The Best Treatment for Frozen Shoulder

What is Frozen Shoulder and Can a Chiropractor Help?

Frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis, is a condition in which the shoulder becomes very painful and stiff. This typically happens gradually, starting with painful movement of the shoulder and arm in all directions. The shoulder will slowly lose movement until it has minimal or no movement. A chiropractor, more specifically a structural chiropractor can be of great help if you want to get to the root cause of a frozen shoulder problem. Keep reading to find out how. 

What Causes Frozen Shoulder?

The most likely reason you may be experiencing frozen shoulder symptoms is due to structural shifts in your spine and the rest of your body. Structural shifts add extra stress and pressure onto the muscles, ligaments, bone, joints and nerves. Over time extra stress can wear away and damage these important structures. Structural shifts also make it harder for your nerves to communicate with your muscles and joints. This can lead to the weakening of the the supporting muscles around a joint. Your brain then compensates by creating tight and stiff muscles on the outside to support the joints (to stop the progressive damage that can occur).

Frozen shoulder also tends to be more common in women and in people over 40. Frozen shoulder doesn’t tend to reoccur in the same shoulder, but can sometimes happen in the opposite shoulder of the same person.

What’s the best treatment for frozen shoulder? Can a Chiropractor help?

While it possible for frozen shoulder to heal either on its own or with the assistance of range of motion exercises, this can take months if not years to heal. Even if the symptoms go away, the root cause is likely still there so it may lead to other issues. Leaving a frozen shoulder to heal on its own can also frequently end up needing more invasive medical intervention.

Medical treatment for frozen shoulder can include anti-inflammatory medication like aspirin or ibuprofen to help with the pain and inflammation, steroid injections, or even surgery.

How can chiropractic help with frozen shoulder?

Chiropractic is a safe, natural, and effective way of assisting the body to heal, in a more timely manner. There are a few ways that chiropractors can assist in helping a frozen shoulder to heal. Most people will know that chiropractors deal with the spine. While you may think that adjusting the spine won’t be able to help the shoulder, this is not necessarily true.

Our neck, shoulders, and upper back are all closely related, sharing many muscles and all relying on each other to work properly. When we adjust the neck and upper back, we bring back stability and strength to the spine. Thereby placing less stress on the shoulders and allowing the frozen shoulder to heal quicker and easier.

Structural chiropractors are also trained in adjusting all of the extremities (joints in the arms and legs) too. Chiropractors can adjust the shoulder joint in order to start bringing some more motion to the joint. Chiropractors have a good understanding of the shoulder and the surrounding areas too. Along with your chiropractic care, they can provide stretches and exercises to get the shoulder healing as quickly as possible.

Chiropractic isn’t a quick fix for this, it will still take multiple sessions of care along with exercises to get the shoulder moving and healing. But chiropractic care can significantly reduce the amount of time needed to recover. It can also remove the need for more invasive medical interventions such as steroid injections or surgery.

Should you see a Chiropractor for your Frozen Shoulder?

See your structural chiropractor for a full understanding of why you’re experiencing frozen shoulder symptoms and how you can fix the root cause of the problem. You won’t regret it. Find a structural chiropractor who offers complimentary consultations so you can explain your symptoms and condition and they will then be able tell you HOW and IF they can help. This is exactly why we offer this service in our clinic in Northcote, Auckland. We want to make sure we hear everything first before we can tell you if this is something we can help with and how. It’s just a consultation, not a commitment to care. 

What does research say about the effectiveness of Chiropractic for Frozen Shoulder?

A study was done in 2012 looking at patients with frozen shoulder under chiropractic care. These patients were under care for an average of 28 days (with a range of 11 to 51 days). Of these patients, 32% had 100% resolution of their frozen shoulder, with only 2% experiencing 50% or less improvement in their symptoms. 50% had 75% – 90% improvement, and 16% had 50% to 75% improvement within this timeframe.

This is opposed to the months or even years that this condition usually takes to resolve.  This study further reiterates that while chiropractic is not a magic pill for this condition, it can drastically increase the speed of recovery and minimise the need for more invasive medical interventions, that may results in other issues.

For treatment and a check up you can visit our Revolution Chiropractic and wellness clinic in Auckland, North Shore.