Can surgery or surgical treatment help your frozen shoulder?
Is there a surgical treatment option for frozen shoulder - should you consider surgery as an option?
The role of surgery for frozen shoulder
As you now know frozen shoulder is a self limiting condition.
The key is to find a way to obtain pain relief while nature gets on with
the job of regaining normal movement and function. Nature achieves this
in almost every case. That doesn't leave much of a role for surgical
treatment!
Operations for frozen shoulder tend to be reserved for those who
have failed to gain pain relief from other means or who have ongoing
stiffness and loss of function after long months of treatment.
Please don't be tempted to rush into a surgical treatment option until you have really explored all the other treatment choices
What does the frozen shoulder surgeon do?
Modern surgery for frozen shoulder involves going into the joint
with an arthroscope (a camera) through a very small incision. The
surgeon can see any tight areas in the joint capsule and can free up the
joint by separating any stuck sections. Some surgeons previously
manipulated the shoulder very aggressively when the patient was under
anaesthetic but this technique is now rarely used. It was often
effective but carried quite a high risk of damaging the joint or the
bones of the shoulder region.