Shoulder Injury

 Shoulder injury or frozen shoulder is when the shoulder is painful and loses motion due to inflammation in the shoulder. The shoulder has ligaments that hold it together and when these become inflamed the shoulder bones become unable to move freely from the joint. Most of the time there is no cause for frozen shoulder but many things can contribute to it like diabetes, shoulder injury, shoulder surgery, open heart surgery and thyroid problems. The main symptoms caused by this are pain, stiffness, and decreased motion of the shoulder. This problem starts with pain and prevents you from moving your arm; this lack of movement causes the stiffness and even more loss of movement.

After some time you begin to lose the ability to reach over your head or behind you. The frozen shoulder diagnosis is often made to patients who cannot rotate their shoulders. Many doctors prescribe physical therapy for this ailment and this usually takes 6-9 months to complete and see full healing.

If this is left untreated, the condition often gets better by itself within 2 years with little loss of motion. Risk factors for frozen shoulder, such as diabetes or thyroid problems, should also be treated. Surgery is recommended if nonsurgical treatment is not effective. During surgery the scar tissue is released by bringing the shoulder through a full range of motion. Even with surgery physical therapy is needed along with massage to help the pain.

Some complications can occur the arm may break if the shoulder is moved to forcefully during therapy, or stiffness and pain may persist during therapy. Massage can be used to help alleviate pain from you  injury but must be recommended by a doctor and is not usually recommended to begin with as it is most useful once you regain some range of motion.