Are you a 40 to 60 year old woman? Are you going through menopause? Does your shoulder feel painful, stiff, or weak? Then continue reading in order to avoid this epidemic. (Even if you're not a postmenopausal woman, I encourage you to still read on because I've seen a few male patients presenting with this as well.)
If you fit the above description, you're vulnerable to developing frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis. If you don't fit the above description, you still have a chance of developing it -- although not as likely. I won't go into detail in this post as to what frozen shoulder is (click here if you want to find out more). I was taught in school that this condition is not common, so the first time I saw a patient presenting with it, I was definitely questioning my diagnosis because I thought I encountered a zebra. However, soon enough, one zebra was popping up after another until I had a herd of them... they're no longer zebras but horses. Frozen shoulder is seriously becoming an epidemic.
There is still a lot of debate about the exact cause of frozen shoulder, but I want to give you all some useful tips that may help prevent your shoulder from freezing in the first place. If you suffered an injury, trauma, or surgery to your shoulder, make sure you keep it moving! Of all the known causes of frozen shoulder, this is one of the main concerns. Whether you fell on your shoulder, or pulled a muscle while reaching for something, or slept on your shoulder the wrong way, try to avoid long periods of shoulder inactivity. People become fearful of moving when something hurts, and when you don't move, you stiffen up. As painful as it may be to move, it is important to maintain your range of motion. It is critical that blood circulation is maintained in order to help nourish the area for healing and help rid the area of inflammatory or waste buildups.
Some of the signs that you might start noticing include difficulty doing up your bra, brushing your hair, reaching into your back pocket, sleeping on the affected side, or reaching for anything overhead, to the side, or behind you. People also tend to have a lot of night pain. If you begin experiencing these issues, seek help right away because it could only get worse.
I don't (usually) make people cry, but after treating a patient with simultaneous bilateral frozen shoulders and making her cry, it's made me gain a whole lot of respect for anyone who is suffering from this painful condition. Trust me when I say that frozen shoulder is near the top of the list of things that you don't ever want to experience. Do yourself (and me) a favour and try your best to avoid getting it in the first place. It makes me feel terrible and helpless when a patient comes in with so much pain and expects relief that he or she might not get for 1 or 2 years.
