When will my frozen shoulder be better?
I am often
asked by patients how long it will take before they are better and I
suppose the answer depends in part on how you define "better."
The textbook view
The traditional view of frozen shoulder - still quoted in many
textbooks and pamphlets is that from onset to full recovery takes
between eighteen months and two years for most patients.
As a kind of rough average I suppose that this is a reasonable
guide - but bear in mind that - by definition - if this is the average
then some will be better long before eighteen months and some will still
have problems beyond two years.
This "textbook view" does not take account of the fact that good
quality appropriate treatment is likely to shorten the recovery time.
Modern research
Several medical research teams have taken a closer look at the recovery patterns for adhesive capsulitis.
They discovered that in terms of "normal function" then the traditional textbook timescale is pretty accurate. By the end of two years more than ninety percent of patients studied had returned to normal day to day function.
If you look at pain however, the outcome is not so clear cut. Even after two years, when closely questioned, fifty percent of all patients still had some pain on movement towards the end of their range on external rotation. Most did not need any painkillers.
The same is true when movement range is measured by a machine - fifty percent had some limitation, although many were not aware of it until the machine demonstrated it to them.