Physiotherapy in frozen
shoulder
How it presents
Hon, I can't
move my shoulder. This is usually the
complaint of a typically 40-60 year old adult telling his wife how he
had a history of pain in the shoulder for a while and how it is causing him a
loss of mobility now. Imagine the horror situation wherein all your body is
intact, you gaze at the table to pick up that delicious piece of kaaju katli,
you decide to eat it, you raise your arm forward, turns out you can't. That's
how a frozen shoulder patient struggles in life. Although not very debilating ,
this condition surely renders a normal person, handicapped and thus, needs
major attention.
The Pathology
Frozen shoulder basically is caused due to
contraction of the ligament surrounding the shoulder joint. Due to it's
contraction, the two bones forming the joint are approximated and thus are
restricted for activity. This can be caused due to numerous reasons including
trauma, surgery, etc. It can be corrected by surgery but the best method of
treatment till date is physiotherapy. The reason being it's better efficacy in
treatment accompanied with the non invasive nature. Thus physiotherapy forms
the mainstay of treatment of this paralytic condition.
Some of the commonly practised exercises are:
Some of the commonly practised exercises are:
- Pendulum stretch
- Towel stretch
- Finger walk
- Cross body reach
- Armpit stretch
- Outward rotation
- Inward rotation
Why Physiotherapy?
The best
part of physiotherapy would be, the ease at which it comes. The patient has to
put minimum labour in the exercises and overtime, the results are brilliant.
The reality is, in today's world, the physiotherapist receives a lot more
blessings from the patients than what the doctor does. The reason being the
physiotherapist has managed to cure and relieve a lot many patients today than
what the doctor has. Similar is the case with his role in frozen shoulder. These
basic exercise provide a remarkable result with extra ordinary improvement on
shoulder function and movement. That being said, it's one of the cheapest and
effective modalities available for treatment. Given the cost factor and the
efficacy it beholds, the effective output is supra marginal to what surgery has
to offer. This is the reason why physiotherapy has almost completely outrun
surgery in today's date.
Undoubtedly,
physiotherapy is a growing boon to this world of unaided medicine. Physiotherapists, can easily pick up a minor structural defect,
and determine what shall be the best advocated exercise. As far as frozen
shoulder is involved, these exercises have shown a wonderful response.
Normally, without treatment, it takes about 9-18 months for this condition to
resolve. With intervention of physiotherapy, hardly a time of 2-3 months and
one can see this ex-patient throwing
ball, bowling over arm and doing every other shoulder activity with utmost
liberty. Physiotherapy has made it's mark in this particular condition and is
here to stay now.