Part Two, Treating Sudden Frozen Shoulder with Physical Therapy
Frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis, is a painful condition that limits the movement of your shoulder. It can develop suddenly and make daily activities difficult. If you’re dealing with frozen shoulder, a trained physical therapist can help you recover through various treatments. These treatments include manual therapy, therapeutic exercises, dry needling, Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM), and cold laser therapy. Following our part one blog about frozen shoulder, let’s explore how these methods work to treat adhesive capsulitis:
Therapeutic Exercises
Therapeutic exercises are crucial in treating frozen shoulder. These exercises are designed to stretch and strengthen the shoulder, gradually improving its function. Here are some common exercises your physical therapist at Move Empower Concierge Physical Therapy might work with you on:
Stretching Exercises
- Pendulum Stretch: Bend over at the waist, let your affected arm hang down, and gently swing it in small circles.
- Towel Stretch: Hold a towel behind your back with both hands. Use your good arm to pull the affected arm upwards gently.
- Cross-Body Reach: Use your good arm to lift the affected arm at the elbow, bringing it across your body to stretch the shoulder.
Strengthening Exercises
- Isometric Shoulder Exercises: Press your hand against a wall without moving your shoulder. This helps build muscle strength without overstraining the joint.
- Resistance Band Exercises: Use resistance bands to perform movements like internal and external rotations, which strengthen shoulder muscles.
Range-of-Motion Exercises
- Finger Walk: Stand facing a wall and walk your fingers up the wall as high as you comfortably can, then walk them back down.
- Passive Internal Rotation: Hold a stick or rod behind your back with both hands. Use your good arm to gently push the affected arm towards your lower back.
Manual Therapy
Manual therapy involves hands-on techniques that physical therapists use to relieve pain and improve mobility in the shoulder. Here’s how it works:
- Joint Mobilization: This involves moving the shoulder joint in specific ways to increase its range of motion. By gently moving the shoulder joint, the therapist can reduce stiffness and improve flexibility. This helps in regaining the lost movement in your shoulder.
- Soft Tissue Mobilization: This is like a specialized massage. The therapist uses their hands to target muscles and tendons around the shoulder. This technique helps relax tight muscles and improve blood flow, which reduces pain and promotes healing.
- Myofascial Release: Manual therapy release targets the fascia, a thin tissue covering your muscles. By applying gentle pressure, the therapist can release tightness in the fascia, easing pain and improving movement.
While this might sound simple, a trained physical therapist will know how to move your joints for the best treatments, and unlike when you move your limbs on your own, they will have leverage from different angles to find more relief from your pain.
Dry Needling
Dry needling is a technique where a physical therapist inserts thin needles into specific points on your body to relieve pain and improve function. It specifically targets trigger points which are tight areas in your muscles that can cause pain and limit movement. By inserting needles into these trigger points, the therapist can release muscle tightness and reduce pain, helping to improve shoulder movement. The needles also stimulate blood flow to the affected area; improved blood flow promotes healing and reduces inflammation, aiding in the recovery of your shoulder. Dry needling can also target nerves that are causing pain.By stimulating these nerves, the PT can help reduce pain signals, providing relief and improving function.
Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM)
IASTM is a technique where specialist physical therapists use tools to treat your muscles and tendons. These tools are usually made of metal and help the therapist apply precise pressure to the affected area. The tools are used to break down scar tissue that might be limiting your shoulder movement. Breaking down this tissue helps improve flexibility and reduces pain, making it easier to move your shoulder. Then, IASTM promotes blood flow and healing in the affected area. Better blood flow and healing reduce inflammation and pain, aiding in your recovery. Finally, these specialized tools help stretch and mobilize the muscles and tendons around your shoulder. This stretching and mobilizing improve your shoulder’s range of motion, helping you regain normal function.
