Frozen shoulder is a painful and debilitating condition of the shoulder, which has no obvious cause!

The shoulder joint is a simple meeting of a ball shape (the top of the arm bone) and a socket shape (part of the shoulder bone). The arrangement of muscles and tendons in the joint is such as to allow very full movement of the arm is many directions and without pain.

Frozen shoulder occurs when the capsule the joint is in becomes inflamed and contracts. It also develops scar tissue. The combined effect is to make extensive movement of the shoulder painful. This in turn badly restricts the arm’s range of movement from the shoulder.

The causes are not known. There does seem to be an age factor in that most people with this condition are between 40 and 60. Also it is more common in women than in men.

Sometimes the condition follows a blow or trauma to the shoulder, but certainly not always. Some periods of immobilization to the shoulder, for medical or other reasons, are followed by frozen shoulder. However, there is no proven link between the two.

People with diabetes are more prone to suffer than those without and there is a correlation of risk between Parkinsons disease and frozen shoulder. Again the reasons for the links are not known.

The condition can pass through stages. These tend to start with painful restriction on movement to the extent that pain may interrupt sleep. There may then be several months of reduced pain, but stiffness in movement, followed by a gradual easing of the condition.

If you think you may have this condition, you should seek medical advice from your orthopedic doctor for full diagnosis. They can advise on a range of possible treatments and give you a personal prognosis.