The "Best" Frozen Shoulder Exercise

The most frustrating problem I encounter when treating a patient with frozen shoulder is apathy. When the patient arrives for their first therapy session they are usually in desperation mode because of the sleepless nights they have encountered over the past 6 months due to shoulder stiffness and pain. They are willing to do just about anything short of cutting off their arm to get rid of the pain and return function... at least that's what they say to my face during this all important first visit. "What's the best frozen shoulder exercise?" is usually one of the first questions I get, and the patient's apathetic expressions begins when I begin explaining that frozen shoulder treatment consists of a combination of exercise and rest, performed in multiple but brief sessions throughout the day. "Do you think going to a chiropractor would help me more?" has been another question on more than one occasion. "Not necessarily, sir" is the reply followed by "their are many techniques to treating your stiff shoulder, most of which are pretty good, but the important thing is that you are somewhere taking action".

Now I'm not trying to sound like a "self-help" guru, but taking daily action is the absolute crucial first step someone with frozen shoulder can do to help speed recovery. Despite popular belief, just resting the shoulder only makes it more stiff and painful when you have to move it.

 Now the next most important step is to avoid making it worse. Now as I just wrote the previous line, I can almost here the sarcasm laden reply of thousands of web surfers as they say "ya think?" However this is not as obviously simple as it seems. You see, in the world of injuries and recovery, my wife is known as a "tester". If she happens to have an injury such as a painful shoulder, neck, etc... then everyday, no, several times a day she "tests"  that injury to see if it still hurts. For instance if reaching overhead pinches or hurts her shoulder, she will repeat this movement throughout the day to see if "it's getting any better".  The point of all of this is to emphasize that if you happen to be a type "A" personality, then bulling your way through the day using your painful shoulder is not the answer.

 This is not to say that you will not feel pain throughout the day during specific frozen shoulder exercise, because you definitely will. The important concept here is to realize the difference between "damaging" pain and "non-damaging" pain. Now I can go into a whole section on the difference between the two (which is out of the scope of this article), but basically "damaging" pain is pain you feel when, obviously, damage is being done to soft tissue, ligament, or bone. Damaging pain is often described with words such as "sharp", "tearing", "nerve pain", and "shooting". Most people automatically stop when encountering damaging pain (although some low-pain-threshhold people will push through damaging pain).

By contrast, non-damaging pain is is pain felt due to shortened muscles, ligaments, soft tissue, connective tissue, or tendons and is often described with words such as "achy", "dull", "pulling", and "pressure". Certainly there are many more words to describe these two types of pain, but these are the ones I have encountered over thousands of patient visits over the years. The point of all of this is that if you do exercise and do not push through non-damaging pain with frozen shoulder exercise, you WILL NOT improve your chances of recovery. A trained physical therapist can help give you the best combination of frozen shoulder exercise to maximize your recovery.

Rex Taylor (pen name) is a licensed Physical Therapist and Certified Hand Therapist (CHT). He writes various short articles, usually about physical therapy, often including helpful tips or hints that he has discovered through his experience over the years. His most recent article "The Perfect Frozen Shoulder Exercise" describes Frozen Shoulder and a program of tested frozen shoulder exercise which gets results. This article is located at http://www.usfreeads.com/1341006-cls.html

Rotator Cuff Injury treatments

The injured shoulder should be at rest from the activities that caused the problem and causing the pain. The implementation of intermittent ice towel on the injured shoulder and non steroidal anti-inflammatory (e.g. Voltaren) help reduce pain and inflammation.

Step 2 (don’t wait to long) should be the rotator cuff strengthening exercises. Start with the basic (as presented in my previous posts) then gradually introduce more exercises.

If pain persists or if severe pain prevents you from doing the required rotator cuff strengthening exercises, you could consider an injection of steroids directly to the injured tendon which effectively reduces pain and inflammation which will allow you to start an effective therapy strengthening therapy.

In rare cases surgery will be necessary. The usual incidents are where the rotator cuff has suffered a complete rupture or if symptoms persist despite a conservative therapy. Surgery can effectively remove bone spurs and inflamed tissue around the shoulder.

The small breaks or tears can be treated with arthroscopic surgery. The newest techniques allow even large tears are repaired in arthroscopic, although some of these big tears requiring open surgery to repair the torn tendon.

Prognosis (Successful healing):

Most people fully recover after a combination of medication, physiotherapy and injections of steroids. In patients with tendonitis and a bone spur, arthroscopic surgery is very effective in restoring the level of activity they had before the injury.

People who have a ruptured rotator cuff tend to improve, although the results depend highly on the size and length of the rupture or tear, as well as the age and level of functioning prior to the injury.

Complications:

Bursitis
Complete rupture of the rotator cuff

We recommend consulting with your doctor if pain persists and if the symptoms do not improve with ordinary treatment.

