What is a Frozen Shoulder?

Frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis, is a condition characterized by stiffness and pain in your shoulder joint. Signs and symptoms typically begin gradually, worsen over time and then resolve, usually within one to three years.

Your risk of developing frozen shoulder increases if you're recovering from a medical condition or procedure that prevents you from moving your arm — such as a stroke or a mastectomy.

A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cord below the level of the injury. Injury can occur at any level of the spinal cord and can be complete injury, with a total loss of sensation and muscle function, or incomplete, meaning some nervous signals are able to travel past the injured area of the cord. Depending on the location and severity of damage, the symptoms vary, from numbness to paralysis to incontinence. Long term outcomes also ranges widely, from full recovery to permanent tetraplegia (also called quadriplegia) or paraplegia. Complications can include muscle atrophy, pressure sores, infections, and breathing problems.

Periarthritis (frozen shoulder) is a condition that leads to pain and stiffness in and around the shoulder joint. With a frozen shoulder, the capsule of the humerus – which is a loose joint capsule over the shoulder – becomes thick, tight, and very difficult to move. Some doctors will refer to this as adhesive capsulitis since there could be adhesions in the joint and inflammation in the capsule.
If untreated, periarthritis or frozen shoulder can take as long as two or three years to go away, but with proper diagnosis and care, sufferers can ease the pain that comes with this condition