Frozen Shoulder Physiotherapy at Home in Shankar Sheth Road, Pune

Frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis, makes the lining of the shoulder joint tighten and thicken. It usually begins with pain, often worse at night, followed by stiffness that stops the arm from lifting, turning outwards or reaching behind the back. It is more common in middle age and in people with diabetes or thyroid disease. Our frozen shoulder physiotherapy page covers the condition in detail.

On a commercial road the loss of reach shows up quickly. This page looks at the tasks that suffer for people who work and live along Shankar Sheth Road, and at how a home programme fits around them.

Reaches that become impossible

• Pulling the shutter down. Reaching up for the handle of a rolling shutter at closing time is often one of the first things a shopkeeper with a stiffening shoulder notices.
• High shelves of stock. Lifting boxes on and off a top shelf needs the arm overhead with a load in the hand.
• Washing lines and lofts. In older peth homes, clothes are often hung on lines strung high across a room or balcony, and stored things sit up in a loft.
• Dressing and grooming. Tucking in a shirt, fastening a blouse, or combing the back of the hair all need rotation the shoulder no longer allows.
• Getting ready to ride. Holding the handlebars is usually manageable, but pulling on a helmet or reaching back for a bag can catch.

How treatment changes as the shoulder moves through its stages

Frozen shoulder tends to pass through a painful phase, a stiff phase and a thawing phase, though they overlap and their length varies widely. The physiotherapist first checks which movements are limited and how. In a frozen shoulder, movement is lost both when you lift the arm yourself and when someone else moves it for you, which separates it from a rotator cuff problem, where another person can usually move the arm further. The neck is checked too, because it can refer pain into the shoulder.

In the painful phase the aim is to calm things: gentle movement within comfort, positions that ease night pain, and a word with your doctor about pain relief. Pushing hard through pain at this stage tends to backfire. As pain fades and stiffness takes over, stretching becomes firmer and hands-on mobilisation of the joint is added; our page on manual therapy on Shankar Sheth Road describes that part. In the thawing phase, strength and normal use of the arm are rebuilt.

A daily routine around shop hours

• Do your exercises in short bursts two or three times a day rather than one long session; a few minutes before opening and after closing suits many people.
• Use the good arm for the shutter and the top shelf for now, or move frequently used stock lower down.
• Warm the shoulder with a hot water bag before stretching if your physiotherapist suggests it.
• At night, rest the sore arm on a pillow in front of you when lying on the other side.
• Keep track of what you can reach, such as a particular shelf or a hook on the back of a door, so that progress is visible.

When shoulder pain is something else

Not every painful, stiff shoulder is frozen. Left shoulder or arm pain with breathlessness, sweating or chest tightness can come from the heart and needs emergency care. A shoulder that suddenly cannot lift after a fall may be torn or fractured, and a hot, swollen joint with fever needs a doctor promptly. For shoulder pain without this kind of stiffness, see our shoulder pain physiotherapy page.

Book a home visit through the booking page. How visits along this road are planned is set out on the Shankar Sheth Road area page.