In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix a frozen
shoulder at home. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
easy at home exercises designed for a frozen shoulder, also
known as adhesive capsulitis. That's when scar tissue builds
in a shoulder, significantly impacting range of motion and
causing a lot of pain and discomfort. Pain that tends to
be felt in the front part of the shoulder, off to the side,
in the back, around the shoulder blade, even into the
arm. It occurs in three separate stages. The first being
the freezing that progresses into the frozen stage. This is
where most issues are going to be experienced and then into
the rehabilitative phase, the thawing stage. These exercises
are designed for the thawing stage. If you're in the
beginning stages or if you're just uncertain you're having a
lot of new shoulder issues. I do recommend consulting with
your local doctor first to rule out anything major like a
tendon tear. These exercises are designed to be done daily
and it can be done at home and require no special equipment.
As a note, this will not be an overnight process. This could
take several weeks if not months to significantly improve
shoulder range of motion and lessen pain. So, let's get
started and fix that frozen shoulder at home right now.
Let's begin with one of my favorite ways to rehabilitate a
frozen shoulder at home which is the stick method. We just
need something long and sturdy that's roughly about four feet
long. A broomstick works perfectly. You can use a PVC
pipe. If you don't have any of those, go out in the yard and
grab a big stick, but I'm going to go through four different
motions that tend to get locked up with a frozen shoulder and
the beauty with the stick method is is that we're going
to be able to actively stretch into them that is just going as
far as you're normally able to go but we can also use the
stick to passively stretch into it even further to get better
results. The first two, you can do lying flat your back in bed.
So, let's start with shoulder flexion. That is raising the
shoulders overhead just like this. I'm going to grab onto
the stick. My hands are going to be roughly shoulder width
apart. I want to keep my elbows locked straight during this
exercise. I want everything in the back too to be nice and
relaxed and flat on the bed. So, the shoulder blades, the
upper back, the back of the head all nice and relaxed and
flat. Let's slowly lower the stick down as much as we
actively until we feel a deep but tolerable stretch into the
shoulders. Again, these need to be tolerable. Don't go to the
point of agony. Once we hit that very deep stretch, we're
going to hold this one for about 15 to 20 seconds. Do
nice, slow control breathing too. Relax as much as you can.
From there, take a breather and then you're going to repeat
this. On the next repetition, try to stretch into it just a
little bit more. Challenge yourself to get more range of
motion but only to a tolerable point. We're going to do this
one for about three to five repetitions. Next, we're going
to go into our passive stretch. When it comes to a frozen
shoulder, generally, people will have one bad shoulder, one
good side. You want to use the good side to drive further into
this stretch to challenge the bad side. That is that passive
stretch. So, good use the good side right here to just stretch
into it just a little bit more. This might cause a momentary
increase of pain but again do not go to the point of agony. 15
to 20 second hold. You're going to relax, take a breather and
then repeat this one up to five times. Next, let's focus on
ABduction or abduction of the shoulder I always think of this
one is kind of like making a snow angel it's that nice arc
off to the side of raising the arm so I'm going to lie flat
again I'm going to take the stick with the good side and
grab it one end the painful side is grab at the other. I'm
going to actively just raise my arm and shoulder up like this
as much as I can until I feel that deep stretch. 15 to 20
second hold. You're just going to relax and then you're going
to repeat this one three to five times stretching into it
just a little bit more. Then we're going to go into the
deeper passive stretch. So I'm going to take the good side and
I'm going to get into that active stretch but then take
the good side, press into it even more with the stick here.
You're going to feel a deep, intense stretch, 15 to 20 second
hold, relax, repeat it three to five times, and always
challenge yourself to build into it just a little bit more.
For the next two exercises, it's best done standing upright
with very good posture. We're going to focus on rotation of
the shoulder. Let's start with external rotation that is
taking it outward just like this. So what I'm going to do
is take the bad side and I tend to alternate grips with the
stick on this one is I take a palm side facing upwards like
this grip into the stick, the good side is going to go palm
side down. The movement is very easy. Let's start with the
active movement first. I'm going to try to keep my elbows
bent at 90 degrees locked off to the side. I'm going to just
take my elbow out. I should say my hand right here out as much
as I can with the bad side. So, this good side really isn't
doing anything at this point. I try to hold that one
comfortably for about 15 to 20 seconds. From there, I just
relax and repeat this one three to five times. Building into it
just a little bit more with each repetition. Now, we're
going to build into the passive stretch and finally, our good
side is going to start to press into it. So, let's get into the
active stretch first. Now, the good side right here is going
to drive this stick over even further creating a very deep
and intense stretch into that shoulder. Only go to the point
that you can tolerate, hold this 15 to 20 seconds. You're
going to relax and then repeat this one three to five times
and if you do have a frozen shoulder on both sides, you can
do this on both sides. Next, let's focus on internal
rotation that is bringing the arm in like this. So, I'm going
to take the bad side right here and I'm going to grip at the
bottom of the stick just like this. The good side is going to
be overhead. The movement is very easy. I'm going to take
the good side right here, the hand and then lift upward as
much as I can. The more that you go up with it, the more
that you're going to feel a deep stretch into the shoulder.
