Alternative Therapies and
Exercise for Frozen Shoulder
Physical Therapy is a beneficial way to help diminish pain in the soft tissues, restore weakened muscles and improve shoulder strength and mobility. The type of physical therapy and the duration will be dependent on the extent of your frozen shoulder.
Acupuncture, massage (Bowen technique) or chiropractic sessions have also been known to reduce pain, increase blood flow and break down scar tissue associated with frozen shoulder. Treatments can range anywhere from 1 - 6 weeks.
A physiotherapist can set up an individualized strengthening, endurance and stretching exercise program for you to improve the condition of your shoulder, arm and back muscles. It is important to strengthen and stretch these opposing muscle groups to add balance to your body and provide stability in your shoulder. Your program will be based on your needs and abilities, and will help to improve your range of motion (ROM) and allow you to return to performing your normal routines. Assisted exercises along with passive and gentle arm movements (letting your arm hang while gently swinging it forwards, backwards and in circular motions), as well as overhead and across body stretches will help to loosen up your shoulder joint and speed up recovery. These may include exercises with pulleys, sticks, and/or exercises bands. It is essential to do these exercises on a regular basis to prevent stiffening up.
 Be wary of using a sling and/or shoulder brace too frequently as this may prevent necessary movement in your shoulder. Often in our pursuit to protect our injury, we can make our situations worse. It is helpful to limit painful movements, but remember to perform at least gentle movements around your shoulder to keep circulation and blood flowing.
Mobility aids such as long shoe horns, front fastening bras, and/or anything that helps to prevent you from over-reaching or reaching behind your back may be helpful in your recovery.
Treating Your Frozen Shoulder
The trick to treating your frozen shoulder, improving your range of motion, and getting your shoulder back in the best possible condition you can is removing the scar tissue in and around the shoulder joint capsule - something ultrasound therapy is great at!
If you heal your frozen shoulder properly and treat scar tissue build up, your chance of recurrance or chronic shoulder conditions later on is greatly reduced. Therapeutic Ultrasound and Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy™ will treat scar tissue and promote blood flow to heal your labrum, ligaments, and tendons in the rotator cuff and glenohumeral joint faster and more completely than any other methods available.
Freezie Wrap® Cold Compression Therapy
To decrease inflammation and relieve the pain of frozen shoulder doctor's recommend cold compression therapy. Treating your shoulder pain with cold compression as needed will relieve pain and will reduce, or even eliminate, the need for pain medication that affects your entire body and can cause problems is used for a long period of time.
The Shoulder Freezie Wrap® is the cold compression tool you need to treat your frozen shoulder pain in an effective and convenient way.
The deep cooling effect provided by the Shoulder Freezie Wrap® gently numbs your nerves to reduce pain naturally!
The Shoulder Freezie Wrap® uses a supercharged cooling gel pack, that chills in the fridge, not in the freezer like ice or other freezer packs, giving you deep cold therapy without the risk of 'cold burns' or cryoburn. The medical-grade wrap keeps the cold directly off your skin preventing cryoburn while delivering cold right where you need it.
Once the pain of your frozen shoulder has been reduced it is important to begin ultrasound and BFST® to soften scar tissue and begin to loosen up the area. BFST® will improve blood flow and relax muscles that have become stiff and tense because you are not using your shoulder properly.
Ultrasound Therapy
Ultrasound therapy is a great therapeutic option to soften scar tissue, decrease inflammation, reduce pain, and improve the tissue healing process. Therapeutic ultrasonic waves increase tissue elasticity while increasing blood flow to your glenoid cavity. This cleans the joint by getting rid of damaged tissue and reducing the inflammation while opening up the blood vessels to begin healing.
Ultrasound therapy is safe, easy, and convenient and generally requires between 10-15 minutes per treatment. It is based on a form of deep tissue therapy, which is generated through high frequency sound waves (that we can not hear). By treating your rotator cuff and glenoid cavity with ultrasound these sound waves bounce against the scar tissue. The tough, fibrous tissue causing your shoulder to stiffen and/or no longer move becomes softer and the labrum, ligaments and tendon tissues become stronger reducing the risk of chronic problems in the future.
Ultrasound waves penetrate deep to relax your muscles, decrease inflammation and accelerate your recovery rate, so you can return to your daily activities as soon as possible. Ultrasound can also be used to administer therapeutic medicines into the body. This is a process known as phonophoresis. Ultrasound with phonophoresis is rapidly becoming more popular than ultrasound therapy alone.
