Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is a disease characterized by decreased shoulder range of motion and pain without an apparent cause, which makes patients even question about ways to prevent frozen shoulder.
Most of these questions are from people who have already had a frozen shoulder and want to avoid it a second time, as well as family members and relatives of those who have had this shoulder problem.
Risk factors
To avoid any disease it is important to avoid its risk factors, we know that frozen shoulder affects 10 to 20% of diabetics and a diabetic is 6 times more likely to have adhesive capsulitis compared to a non-diabetic person.
Other risk factors for the development of this disease are thyroid problems, shoulder trauma, breast and chest surgery. However, no study could clearly prove how these factors influence the development of this disease.
Another relevant fact is that in most patients we were unable to identify any risk factors for the disease, which we call idiopathic adhesive capsulitis. This makes preventing this disease very difficult, almost impossible.
Treatment
Although we are often unable to prevent this disease, proper treatment started as soon as possible can greatly shorten the duration of the disease and reduce the disruption it causes in patients. Therefore, as soon as the first symptoms of capsulitis appear, see a shoulder specialist as soon as possible.
Frozen Shoulder Prevention is Possible
But then, on the frozen shoulder: is prevention possible? In some cases, yes. Avoiding risk factors for this disease is one way to prevent this disease.
Keep your shoulder active
In our modern life, we can often go days without keeping our shoulder active, so try to do daily activities that require you to use your shoulder joint regularly. If you can, do strength training and range of motion exercises frequently, in other words weight training and stretching.
Seek prompt and adequate care for any shoulder injury.
After an upper limb injury (eg hand, wrist, elbow), avoid keeping the limb inactive, always try to move the shoulder several times a day. Prolonged immobilization can lead to the development of a frozen shoulder.
It’s a good practice even when you’re in bed because of an illness or surgery, such as a lung infection or plastic or chest surgery.
Properly treat diabetes and thyroid disease
An adequate and balanced diet, regular physical activity, use of medication to treat diabetes, avoid hyperglycemia peaks, which can collaborate with prevention. Also the proper treatment of thyroid disorders is important in prevention.