Cold Laser Therapy
Cold laser therapy uses light energy to reduce pain and inflammation and promote healing. It’s a non-invasive treatment that can be very effective for frozen shoulder. It has the benefits of:
-
- Pain Relief: The cold laser targets pain signals in the affected area. By managing these pain signals, the therapy provides quick and lasting pain relief.
- Reducing Inflammation: The light energy from the laser reduces inflammation in the shoulder. Less inflammation means less pain and more mobility in your shoulder.
- Promoting Healing: The cold laser enhances cellular repair processes. Faster cell repair leads to quicker healing of the damaged tissues, helping you recover faster.
Combining Treatments for Best Results
A physical therapist often uses a combination of these methods to treat frozen shoulder. Here’s how a typical treatment plan might look:
- Initial Assessment: The physical therapist assesses your shoulder to determine the severity of the condition and identify the best treatment methods.
- Starting with Manual Therapy: Your PT begins with manual therapy to reduce pain and stiffness. Joint mobilization and soft tissue mobilization help improve flexibility.
- Introducing Therapeutic Exercises: Once the initial pain and stiffness are reduced, the physical therapist introduces stretching and strengthening exercises. These exercises help improve your shoulder’s range of motion and build strength.
- Incorporating Dry Needling: If there are significant trigger points causing pain, the PT may use dry needling to release muscle tightness and improve blood flow.
- Using IASTM for Further Improvement: The physical therapist may use IASTM to break down scar tissue and improve mobility further. This technique helps in enhancing the effects of manual therapy and exercises.
- Applying Cold Laser Therapy: To reduce inflammation and promote healing, the PT uses cold laser therapy. This treatment helps manage pain and speeds up recovery.
What to Expect During Treatment
Your physical therapist will create a treatment plan tailored to your specific needs and goals. This plan will include a combination of the methods mentioned above. You will need to attend regular therapy sessions. The frequency of these sessions will depend on the severity of your condition and your progress. Additionally, your PT will give you exercises to do at home. It’s important to perform these exercises regularly to maintain progress and prevent stiffness.
Your physical therapist will monitor your progress and adjust your treatment plan as needed. This ensures that you are continually improving and getting the best possible results. Keep open communication with your PT. Let them know about any changes in your condition, pain levels, or difficulties you experience. This feedback helps them tailor your treatment for better outcomes.
Benefits of Physical Therapy for Frozen Shoulder
Using physical therapy to treat frozen shoulder offers many benefits, starting with pain relief. The various techniques used in physical therapy help reduce pain significantly, and regular therapy sessions and exercises improve the range of motion in your shoulder, helping you regain normal function. Next, strengthening exercises build shoulder muscles, supporting the joint and preventing future injuries.
Physical therapy also has the benefit of being a non-invasive treatment option, meaning there’s no need for surgery or extensive medical procedures. There is also no need for medications that can come with some not-so-fun side effects or lifelong dependencies. Plus, your physical therapist will offer you customized care instead of a one size fits all plan; your PT provides a treatment plan tailored to your specific condition and needs, ensuring the best possible care. Each appointment you have will be personalized. If a lot of progress was made since your last appointment, you can skip ahead to the next steps. If for some reason your shoulder has regressed, then you can return to some basics to get it moving smoothly again. No matter what, your PT is here to support you on your journey.
If you notice symptoms of frozen shoulder, it’s important to seek help early. Signs that you should see a physical therapist include persistent pain. If you have shoulder pain that doesn’t improve with home care, it’s time to see a professional. Additionally, if you’re having trouble moving your shoulder, and it’s affecting your daily activities, seek help. Lastly, If your shoulder pain or stiffness is making it hard to perform routine tasks that you are used to completing daily without troubles, a physical therapist can help.
Frozen shoulder can be a challenging and painful condition, but with the help of a trained physical therapist, you can recover and regain full use of your shoulder. With the right care and treatment, you can achieve a pain-free and fully functional shoulder. Contact us today and schedule your FREE discovery session so that our specialist physical therapists can determine what is causing your pain and create a personalized plan just for you on how to overcome that pain.