Top Frozen Shoulder Remedies

After suffering through the pain and debility of a frozen shoulder back in 1998, I finally realized what my physical therapy patients had been talking about. Not that I wasn't listening, but I mean I finally understood their desperate cries and the reasons they sought relief in the form of home frozen shoulder remedies. With this type of pain an individual will try most anything, including the absurd, to find a relief from this type of pain. Now I still stand firm on the fact that a good, organized physical therapy program is the best frozen shoulder treatment -- this based on the outcomes I see with most of my patients. However, not all patients subscribe to diligently following a program of exercise and stretching, but those that do will eventually break the cycle of pain and debility.

Frozen shoulder remedies have their place, though, despite their strangeness at times. Therefore I will list below the top frozen shoulder remedies as told to me over the years. Remember that some of these are anecdotal and anyone following them without advice from a doctor is doing so at their own risk -- the risk of increasing pain, dysfunction, or the risk of the remedy providing nothing in the way of relief.

1. Mustard Poultice -- This one is still used, mostly by the elderly. It consist of mustard powder mixed with water to form a paste. This paste is wrapped in cheesecloth or muslin cloth and applied to the affected area then covered with plastic wrap.
2. TENS unit -- These units are small portable electrical stimulation units which provide a current to the involved area. They have been widely used in physical therapy and by chiropractors as an adjunct to frozen shoulder treatment. They are really a "coping mechanism" meant to help the patient "tune out" the shoulder pain by irritating the skin. This works by bombarding the sensory nerves with electrical stimulations which override the nerves that signal pain to the brain (simply put). They are NOT the cure for a frozen shoulder.
3. Epsom salt bath -- The warm water does more for relief than the salts do. The idea is that the salts some how "draw" out the toxins that cause pain.
   
4. Auto part lubricant -- I'll avoid using the trademark name of this one, but it won't be hard to guess. Starts with a "W" and ends with a number. This remedy is more of a skin irritant and does nothing to heal a frozen shoulder.
   

These are the top remedies I hear of from some of my patients. I typically do not argue with anyone believing that they help (TENS actually does help with muscle spasm), but rather point out to the patient that there are other solutions that provide more lasting relief. Besides, who am I to argue that something does not work if it does work in the patient's mind (placebo effect).