With phonophoresis, MendMeShop® Ultrasound System sends micro vibrations into your body and carries medicated molecules within the ultrasound gel deep into your soft tissue to enhance the ultrasound therapy, resulting in even healthier tissue.
Using MendMeShop® Lavender Infusion Ultrasound Gel during your ultrasound therapy gives you 2 therapies in 1. You get the benefit of the regenerating sound waves from the ultrasound device itself AND the added bonus of the therapeutic ingredients inside the gel being delivered into the labrum, coracohumeral and glenohumeral ligaments, tendons and other soft tissue where it is most effective. 1 FREE bottle of MendMeShop® Lavender Infusion Ultrasound Gel comes with every MendMeShop® Ultrasound System and it contains the therapeutic essential oils of natural Bulgarian lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, and menthol.
 Complimenting your ultrasound therapy with Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy™ BFST® nourishes and strengthenes your shoulder joint tissue and surrounding area. Using BFST® will speed your recovery and heal your rotator cuff more completely preparing it for strengthening exercises. Talk to your doctor or physical therapist to find out which exercises are appropriate for your situation.
Inferno Wrap® Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy™
The shoulder joint naturally receives a limited blood supply. When it's stiff and difficult to move the blood flow is reduced even further, limiting your body's natural ability to heal itself.
By treating your rotator cuff with BFST® you can increase your body's blood supply to the shoulder and increase your body's natural healing power.
An Inferno Wrap® for your shoulder is the tool you need to treat your sore shoulder because it speeds healing and relaxes the surrounding muscles. With BFST®, tissues are safely and gently stimulated. Your body responds with a rapid increase in blood flow to the area, increasing the supply of oxygen and nutrients to injured tissue to promote healing. Our Inferno Wrap® gives you the most effective, non-invasive, non-addictive, pain relief and healing with no side effect.
In addition, the improved blood flow whisks away dead cells and toxins that have built up from injury, scar tissue, and lack of blood flow. When you stop moving your arm and shoulder, your muscles and other tissue can become weak and dead cells and toxins in the area can cause further tissue deterioration - this can lead to atrophy (muscle weakness and/or deterioration). By clearing the area of toxins and increasing the amount of oxygen and nutrients to your muscle and other tissue, the risk of atrophy is greatly reduced. Keeping your upper arm, shoulder and rotator cuff tissue as healthy as possible throughout the healing process will allow you to improve shoulder strength again once your pain has gone and your tear has healed.
With these 3 easy therapies, cold compression, ultrasound and BFST®, you will notice significantly reduced pain, faster healing, and an incredible improvement in your rotator cuff range of motion.
During your recovery, you may have to modify and/or eliminate any activities that cause pain or discomfort in your rotator cuff area until your pain and inflammation settle, and you gain more mobility and strength in your shoulder. The more diligent you are with your treatment and rehabilitation, the faster you will see successful results!
Surgical Procedures for Frozen Shoulder
Manipulation Under Anesthesia
In rare cases, if the usual treatment options have been unsuccessful, manipulation under anesthesia may be required. Athough this procedure requires anesthesia, no actual surgery involved, meaning incisions are not made when a manipulation is performed. The doctor moves the arm to break up the scar tissue within and surrounding the joint. This is a painful procedure as it requires tearing of the scar tissue, but you will be able to move your shoulder joint more after the manipulation.
 Follow up the manipulation with cold compression therapy immediately. Continue with cold compression until the pain and inflammation has been reduced. Use ultrasound therapy as well to reduce the amount of scar tisue that will reform as the torn tissue heals. This will help prevent your shoulder from becoming frozen again. Once inflammation, swelling, and bruising has been calmed you can begin BFST® treatments to maintain healthy tissue in your arm and shoulder, reduce the risk of atrophy, and improve the health of the tendons and ligaments that have been damaged during the manipulation procedure.
Arthroscopic Capsular Release
Alternatively, or in conjunction with a manipulation, an arthroscope can be inserted into the joint to cut through the scar tissue. This procedure is called an arthroscopic capsular release. Surgical capsular release of a frozen shoulder is rarely necessary, but it is extremely useful in cases of frozen shoulder that do not respond to physical therapy or regular exercises done at home. If surgery is performed, immediate physical therapy following the capsular release is of utmost importance. If rehabilitation does not begin soon after arthroscopic capsular release, the chance of the frozen shoulder returning is quite high.
Please be aware that this information is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider before starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
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