Pain Management - How to Survive Living With Chronic Pain

Pain is one way for the body to get our attention. It is like a wake up call from the grand reaper tapping you on the shoulder when you least expect it, but the fact is he has being tapping you on the shoulder for quite sometime, and you were busy looking left when he was standing on your right.

Now he is staring you right in the face and he keeps poking you with that machete causing you pain. Are you ready to make some changes?

I guess it is time to deal with him and learn how to take control of your pain by taking some positive action.

Survival Tips

Exercise on a Regular Basics

You don't have to start training for a marathon but get up of the couch and do what you can. Trust me you will feel a million times better if you are stretching and moving your body in some way. Exercise can improve your overall health and fitness, as well as your arthritis or joint and muscle pain.

Give Yourself Plenty of Rest

Sleep this is the time when the body takes the opportunity to do some well needed repairs, so if you are not sleeping then figure out why. If you feel like you need more sleep but there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day, then try to manage your time. You will be amazed at the free time you can create when you manage your time more creatively. If pain is preventing sleep then try some relaxation techniques before you go to bed.

Try Massage

What's not to like about massage this is truly a gift to your self. You may try self massage or ask your doctor to recommend a trained expert in this area. Massage gives a wonderful feeling of relaxation to painful joints and muscles.

Try Relaxation Techniques

Learn how to relax. Most of us do not take enough time out to just breathe each day, pain effects most people emotionally and physically. Unfortunately one seems to feed of the other. Speaking of breathing this is one way to relax. When you take a deeper breath you bring more oxygen into the lungs creating more energy. Try to focus on each area of the body, one section at a time, while taking a breath relax the area you are focusing on.

Use Medication Wisely

It is easy for people who are suffering from chronic pain to over medicate when pain gets so unbearable nothing seems to offer relief. Remember the side effects from pain medication can be much worse than the pain itself.

Respect Your Joints to Prevent Further Injury

Get a clue if you keep using those joints the same way you did before they were inflamed then you are asking for trouble. Don't try to do activities that will aggravate your pain further prolonging your recovery.

Get Advice From Professionals

Leave it to the experts to give you the best advice, be it emotional or physical. But at the end of the day trust your body because the body knows best, and where there is pain there is a problem. Do take the time to do your own research and find out what works for you and your well being.

And now I would like to invite you to find out more about how to combat chronic pain by visitingwww.LivingWellPainFree.com

Rotator Cuff Injury Exercise and Surgery Have Similar Outcomes for Rotator Cuff injuries

According to the results of a randomized trial published in the May issue of the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, rotator cuff surgery and rotator cuff injury exercise have similar outcomes for patients with rotator cuff injuries.

The study states that:

"The anatomical basis for impingement is a mismatch between the structures in the subacromial space…The evidence supporting the superiority of subacromial decompression (surgery) relative to specific rotator cuff injury exercise has been unconvincing."

The study took place in a hospital setting, where 90 consecutive patients fulfilling a set of diagnostic criteria for rotator cuff disease, including a positive impingement sign, were randomized either to undergo surgery or therapy with specific rotator cuff injury exercise, to strengthen the shoulder stabilizers and decompressors.

The age range was 18 to 55 years, and symptom duration was between six months and three years. Outcome measures were shoulder function score and a pain and dysfunction score.

Of the 90 patients enrolled, 84 completed 12-month follow-up, including 41 in the surgery group and 43 in the rotator cuff injury exercise group.

When comparing the healing scores between the group treated with the specific rotator cuff injury exercise and the group treated with surgery, by measuring actual improvement in pain and dysfunction, the results where staggering.

The healing factor scores of the group which was treated with the specific rotator cuff injury exercise was 15% better than the group treated with surgery.

In their conclusion, the researchers stated that:

"Surgical treatment of rotator cuff syndrome (including impingement) was not superior to specific rotator cuff injury exercise". In fact the outcome of surgery was worse.


This study was published in the Medical Research Unit of Ringkjoebing County in Denmark.



Clinical Context:

The incidence of rotator cuff tendonitis in primary care has been described as high, varying from 3.2 to 4.2 per 1,000 person-years in comparison with shoulder pain, which has an incidence of 11.2 per 1,000 person-years.

Rotator cuff disease with subacromial impingement is graded as acute inflammation with tendonitis or bursitis, chronic inflammation, or full rupture.

Treatments are directed at pain control and remedy of the mechanical problem of mismatch between structures in the subacromial space. In primary care, the condition may be managed conservatively with graded physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory medication, or corticosteroid injections.

Surgical treatment consisting of arthroscopic subacromial decompression is being widely adopted, according to the authors, with limited evidence for success compared with specific rotator cuff injury exercise.



rotator cuff injury exercise

Rotator Cuff Injury Exercise

Here you will learn which Rotator Cuff Injury Exercise bring the best results and which Rotator Cuff Injury Exercise should be absolutely avoided.