Frozen shoulder is a painful condition that will catch a lot of us at some time or othe especially once we pass fifty.  Up to thirty percent of people will suffer a shoulder injury and a lot of those will suffer with frozen shoulder.

It is caused by damage to the shoulder which causes the capsule surrounding the shoulder to shrink causing pain and restricted movement.  It can start as the result of an injury or can sometimes be brought on by the side effect of drugs.  My brother developed frozen shoulder in both shoulders after being put on anti-coagulants following a thrombosis in his leg.  Stopping the drugs didn't help and he had no choice but to go through the classic frozen shoulder phases before he saw any improvement.

With frozen shoulder you go through three distinct phases with the condition.  The first phase is the freezing phase when you start tp get the pain which gets worse over time with you gradually loosing movement in the shoulder, this is followed by the stiffening phase as the shoulder gradually looses mobility although pin levels are unlikely to increase and then is finally followed by the thawing phase when things start to return to normal with movement increasing and pain decreasing.

The whole process, left to itself, can take anything up to three years  which is  along time to wait when you are unable to do even the simplest of daily tasks.

So what can you do to speed up the process.  Firstly, it is important to keep your shoulder moving, but it is also important not to move it in such a way that you do more damage. So how do you tell the difference between safe and unsafe movement.

The easiest way is the type of pain that you experience. In simple terms, sharp stabbing pain is usually as a result of tissue damage.  If you don't believe me, just poke yourself in the eye with a sharp stick.  Dull aching pain is usually the result of already damaged tissue being subjected to a load.  Have you ever overdone it when running and had aching muscles.  When you stretch them it aches but doesn't sting.

That is probably the best way of gauging if exercise is helping or not.

Make sure that you are using the right exercises.  It's not a matter of  just moving any old how.   You need exercises that are designed specifically for frozen shoulder.  Your doctor or a physiotherapist can advise on this.

Pain killers and cortisone injections into the joint will also help ease the pain and I'm a strong believer in pain relief, but don't overdo it, since pain is also your body's warning system.

Unlike other shoulder injuries frozen shoulder can be a case of working through the pain but always make sure that you are doing the right exercises and don't overdo it, otherwise you'll just have the problem for even longer.

One last thing, just in case your name is on the list for two frozen shoulders, maybe it's worth exercising both shoulders!