Frozen Shoulder

[alophysio]

Hi MenAtWork,

If they have a frozen shoulder, it will be a frozen shoulder. If they have cervical referral, it will get better with C/S treatment, if they have a fracture of the greater tuberosity, you will need to treat it accordingly...but the important question is..."What is the diagnosis?".

Hi SPPAWA,

Usually the most notable thing in histories to me are between about 45-65y.o. and a recent, sometime innocuous shoulder injury - could have been bumper or jarred etc. stress in life is not comping up strong in my memory (and i do ask...)

[SPPAWA]

Please review the following paper as it pertains to psychological aspects which appear to correlate with frozen shoulder. Personality in frozen shoulder -- Fleming et al. 35 (5): 456 -- Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

Frozen shoulder in the majority of what I have read is usually referred to as an idiopathic adhesive capsulitis. If they were more commonly traumatic the etiology would be known and the condition likely titled more appropriately. Personally, I feel this condition is largely brain based and my clinical encounters with it support the distinct personality characteristics in those that I have seen with the condition, anxiety most notably. It is always tempting to blame an onset on clipping the shoulder in a doorway but I think if we step back and look at how many times we "bump" ourselves in any given day it would seem that the insult is disproportionate to the level of injury. Trauma as I'm sure you will agree tends to be more limited in the initial stages. Frozen shoulders come on slowly and unfortunately do not follow typical healing times for soft tissue injury as we see in shoulder injury. As I'm sure you'll agree diagnosis is paramount and I have also quite often seen impingement misdiagnosed as "frozen shoulder."

Hope you enjoy the read,

SPPAWA