Frozen Shoulder— or Adhesive Capsulitis— is a condition that can destroy the sufferer’s quality of life. Frozen Shoulder is what happens when the connective tissue capsule that supports the shoulder becomes inflamed. Falcon Health a chiropractor in Sussex discusses this topic.
This inflammation leads to a thickening of the fluid in the shoulder joint. This means that the fluid in the joint constricts and tightens around the shoulder joint. This leads to a restriction of shoulder movement, which causes pain in the shoulder joint.
The onset of symptoms happens slowly, and worsens with the course of time. As the fluid in the joint continues to thicken, the condition deteriorates until the patient’s shoulder movement is completely restricted. As the symptoms progress, the shoulder becomes more and more painful. This happens over a period of approximately 4-12 months. After this, the inflammation starts to go down, which leads to a slow decrease in pain. After 6-9 months, the patient may have made a full recover. Nonetheless, without treatment, the shoulder may never completely recover.
Frozen Shoulder affects 2-% of the general population. In some cases, Frozen Shoulder is caused by injury. For example— if you dislocate your arm or experience a heart attack— this puts you at a higher risk of experiencing the condition. On the other hand, it is possible to experience Frozen Shoulder without an identifiable cause. Those most at risk of experiencing the condition without a cause are postmenopausal women, and people over 40-70 years old.
How can a chiropractor help?
At Falcon Health a Chiropractor in Sussex — we can use chiropractic to help bring your shoulder to a full recovery. Frozen Shoulder can be treated with anti-inflammatories such as NSAIDs. However, these medicines simply mask the pain of the problem rather than work to solve it. The key benefit chiropractic has over these kinds of treatment is that it helps tackle the thickening tissue joint. In this way, chiropractic focuses on the root cause of the pain. Chiropractic treatment can:
- Help reduce pain
- Improve shoulder movement range
- Speed up recovery
A 2012 study proves the benefits of chiropractic treatment for Frozen Shoulder. The study assesses the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment on 50 people with Frozen Shoulder. Out of the 50, over 80% of patients see their case of Shoulder Shoulder to improve or resolve completely with chiropractic. These figures explain why we believe chiropractic to be the best method for treating Frozen Shoulder.
In treating Frozen Shoulder, we focus on the cervical and upper thoracic spine’s range of movement. In this way, we look at how the movement of the neck and upper back directly harms the shoulder’s ability to operate. The main technique that we use is named the Niel-Asher Technique, which is designed to help with Frozen Shoulder at any stage of its progression. The Niel-Asher Technique involves a mixture of sustained pressure on the tissue structures surrounding the shoulder. This cane done through kinesio-taping, trigger point therapy, and dry needling. Through manipulating and mobilising the spinal joints, we help to re-jig your sequences of movement. This helps to lessen pain, and to ultimately resolve the condition.
Conclusion
Frozen Shoulder can be debilitating. However, it is not something that you have to just put up with. Here at Falcon Health, we use chiropractic treatment to target the root cause of the pain. This speeds up the recovery process, meaning that you do not have to live in pain.
Contact Falcon Health a Sussex chiropractor to get the help you need.