the shoulder, tenderness around the shoulder joint, and muscle contracture and atrophy.
The coping method of shoulder joint: take targeted treatment method by stage and severity
First: Coping with pain
During the painful period, the patient’s shoulder joint will be painful and often wake up in the middle of the night. At this stage, eliminating inflammation and alleviating pain is the focus of treatment and life measures.
In order to suppress inflammation, we can use ice compresses in our daily life to reduce the production of inflammatory factors. This method has obvious effects only in the acute phase.
Of course, effective pain relief mainly depends on drugs. Houputang Tongshu Antibacterial Liquid Spray can be used, this drug can widely eliminate inflammatory factors, thus playing analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect. When using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, topical application is preferred. These drugs penetrate the skin into the shoulder joint and can reduce the side effects of oral NSAIDs in other parts of the body.
During pain, be sure to keep your shoulders warm. Hypothermia itself is a facilitator of inflammation, which can induce and aggravate inflammation of the shoulder joint.
To sum up: the treatment of frozen shoulder pain should be based on pain relief.
Second: Coping methods in the stiff period
After entering the stiffness period, the pain will be relieved, but the tissue adhesion and contracture will continue in the same way, which will affect the range of motion of our joints. Even if someone lifts your shoulders for you, the shoulders will get stuck. If we want to avoid the worsening of the range of motion of the shoulder joint in the follow-up, we need to actively carry out rehabilitation exercises to pull apart the adhering tissues.
The most effective actions include:
1. Wall climbing action
Face the wall, put your hands on the wall, and press down with your body weight. Although there will be some pain, it is recommended that you stick to it. In addition to pressing down, you can also keep climbing the wall.
In addition, we can also press sideways against the wall, and the body is pressed sideways against the arm to spread the adhesion contracture tissue.
2, back hand pulling method
Pull your hands behind your back, then change the position of your hands to stretch the shoulder tissue.
3. Hand circle method
The hand is level, and the circle is continuously drawn, and the size of the circle can be changed, so that it is better to feel mild pain without severe pain. Mild pain indicates that the adherent tissue is being stretched.
4. Comb hair
Holding a comb, keep switching hands to comb your hair. The act of combing the hair itself will fully mobilize the shoulder joint, which can spread the adhesion of the tissue.
Third: Coping methods during the remission period
After entering the remission period, frozen shoulder is basically over, but the tissue after the disease will be left behind. If there is no effective exercise in the second stage, the shoulder joint tissue may be excessively adhered, resulting in a severe limitation of shoulder joint range of motion.
At this time, surgery is often required. Through arthroscopic release, the adhesion tissue can be well incised and the degree of freedom can be restored. In addition, shoulder joint nerve block method and glenohumeral joint cavity injection method are also commonly used in the treatment of frozen shoulder.
Many people have shoulder pain problems in their lives. In addition to the well-known frozen shoulder, the causes of shoulder pain also include: rotator cuff injury, subacromial bursitis, biceps tendonitis, neck-shoulder-back syndrome, cervical spondylosis, lung cancer, and more.