I have been seeing a lot of frozen shoulder cases lately. Frozen shoulder (aka adhesive capsulitis), fascinates me because it is still a mystery to the medical community. We don’t know why it happens and despite this it almost always resolves on its own. Most interesting to me, however, is that in my practice it seems to be very strongly related to mental and emotional trauma and distress. We will talk about that at the end of the article but first a little background on the condition.

Some interesting facts about frozen shoulder.

It is almost always people of Northern European or Japanese descent
Women get frozen shoulder twice as often as men, usually between the age of 40-60 yo.
It is very common in people with diabetes, thyroid issues, or adrenal issues. It is highly recommended getting your thyroid checked because it can make a huge difference if thyroid medication is needed.
It is usually the non-dominant arm, which seems strange to me.
It is more common in sedentary individuals than manual laborers.
We don’t know why it begins but it is often precipitated with a minor injury.
Other suspected causes can be chest surgery or a mastectomy, whiplash, or even a viral agent.

Treatments for frozen shoulder

Gently shoulder mobilization and muscle release can give temporary relief. Gentle range of motion exercises can also help. Initially, these often are too painful
In Denmark they put patients on a regimen of 500 mgs of Vitamin C twice a day and Glucosamine (1500 mgs) and chondroitin (750 mgs) once per day. There is good evidence that this can shorten the duration of the condition

Mental/Emotion Aspects

In my practice, people who are seeking help for frozen shoulder very commonly have been dealing with large amounts of stress. In particular stress involving family members or loved ones. I had one patient who had his frozen shoulder resolve within a week after a family member passed away. Another patient had been caring for a loved one with dementia for years.

A personal trainer once said “Shoulder problems arise when you are conflicted in whether to push a loved one out of your life or hold onto them tight.” This seems to hold true for frozen shoulder..