Idiopathic adhesive capsulitis stage 1

[PTSH1995]

I was wondering if anyone has treated a frozen shoulder recently. I had a patient in private practice with a stage 1 frozen shoulder. She has had the same on the other side and had lots of treatment (several intraarticular cortisone injections, anti-inflammatory drugs, acupuncture, massage) and some of the intervention made her worse. 18 months after onset she had a satisfactory situation. I have done some research and found conflicting opinions: some research says supervised benign neglect is better than intensive PT (Diercks and Stevens J Shoulder Elbow Surg 2004: 13:499-502), others say that 90% of patients treated with a 4-direction shoulder stretching exercise programme reported satisfactory outcomes - PT twice/week (Griggs et al J Bone Joint Surg Am 2000: 82:1398-407).
Questions: is it a good decision to wait with treatment until she reaches stage 2 (adhesive/frozen phase) and also would it be enough to give her a really good shoulder stretching programme and review her once a month?
thanks

Similar Threads:

• Shoulder Muscle & Tendon Tear - Left Adhesive Capsulitis
• Glenoid Fracture = Adhesive Capsulitis?
• Post-Injection Adhesive Capsulitis Rehab
• Adhesive Capsulitis
• adhesive capsulitis / frozen shoulder

[ginger]

mobilise C3456 thoroughly ( ie each joint for about 60 to 90 seconds at a rate of 2 per second at a maitland grade of 3), with a pre and post check of shoulder pain with movement, should pleasantly surprise both of you.