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Frozen shoulder: A painful ailment in your forties
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These days, when you squeeze someone a little hard on the shoulder, you’ll find them screaming in pain and exclaiming “Careful! I have a frozen shoulder”. Just like the knee problem, shoulder problem also seems to have become a household ailment. Many people suffer from shoulder aches. In medical terms it is known as “Frozen Shoulder”. They are unable to even comb their hair due the inability to raise their shoulder. They often complain about not being able to comb their hair due to the ache. While this ailment seems to be afflicting larger and larger of number of people, the information circulated, regarding this ailment, is relatively less. Due to this, many people tend to ignore the pain when it sets in and assume that it will go away with time. But, on the contrary, they find that the pain tends to increase over time and their shoulder movement begins to get restricted further and further. The pain that comes with this ailment can prove to be unbearable and the sufferer can find it hard to even sleep at night. Many a times, they are unable to even stay in bed all night. The pain from a frozen shoulder can get so intense that even someone’s hand touches the shoulder or there is shoulder movement during a handshake, the victim finds himself in pain. For this purpose, it is important to learn and understand this ailment more.
What is frozen shoulder?
Frozen shoulder is a particular type of shoulder pain. An important thing to note about this is that it is not the result of any kind of damage to the shoulder bones or muscles. This ailment roots from the connective tissue that holds the two shoulder bones together. Initially, the tissue incurs a swelling. It results in shoulder pain and interference with shoulder movements in day to day activates. This causes adhesion (accumulation of lactic acids) in the tissue causing freezes the shoulder movement. This is why it is known as “Frozen shoulder”.
Causes for frozen shoulder:
This ailment can be caused by diabetes, cold weather, trauma, stroke or for any unspecified reason. The rise in the number of cases of diabetes has proportionately given rise to cases of frozen shoulder. When a diabetic person functions in cold weather or is seated in an air conditioned for long periods of time, the chances of getting frozen shoulder run extremely high. Further, frozen shoulder is very commonly observed in people who have suffered a shoulder accident or a fracture. It is also very common in people above the age of 50. The incidence is higher in women than in men.
The diagnosis for frozen shoulder:
X-ray reports are not effective in diagnosing this ailment. This is because there is no abnormality with the shoulder bones itself and the X-ray displays only the shoulder bones and not their connecting tissue. An MRI will show the adhesion in the tissue. USG can display the muscle and the swelling above the tissue. But the best diagnosis for the frozen shoulder is a test for the range of the shoulder, which can be performed by the doctor or by the patient themselves. This test is known as the “back-reach test”. As the name suggests, the test involves moving your shoulder towards the back. If, while reaching the back, one gets stuck or feels pain, then the test is considered positive. This means that either the ailment has set in or has begun to set in.
Can frozen shoulder be stopped?
A recent study has shown that the shoulder joint accumulates adhesion. This ailment usually begins to set in after the age of 50, but many people do not feel it’s effect until a few years later when a substantial amount of adhesion has set in. That is why it is said that regular exercise of the shoulder can prevent this ailment.
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