The last thing on your mind is any form of exercise when you have a frozen shoulder but surprisingly, the right kind of exercise can actually speed up the recover process and get you back to full health more quickly.

But don’t make the mistake of cherry picking exercises from a book or reading up on them on the internet. If you really want to succeed and get your shoulder working again then use an exercise programme put together by a physical therapists specifically for shoulder injuries. Doing the wrong exercises can cause more harm than good irritating the capsule around the shoulder and leading to more damage and a longer recovery time.

Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is caused by the internal membrane that surrounds the shoulder joint contracting and thickening. As it does this it squeezes the shoulder joint restricting movement.

It is not known exactly what causes this but it usually occurs in people over forty and around seventy percent of sufferers are women. There are some medical conditions such as diabetes or thyroid disorders that make people more susceptible to it. If you have had a previous shoulder injury or undergone surgery you are also at risk.

The condition is self limiting which basically means that if you ignore it, it will sort itself out. Unfortunately this can take anything up to two or even three years if you do nothing to speed it up.

Frozen shoulder has three distinct phases to the condition. It can start out as a simple ache in the shoulder. We all get them and we all tend to ignore them, but as time passes the pain will get worse and the joint starts to lose mobility. This is known as the painful phase and is the first indicator of a frozen shoulder. All you can do at this stage is take pain killers to alleviate the symptoms.

Next, you will go through a stage where the pain gets less but the shoulder continues to lose mobility, this is known as the freezing phase. Don’t be fooled into thinking that things are getting better simply because the pain reduces. Your mobility can actually decrease significantly during the freezing phase.

Finally you get to the thawing phase where the shoulder slowly starts to improve. Pain significantly reduces and movement improves.

It is during this phase that you can significantly improve recovery time through frozen shoulder specific exercises designed to help you push through the restriction of the joint and regain full movement.

If you would like to know what frozen shoulder exercises can speed up recovery time with a frozen shoulder check out my blog at http://frozenshoulderhelp.blogspot.com/

Peter English lives in the south of England with his wife of 30 years. he is now semi-retired and enjoys playing golf in his spare time. Having suffered a shoulder injury recently that stopped him playing for several months he is keen to tell his story to help others.

By: Peter English

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