Frozen shoulder pain down the arm in Grand Rapids, MI

Are you experiencing unexplained shoulder pain or pain down the arm in Grand Rapids, Michigan? Your pain could be caused by a condition called frozen shoulder. Beyond the name, many people don’t know a lot about this condition, and this makes it hard to know what you can expect if you have it. Also, a lack of knowledge can make it tougher to find effective treatment options for frozen shoulder. 

What is frozen shoulder, exactly?

The proper medical name for frozen shoulder is adhesive capsulitis, and it’s a condition that affects the muscles of the rotator cuff. During the initial stages, the most noticeable symptom will be pain, and the pain will be bad when your shoulder is moving or at rest. You’ll also notice that your shoulder will become stiff and harder to move during this stage. People enter the second stage of this condition when their pain starts to go away but the stiffness doesn’t. After a while, you’ll enter the third stage, and you’ll gradually regain normal shoulder range of motion. 

Are there any early warning signs for frozen shoulder?

The most common early warning sign for frozen shoulder is pain down the arm. One article suggests that this pain comes from trigger points in the subscapularis muscle. This muscle is one of the four that make up your rotator cuff, and repetitive movements or poor posture can cause areas of tension, or trigger points, to develop in this muscle. As a result of these trigger points, the subscapularis will have a harder time moving normally. This difficulty can cause pain signals, and these signals can radiate into the upper back and down the back of your arm. 

What are some ways you can treat frozen shoulder pain down the arm?

There are many options that can help treat frozen shoulder pain, and this includes pain in the arm from subscapularis trigger points. You can find ways to stretch the subscapularis muscle. One easy way to do this is to put your hand on either side of a door frame and lean forward. Another treatment option to consider is range-of-motion exercises for the shoulder. However, there’s one treatment option that can be extremely effective for you. 

Advent Physical Therapy offers treatment for frozen shoulder in Grand Rapids, MI

Our team at Advent Physical Therapy in Grand Rapids is one of the most effective treatment options for frozen shoulder. We have helped many people treat this condition, but that doesn’t mean we’ll use a one-size-fits-all therapy plan on you. In fact, we’ll do a one-on-one free screening to find out how frozen shoulder is affecting you specifically. Our team will then use this information to create a therapy plan personalized to you, and this plan may include therapy methods such as: 

• Manual therapy 
• Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM)
• Cupping
• McKenzie Method

Take the next step to get help with your frozen shoulder. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.