Frozen Shoulder Anatomy

Your shoulder joint involves bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, connective tissues and synovial fluid. There are 3 main bones in your shoulder: the shoulder blade (scapula), the collarbone (clavicle) and the upper arm bone (humerus). These are attached to each other by ligaments (attach bone to bone). Muscles move your bones by pulling on your tendons (attach muscle to bone). Both tendons and ligaments provide stability and alignment to your joint to ensure easy movement in your shoulder. The main muscles involved with your shoulder joint are your rotator cuff muscles (supraspinatus, subscapularis, infraspinatus and teres minor), as well as your biceps brachii (upper arm), deltoid (top of the shoulder), and trapezius (upper back) muscles.

The shoulder is one of the most mobile and flexible joints in your body. It is a "ball and socket" joint (glenohumeral joint), in which the ball (the top, rounded part of your humerus) is held in the socket (the shallow, depressed area called your glenoid cavity, located on the outer edge of your scapula). There is a ring of fibrous cartilage (labrum) that surrounds the glenoid cavity and articular cartilage (slick, hard connective tissue) that covers the end of the humerus to help stabilize the ball in the socket and reduce friction. Your entire joint is surrounded by a tough, fibrous, flexible shoulder joint capsule and inner synovial membrane that produces synovial fluid (thick, egg-white like fluid). This helps to lubricate your shoulder joint and allows the bones to move easily within your joint. When your arm is raised over your head the joint capsule is fully stretched, when your arm is lowered to your side, the capsule rests in a small, pouch-like sac. Your bursa is a fluid-filled sac that lies beneath your acromion (bump on top, outer edge of your clavicle) and above your soft tissues to prevent rubbing when your bones are moved.

What is Frozen Shoulder?

Your shoulder has an amazing range of motion which is a blessing and a curse, as it can sometimes lack stability which makes it more prone to injury. The conditions adhesive capsulitis and frozen shoulder are often used interchangeably; however there is a slight difference between the two conditions.

Literally the word adhesive means "scarring", and capsulitis means "inflammation of the capsule". Adhesive capsulitis happens when the shoulder joint capsule and soft tissues surrounding your socket (glenoid cavity) become inflamed, swollen and contracted. This causes bands of scar tissue (adhesions) to develop in your joint; as a result your tissues become less flexible, stick together and restrict movement. You will experience pain, stiffness, a limited range and gradual loss of overall motion in your shoulder joint, because of the adherence of your shoulder capsule to the top of your humerus. Eventually your joint may become stuck to the point where you have no movement at all.

Frozen shoulder is the generalized name for gradual loss of ability to move your shoulder in all directions. A number of pre-existing conditions can cause and/or encourage adhesive capsulitis to occur in your shoulder joint. This condition is influenced by injuries to your shoulder muscles, tendons, ligaments and the associated bursa, as well as other diseases. Often before you can deal with or determine the other conditions, you must first get rid of the adhesive capsulitis and regain movement in your shoulder.

Frozen shoulder affects 2 - 5% of the population (about 1 in 50 adults will get this at some time in their life). Generally you will experience frozen shoulder in either your left or right shoulder, whichever is your non-dominant shoulder (if you are right handed it would be in your left shoulder and vice versa). About 15% of the population (1 in 5 cases) will get it on both sides at some time in their life, however rarely ever at the same time. It is very uncommon to suffer from frozen shoulder in the same shoulder twice and normally it does not affect other joints in your body. Frozen shoulder is not known to lead to major damage and/or other more serious conditions; more so, it is generally a side effect of other conditions and/or a condition in and of itself.

Since adhesive capsulitis and frozen shoulder are very similar and difficult to differentiate, they are treated in the same way. For our purpose, we will look at these injuries as one condition.

Alternate names and/or related conditions:
Adhesive capsulitis, pitcher's arm, rotator cuff tears, calcific bursitis, arthritis, tendinitis, supraspinatus tendinitis, brachial neuritis, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, pericapsulitis, periarthritis, adherent bursitis, obliterative bursitis, dupuytren contracture.

An Infrared Personal Therapy system is one of the most helpful tools for a damaged rotator cuff. Through the absorption of infrared thermal energy, tissues are safely and gently heated - increasing blood flow within the treated area. Your body's natural response to this increased temperature is to try to maintain a condition of homeostasis - a balanced environment or state of equilibrium throughout the body. To do this, your body responds with a rapid increase in blood flow to the area (this is known as vasodilation), increasing the supply of nutrients to injured cells and flushing out toxins (including lactic acid, commonly found in trigger points) to promote healing. Our Thermotex Platinum Pain Relief Device provides effective, non-invasive, non-addictive pain relief with no side effects.

Our Hot/Cold Compression Wraps are recommended as the best by the Mayo Clinic, several professional sports organizations, and countless medical professionals. That's why we sell them, because they are the best. We have noticed over time that our customers are so fond of our cold wraps that they are frequently coming back and ordering a second one - this way they can heat or cool one while wearing the other. The wraps are becoming very popular with baseball and soccer trainers, and the wraps can be conveniently stored in a cooler for quick application on the field when needed.

Ultrasound Therapy is also a helpful tool for pain prevention of a frozen shoulder, and having a mendmeshop ultrasound device at home can be a powerful and convenient treatment tool. If you have symptoms or are recovering from a hamstring injury, using ultrasound on a regular basis before your activity or throughout the day will help relax your hamstring muscles, tendons and tissues, diminish pain and inflammation, soften scar tissue and contribute greatly to the healing of your injury.

If you suffer from mild inflammation or pain after certain activities or movements use ultrasound therapy when you complete the activity and then rest and elevate your shoulder. Limit the application of ultrasound to a couple of treatments per day (the manual will recommend treatment frequency depending upon the injury). In between ultrasound treatments, maximize your pain relief and injury recovery by using the Thermotex Personal Therapy System. When you're on the go, and not near an electrical outlet, take advantage of the "where anywhere" concept of our hot/cold wraps - the highest rated wraps in the industry. Proven Performance, Proven Relief - only found at MendMeShop.com. If you have been given a treatment plan by your health professional, make sure you adhere to it to ensure pain free living. In general, people who are committed to their therapies and exercises will have the best medical outcomes.