The shoulder is a joint with a very wide range of motion that is frequently used. Locked shoulder is commonly found in people who are over 40 years old, and it has 2 main causes, namely, accident, which damages the bones and tissues of the shoulder, especially after surgery, and idiopathic locked shoulder.
In diagnosing locked shoulder, the doctor will interview the patient and evaluate the patient based on the shoulder’s range of motion, an x-ray or an additional MRI test to diagnose the symptoms of the condition as well as diagnose its cause. An important symptom of locked shoulder is pain during shoulder movements. In the initial stages, there will be significant inflammation and shoulder pain following shoulder movements, but the symptoms will eventually subside. The condition can be divided into 3 stages as follows:
Stage 1: Clear signs of inflammation pain, swelling, redness and hotness, with the shoulder becoming significantly stuck during movements.
Stage 2: Pain symptoms decrease while the shoulder becomes more locked, especially when attempting to move the hand over the back.
Stage 3: Recovery with improved movements.
Treatment Guideline
Medication treatment is the first treatment pursued by doctors in order to reduce should pain and inflammation, but it must be prescribed alongside physical therapy. The drugs used in most cases are steroid anti-inflammatory drugs and other pain medications. Meanwhile, physical therapy will be chosen based primarily on the stage of the disease such as ultrasound, heat treatment, cold treatment and mobilization. As for surgery, the popular method today is video-assisted surgery that inserts surgical instruments into the shoulder joint to speed up recovery, produce small surgical wounds and minimal tissue damage when compared to standard open surgery.
