Frozen shoulder at a younger age...

You can not have a frozen shoulder at the tender age of 27.

My surgeon for my first frozen shoulder said he had a theory that people who had frozen shoulders carried diabetic genes whether they had dives or not. He thought our bodies threw down scar tissue to freeze an inflamed joint faster than other people. After three freezing episodes I would recommend Tramadol/Ultram or whatever they name it as there are many brand names. It is not an opiate. If you stay at a low dose you should be ok. If you can fid a deep tissue therapeutic massage person, they may be able to stay ahead of the adhesions. Keep up the pt and ROM. Mine usually last 8 to 9 months. You may want to rethink anything that causes body inflammation. My first shoulder was a twisting fall accident and I actually caused the tendon that sits in the slot on the top of your shoulder to jump the track. Accidentally got it back in the slot about 3 months later and it didn't hurt unless I moved my arm after that. It took 4 surgeons before someone realized what I had done with the fall.

It is very unusual for such a young person to get frozen shoulder, but not unheard of. I suspect the diagnosis is probably not exactly right. Your shoulder range of motion is greatly affected by pain somewhere. Something ([probably a muscle or tendon) in your shoulder is inflamed and probably rubbing and fraying against something else usually a bone. It will turn into frozen shoulder if you don't do something about it. Which is why most frozen shoulders are on older people, they had a injury (often minor) and did not do anything about it. Over time scar tissue and adhesions develop further preventing movement and the cylce continues....

KEEP IT MOVING!!! An alignment specialist is a really good start, because with this type of injury there is usually an underlying muscle imbalance with the joints of the neck, midback, ribs and shoulder all effected. Once that is fixed the shoulder is able to move freely and pain free. Get some deep, deep tissue work, which will hurt, around the neck, shoulders, shoulder blades. Often the subscapularis muscle, the supraspinatous muscle and the teres minor muscles are involved in this imbalance. They are deep inside and hard to get to. Also fish oils are a great natural inflammatory.

Hi Terry,

You describe three sessions of frozen shoulder but a person can never have two separate episodes in the same shoulder. Your surgeon may well be right about a genetic reason for an adhesive capsulitis but I wonder if it is true that it is the result of a diabetic gene, that is if such a gene exists. If that were true could it not be that any joint could develop a freezing arthritis. In reality only the shoulder suffers this condition, no hips knees or ankles. You describe a twisting fall as the cause of grief of your first shoulder troubles, that will certainly give you pain but not a frozen shoulder. The gene that causes frozen shoulders also causes other parts of the body soft tissue damage. Unfortunately it seems for some reason that in this day and age many shoulders are diagnosed badly.

Interesting. That's what I thought too. First my left which was operated. Then my right shoulder blade was frozen down about an inch too low to my back. Same symptoms basically. This time my rom is fine except my right shoulder blade was and still kind of is attached to my back again pulling on my neck again. My neck was frozen from moving left to right and up and down and the top of my shoulder was very painful and swollen. Constant muscle spasms in my shoulder blade area and neck just like the second frozen shoulder. But much deeper. Anyone else have this last problem with more neck involvement?

@terry74787 - That's an interesting theory by your doctor. I do know that my family has a history of diabetes; however, I have never been diagnosed with it... Thanks for your suggestions! I will keep them in mind...I have noticed that being very mindful of what causes inflammation really helps keep the pain tolerable, so thanks for that suggestion!

@angela39721 - I know it's very unusual that a person my age has a frozen shoulder, but my symptoms do seem to point to it. I have had other trauma to my left side, so I don't think it's impossible. I had a major surgery when I was 14 that left a large scar on my torso that starts under my left armpit and curls around to my back and follows my shoulder blade up. It might be a contributing factor to why my body is responding this way anyway... I will definitely keep my shoulder moving as much as possible...thanks for your advice!

Good luck everyone,

~Shaina

I have been doing something called myofacial release that I believe is part of a frozen body part... It seems to be helping...

Terry, What is your latest diagnosis and what does myofascial release do and how is it done?

No one has said anything about what my problem is...they just order more tests and send me to pt and prescribe drugs including muscle relaxers antidepressants and prednisone - none of which worked.

Emis Moderator comment: I have removed the link as it was to a specific clinic site and we do not publish these. You can Google the term myofascial release to get information on this.