Can physical therapy or hands-on treatment help your frozen shoulder?
Can a physiotherapist help your frozen shoulder pain? Will physical therapy ease things and improve your shoulder movement?
Hands on treatment of frozen shoulder
All of the treatment options mentioned so far have been directed at easing the pain of frozen shoulder -
in the knowledge that nature will eventually ease the stiffness. Hands
on treatments from a physical therapist, osteopath or chiropractor are
aimed at both easing pain and improving the joints ability to move.
These treatments might include heat or massage, laser therapy or electrotherapy - followed by a session of joint stretching or adjustment of the joint's alignment.
Hands on treatment can certainly be helpful but - by its very nature - it tends to need many regular visits to the therapist and a long time spent during each treatment session.
I also find that if your shoulder is very stuck in the frozen phase of capsulitis (stage two capsulitis) then hands on treatments can be both very painful and only of limited short lived benefit.
In simple terms the therapist needs your joint to be a little stretchy before he or she can make much headway. This slight stretchiness is present in both the early freezing stage and in the late thawing stage - but not normally in the painful and frozen stage of the condition.