I try to hold one for about 15 to 20 seconds. I relax and then
I'm going to repeat this one three to five times. This is
what I like to joke and call wax on, wax off because it's
inspired by one of my favorite 1980s movies. I'm going to be
using a sock for this one and it's going to look a little bit
goofy. So, if you don't want to look goofy, you can also use a
towel or a pillowcase but I find the sock works the best.
You're just going to put it over the bad side just like
this. I'm going to go next to a smooth door or wall. Have very
good upright posture. Put your arm in front of you, straight
at the elbow, push the hand palm side into the door like
this for a little bit of a stable anchor point. The first
movement is very easy. What we're doing are small circles.
Doesn't matter if you go clockwise or counterclockwise
because we're going to do it both. The key is start small
and with each circle, go just slightly a little bit bigger.
Where you're going to notice as the shoulder circles get a
little bit bigger, they get challenging because it's
putting more range of motion in there. So, what you want to do
is keep doing this until you start to feel like you're
addressing restrictions like there's a lot of challenge with
that frozen shoulder. That's when I start to make note of
that and really try to build into that movement like let's
say right here creating this top arc for me is when I start
to feel discomfort, it's tight, it's frozen. I slowly build
into that movement over about 10 to 15 repetitions and from
there, I try to relax and I try to throw in another set or two
until it feels like it starts to release. From there, I just
keep making that circle bigger and bigger as much as I can
tolerate. I then try to switch it up. So, if you went
counterclockwise with it, switch to counterclock, I
should say if you went counterclockwise, switch to
clockwise because it's going to hit it just a little bit
differently. You can also do different shapes. Try a square
which is like this. Do axes. You can write your name. You
can do the alphabet, any movement, You can also switch
it up and put the backside of your hand against the door
because it's going to attack it just a little bit differently.
The key is to identify movements that are frozen and
build into em slowly through repetition. My favorite
movement is the figure eight. So, I really start at the top
of the eight by putting my hand up as much as I can until I
feel an initial stretch and then from there, I make big
wide circles to connect that eight. Doesn't matter what
direction you go in because again, you're going to switch
directions after you do this for about 10 to 15 repetitions
but experiment with that. Palm side towards the door and then
the backside and then switch up directions always addressing
and trying to find those movements that are causing
those restrictions and that frozen shoulder. This frozen
shoulder exercise is great because you can pretty much do
it anywhere including at work and we're going to let gravity
do all of the hard work for us. We just need a simple weight. A
water bottle work you can use a small dumbbell, a milk jug,
anything that you can grip on to easily. Start off light,
maybe a pound or two and then over time, progress into
heavier weights to make it more challenging. Start with very
good upright posture. If you have difficulty balancing with
this, you can do it next to a door or a wall with stabilizing
with your good side but I'm just going to grip into that
weight and just allow the weight to go downwards. Let
gravity take it. You want your shoulder to just be relaxed
pretty much from a all the way down to the fingertips. From
here, we're going to do a small swing from left to right. Kinda
like a pendulum and with each swing, I'm going to make it
just a little bit larger until I have a very big swing. At
this point, you're probably going to start to run into
restrictions, pain, and discomfort from that frozen
shoulder. This is where I want to throw more repetitions in.
Maybe 10 to 15 of them. Just slow and controlled, really focusing
on trying to build into it. Afterwards, if you feel like a
up and you can make a bigger swing move on but if you need
to throw in another set or two but always challenge yourself
to get those bigger swings you can also do the same process
going forward and backwards starting off with a small swing
going into a larger one focusing on movements that need
it the most then go into a circular motion so nice small
circle doesn't matter if you start counterclockwise or
clockwise I just try to build into it over time again
focusing on any movements that feel like it is restricted and
at that point throwing more repetitions and sets in and
then switch it up, go in the opposite direction. The key
with all of those movements is to find restrictions,
discomfort, and pain from that frozen shoulder, address it to
help treat it a little bit better. If the exercises helped
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