Frozen Shoulder
Slow, painful and eventually self-limiting. Treatment manages pain and protects the range you have, anyone promising a quick fix is not being straight with you.
Common symptoms
- , Progressive loss of shoulder movement in all directions
- , Severe pain, often worst at night
- , Difficulty reaching behind your back or overhead
- , Loss of movement even when someone else moves the arm
Common causes
- , Often no identifiable trigger
- , Diabetes markedly increases risk
- , A period of shoulder immobility after injury or surgery
- , Thyroid disorders
The three stages
Freezing: pain builds, often severe at night, and movement gradually reduces. This stage is dominated by pain rather than stiffness, and forcing range here usually makes things worse.
Frozen: pain eases considerably, but the shoulder is markedly stiff. This is when stretching earns its place and progress becomes possible.
Thawing: movement slowly returns, usually over several months.
Being honest about timelines
Frozen shoulder is one of the few conditions where the most useful thing a physiotherapist does is set expectations correctly. Patients who understand they are in a twelve-month process, and know which stage they are in, cope far better than patients told it will clear up shortly and left wondering why it has not.
We treat what is treatable at each stage, and we say plainly what we cannot speed up.
How we treat it
- , Pain management through the painful stage
- , Maintaining available range without forcing it
- , Graded stretching once the painful phase settles
- , Strengthening during recovery
- , Referral for injection or specialist opinion where appropriate
Typical recovery: 12–18 months through its natural course, sometimes longer
See a doctor urgently if you have
- !Shoulder stiffness following significant trauma
- !Fever with a hot, swollen shoulder
- !Sudden loss of movement with marked weakness
These are not physiotherapy problems. Go to a doctor or hospital rather than booking with us.
Treatments that help
Common questions
How long does frozen shoulder last?
Typically twelve to eighteen months across its three stages, and sometimes longer. We would rather tell you that at the start than let you believe six sessions will resolve it.
Should I push through the pain to stretch it?
Not during the painful freezing stage, aggressive stretching then tends to worsen inflammation and pain. Once you enter the stiff-but-less-painful stage, more assertive stretching becomes appropriate and useful.
I have diabetes. Does that change things?
It raises the risk of developing frozen shoulder and is associated with a longer, more stubborn course. It does not change the treatment approach, but it does affect what timeline is realistic.
Book a physiotherapist in Nairobi
Clinic appointments in Westlands, or a physiotherapist at your door anywhere in Nairobi. Same-week slots.