If you're suffering from a frozen shoulder, if you have pain, or loss of range of motion in usually
one side and not the other, and you're worried "Am I ever going to be pain-free?" or "Am I ever
going to get that range of motion back?" this video is for you. Hey my name is Lucas, I'm a
yoga teacher and a teacher trainer. At least once a week someone comes into class and they attempt
to do downward facing dog and they realize "Whoa what happened to one of my shoulders?". They're
suddenly either having pain or loss of range and they're worried that maybe it's permanent.
Adhesive capsulitis, or a frozen shoulder, is a very peculiar injury in that it often comes out
of nowhere and the healing journey can be really long and unfortunately a little bit frustrating.
In this video we'll talk about how to test yourself for frozen shoulder. Number two,
we'll talk about the anatomy and what exactly might be going on. Lastly, I'll share with you
a very simple at-home routine that you can do in bed, either right when you wake up, or right
before bed as corrective exercises to help you heal. A quick disclaimer here: I'm a yoga teacher,
not a medical doctor. In all cases I would very much encourage you to go get an X-ray done,
go meet with a doctor, make sure you rule out things like neurological conditions,
rule out things like rotator cuff injuries. Sometimes the symptoms can be very similar,
it's easy to get confused. Frozen shoulder is a strange one, you want to make sure you
know what you're dealing with. Nothing we'll do here is dangerous in any way for other injuries,
but clarity is really important in your healing journey. Let's do a quick test to see if you have
some of the common symptoms of frozen shoulder. First one is if you extend your arms here with a
90 degree bend and then you attempt to laterally rotate at the shoulder joint. Oftentimes,
if you have frozen shoulder, the frozen one will go very, very low angle, maybe 15-20,
maximum 30 degrees. And if you compare one to the other, it's usually about half the rotation.
The next range of motion we would test is what I showed you before, it's called a shoulder flexion,
and often you'll notice you might get stuck at 90 degrees, or maybe stuck at a little bit more, but
the frozen shoulder will either have pain or it'll have limited range of motion, or both potentially.
The last one will test, you can do other tests but usually with these three it's enough,
is opening your arms to the side. This is called abduction, like we're getting abducted. Usually,
you'll get stuck at halfway, meaning 90 degrees, and you might even find yourself doing things to
compensate, like hinging at the hips or elevating your scapula - a very common sign. Here's what's
weird about frozen shoulder, it goes in three phases. The first phrase is called the freezing
phase, but I think it's better to think of it as the pain phase, and this is where you go
"ouch" and you feel that almost sharp, shooting, wincing pain. And this phase
tends to be short-lived and it's followed by the frozen phase, where maybe the pain is not there,
but suddenly you still feel that blockage. It almost feels like "Was I ever able to open my arm
to the side?" and that phase can last a really long time. And phase three, this is what we'll
focus on today, is the de-freezing or the thawing phase, where we hopefully get that frozen shoulder
unstuck. Here's the challenge - four months healing time, is very common, twelve months,
thirteen months is really about the average, and some people three years plus. So, we can be
talking about loss of range of motion for a very long time. And to make things even more complex,
unlike knee injuries, or hip injuries, or spine injuries where it's very difficult to get through
the day without utilizing those joints, at least in a decent range of motion, it's common, even
more common than not to get through the day not really using your shoulders much at all. In fact,
many people who come to my yoga class, when they extend their arms above their head in full
shoulder flexion, that might be the first time they've done that range of motion in years. Which
means if you have a limitation and you continue to ignore those ranges of motion those things can
be permanent. So, what exactly is going on? Well, if we look at the anatomy of our shoulder here,
this is an anterior view. I have pulled away our subscapularis, which is one of your four rotator
cuff muscles, so that you can see the humerus, this is your arm bone, and this is your glenoid
fossa, that concavity on your scapula. One thing that's cool about the shoulder joint is that it's
a ball and socket joint, but it's very shallow. So, unlike your hip, which has really good range
of motion, your shoulder has crazy range of motion, the most range of motion of any joint
in your body. We can circumduct, we can abduct, we can adduct, we can rotate, we can flex, extend,
we can even hyperextend. Your shoulders can do all kinds of things. That's good, but it's really
prone to injuries because of that crazy range of motion. This is potentially bad.
When we think about frozen shoulder we often think about rotator cuff or arthritis, and while
those things can go hand in hand, usually frozen shoulder is unique and it's referring to the joint
capsule itself. You can see the humerus, you can see the glenoid fossa, what you don't see here,
and you don't see in many illustrations, is that synovial joint capsule. Think of this like fleshy
duct tape wrapped around. All our synovial joints have a joint capsule, it's a fluid-filled sac,
a fibrous sac that holds everything together and keeps everything lubricated. When that
sac becomes stiff and inflamed that's when we get this particular condition of frozen shoulder. OK,
so why does it happen? Why does that sac get stiffened? We don't really know. It seems to be
related to metabolic disorders like diabetes and high triglycerides, even things like cholesterol
are correlated with a frozen shoulder, thyroid problems, for example. It tends to happen to
women more than men, although men get it plenty. The age group is very curious, it tends to be 40s,
50s, and early 60s, and it tends to be a disease of aging. It is very manageable, but again,
we're talking about a relatively long healing path. Things to think about with your frozen
shoulder - you really need to articulate and move your shoulder, you don't want to avoid it,
just letting it be is not a good strategy. We want to do daily exercises. What I'll share with you
now is a routine that you can do in bed at home, either first thing in the morning or right before
bed. The most important thing is daily practice. When you're practicing you will need two cans. I
have cans of beans, you can use soup cans. Leave them next to your bed. You'll need a belt, again,
leave it next to your bed. And you'll need about seven minutes in total, so it's not so long,
but very important that you do this on a daily basis. A couple of rules about corrective
exercises. Number one, you go right up to the pain or the limitation and you take one step back,
that's where we work from. Rule number two is perceived exertion or intensity
four out of ten maximum, no further, you really have to take little baby steps. And rule number
three is it needs to get better to get better. If you do corrective exercises and you feel more
pain, more inflammation, more limitation, no good. It needs to either stay the same
or get better or you're doing things incorrectly. Before we jump into this, I know many of you are
thinking "That sounds like a lot of work. Four months, twelve months, can't I just go get a
cortisone shot? Can't I just go get arthroscopic surgery?" The answer is you certainly could,
but even your doctor will, in most cases, recommend self-care first. The outcomes of
those medical interventions are not so great. So, let's get into some corrective exercises. Let me
show you what we'll do. The first exercise we'll work on is called windshield wiper and doors.
