Freedom From Frozen Shoulder
Freedom From Frozen Shoulder
Frozen shoulder could easily be the most difficult complaint we treat in our clinic. Perhaps along with the worst cases of back pain that have been left for far too long before seeking treatment. So if it’s that stubborn, the first question is, ‘can frozen shoulder be treated’?. And the answer is yes. One of the good pieces of news about frozen shoulder treatment is that, more or less, every case self-resolves eventually. The question is, how long are we willing to wait for your frozen shoulder to resolve itself, and how much can we speed up the process. So if we acknowledge that frozen shoulder can be treated successfully, then the next thing most people want to know is how long it’s going to take. As you may have guessed, this leads to the proverbial piece of string factor. Thankfully, there is a little more certainty about the treatment needed for frozen shoulder when compared to the length of a piece of string, because there is undoubtedly far less variation.
Frozen Shoulder and Treatment
Frozen shoulders that receive treatment tend to resolve on average about 90% faster than their untreated frozen shoulder counterparts. Almost all frozen shoulders will resolve within two years, even if they don’t receive treatment. Most people being frozen shoulder don’t get any proper rehab in the first year or so, due to a lack of options at the DHB level. In a typical frozen shoulder scenario the patient who has no treatment may find that in the first year of their onset of frozen shoulder, they may only experience a 10% improvement. Then later, when they do finally find a treatment that works for them, they can make another 50% improvement in a couple of months and then move up to about an 80% improvement in another couple of months—leaving them the remaining 20% to work through over six months. In total, there’s a 10% average improvement in the first year with no treatment, followed by a further 90% improvement in the second year with treatment. Of course, if they had found the successful treatment in the first year, the whole process would have taken half as long, or even 10% as long as the entire process with no treatment.
Returning to the piece of string point regarding frozen shoulder treatment. The spectrum of frozen shoulder treatment speed is not random. Those living a healthy and balanced lifestyle free of excessive stress and full of healthy activities tend to heal quickly. People who have slipped into a lifestyle that leaves a lot to be desired, either by stress, lack of exercise, poor diet, poor sleep or perhaps all of the above, can find that healing frozen shoulders is a prolonged process. The treatments gain only inches of ground at a time in some of these cases.
It can be highly frustrating to find yourself with a frozen shoulder and then find that on top of your desperate need to resolve the symptoms, you were looking at quite a significant shift in lifestyle needed to heal properly. Life is demanding enough without having to ‘go hard’ on healing a frozen shoulder.
Naturally, we all want to find a treatment that works quickly for us with minimal hassle. Yet frustrating as it is, from a broader view, it is often good that the frozen shoulder forces some of us to make lifestyle changes. In many cases, frozen shoulder symptoms are like so many other pains, they are instructional. Pain is, after all, our body’s way of trying to guide us to better decisions and healthier outcomes. Pain is a Feedback mechanism!
Returning to the piece of string point regarding frozen shoulder treatment. The spectrum of frozen shoulder treatment speed is not random. Those living a healthy and balanced lifestyle free of excessive stress and full of healthy activities tend to heal quickly. People who have slipped into a lifestyle that leaves a lot to be desired, either by stress, lack of exercise, poor diet, poor sleep or perhaps all of the above, can find that healing frozen shoulders is a prolonged process. The treatments gain only inches of ground at a time in some of these cases.
It can be highly frustrating to find yourself with a frozen shoulder and then find that on top of your desperate need to resolve the symptoms, you were looking at quite a significant shift in lifestyle needed to heal properly. Life is demanding enough without having to ‘go hard’ on healing a frozen shoulder.
Naturally, we all want to find a treatment that works quickly for us with minimal hassle. Yet frustrating as it is, from a broader view, it is often good that the frozen shoulder forces some of us to make lifestyle changes. In many cases, frozen shoulder symptoms are like so many other pains, they are instructional. Pain is, after all, our body’s way of trying to guide us to better decisions and healthier outcomes. Pain is a Feedback mechanism!
How is Frozen Shoulder Treated?
If you have been struggling to find an effective treatment for your frozen shoulder or perhaps just waiting for your frozen shoulder to resolve by yourself; maybe it’s time to look at some different rehab approaches. Combining modern methods like focused shockwave therapy and Laser therapy with more traditional techniques like acupuncture and cupping proves effective at easing frozen shoulders and speed recovery in almost every instance. The trick is to be systematic enough, and for your practitioners to find the right balance of treatments that work in your particular case. From there, you just chip away at it and get there at a satisfactory rate. While traditional methods like acupuncture and cupping are a lot more common, Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) is a somewhat recent treatment for frozen shoulder. Furthermore, Shock Wave Therapy can be split into two categories, Radial Shockwave Therapy and Focused Shockwave Therapy. While the more widely used Radial Shockwave is still incredibly effective at treating frozen shoulder, Focused Shockwave Therapy could be considered the Rolls Royce treatment regime. What makes it so effective is that while radial shockwaves are applied all over a local area, focused shockwaves are treated at defined points within the shoulder and are further adapted depending on the required depth. Therefore, making it a prime contender against the myofascial adhesions in frozen shoulder, and for many, a complete game changer!
If you have any questions regarding Frozen Shoulder and its treatment, don’t hesitate to give Featherston Street Pain Clinic a call on 04 385 6446
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