This is working on lateral rotation to the outside, medial rotation to the inside.
Grab your soup cans, bend your elbows at 90 degrees, place your elbows on tops of blocks or
pillows at your sides, attempt to keep your elbows and your shoulders as still as possible and simply
rotate. Remember, we go right up to the place of pain and then we take one step back. We never
push into pain and in terms of intensity, four out of ten perceived exertion that would be maximum,
even less is just fine. To begin, let's inhale and windshield wipe our arms to the right.
Exhale. Let's inhale, windshield wipe to the left.
And exhale. Let's inhale, windshield wipe to the right.
And exhale.
Let's inhale, windshield wipe to the left.
And exhale.
Let's inhale, windshield wipe to the right.
And exhale. Let's inhale, windshield wipe to the left.
And exhale.
Inhale, windshield wipe to the right.
Exhale.
Inhale to the left.
Exhale.
Inhale to the right.
Exhale.
Inhale to the left.
Exhale.
Good, that's windshield wipers. Put your cans down, shake your arms out gently.
Grab your cans, place your elbows in the same position. This time we'll open and
close the doors. Start with your elbows bent at 90 degrees, just like before,
and let's open the doors, both shoulders rotating to the outside, just before you
feel a block, discomfort, or a sensation, and let's hold right here with open doors.
And then slowly close the doors. Wing your elbows out to the side,
place the cans right at your sternum, and let's hold here with closed doors.
Good. And slowly place your soup cans down, shake out your arms gently.
And our next pose will extend our arms above our head. This is called shoulder flexion. I'd like
you to be extra careful here, but grab a belt, strap, a robe belt, anything you might have in
your bedroom will work just fine. Clasp the belt between your hands, lying on your back,
you might need pillows or your headboard for support. Remember, four out of ten maximum
perceived exertion and always go right up to the place of pain, discomfort, blockage, and then take
one step back, that's where we work from. Find a place where you need to stop, pause there,
we'll pulse here with five breaths, and then we'll hold for three breaths.
Lower your arms down by your thighs, still holding onto the strap. Good,
now inhale your arms up to that point we just discovered.
Slowly exhale your arms back down.
Inhale back up to your stop point.
And exhale back down.
Inhale up to your stop point.
And exhale back down.
Inhale up to your stop point.
Exhale back down.
Inhale up to your stop point.
Exhale back down.
This time we'll hold at the top. So, inhale up just to your stop point
and now stay right here and we'll breathe together.
Slowly lower your arms, shake out your arms, grab the backs of your knees and make your way up to a
seated position. Use that belt or that strap and grab the belt or the strap back behind you. Now,
I know this can be really intense, don't go to a very intense place, even if your hands don't
even go past your waist. Hold onto the strap and you find a place, find where that tension is,
find where that block is, and then take minus one step from that discomfort of that block and that's
where I want you to stay. So, you find your place and let's hold here. This is called extension,
or for some of you, if your arms are back behind you, hyperextension. Let's breathe here together.
Now, slowly release your strap. From a seated position, again grab your soup cans. This time
we'll extend our arms out to the side. This is called abduction, abduction like the aliens are
abducting your arms. If possible, keep your arms all the way straight. Many of you will
find a blockage very quickly here, or discomfort. Remember, you find that pain or that blockage and
you go minus one step right before that place. We'll do five breaths, dynamic moving with the
breath, and then we'll hold for three at the top. Let's inhale, extend your arms.
And exhale with control.
Inhale, extend your arms.
Exhale with control.
Inhale, slowly moving with control.
And exhale, slowly back down. Two more times. Inhale.
Exhale.
One more time. Inhale.
And exhale.
Good. Now, go to your place, the place right before you
feel discomfort or blockage, and let's hold there.
And slowly lower your arms down, release the cans, and shake out your arms. I hope you found that
video helpful. One of the things that's important to remember about frozen shoulder is just because
pain is going away that doesn't necessarily mean you're overcoming the condition. Remember,
it's very typical for pain to go down pretty quickly, you need to be regaining that range
of motion that you've lost. Second thing to remember is focus on months, not days. So,
be patient and make sure to make a little bit of investment of time every day in these corrective
exercises. If you'd like more science-based yoga videos, hit subscribe down below. If you
have experience with frozen shoulder, if you've tried something that we didn't mention here,
if you have a different input, I'd love to hear from you in the comments section down below. My
teaching calendar is at yogabody.com and I have a PDF down below with the exercises that we've
covered here as well. Thanks so much for joining us and I hope to see you in the next video.