Frozen Shoulder

Frozen Shoulder: Matrix Therapy effectively shortens the recovery time

  • What is Frozen Shoulder (Periarthritis humeroscapilaris or Adhesive Capsulitis)?
  • Course of Frozen Shoulder: at least 6 months
  • Diagnosis of Frozen Shoulder
  • Causes of Frozen Shoulder Disease
  • Therapy of Frozen Shoulder without affecting the duration of the disease
  • Frozen Shoulder from the point of view of cell biological regulation medicine
  • Activation of the metabolism by ZRT matrix therapy
  • Course of Frozen Shoulder with ZRT Matrix Therapy

© Gelenkklinik Gundelfingen With the help of the physiotherapeutic ZRT-Matrix-Therapy, for the first time the course of Frozen Shoulder Disease can be significantly shortened .

What is Frozen Shoulder (Periarthritis humeroscapilaris or Adhesive Capsulitis)?
Frozen Shoulder is a non-bacterial disorder of the shoulder. The Frozen Shoulder begins suddenly without external cause such as accident or overload with violently shooting pain. This pain is initially motion-dependent, later in the form of rest or night pain. The shoulder is increasingly stiffening. The patient can no longer lift his elbow at shoulder level. Although the pain subsides somewhat after 2 months, but the shoulder remains stiff – as frozen.

Course of Frozen Shoulder: at least 6 months
As a rule of thumb for the disease: at least 6 months. The patient moves with Frozen Shoulder only under pain-related restraint. After six months at the earliest, the painful paralysis of the shoulder begins to dissolve again. The physiotherapeutic accompaniment of this “thawing phase” is very important, because otherwise years later, restrictions of movement of the shoulder will remain. Apart from that, the Frozen Shoulder heals without consequences. About 25% of all patients suffer from the disease on both sides, often in quick succession.

Diagnosis of Frozen Shoulder
The diagnosis is very difficult. Neither with X-ray nor with ultrasound is a clear finding. The shoulder specialist has to rely on his experience and the descriptions of the patient. Damage to the rotator cuff , a calcified shoulder or bursitis (bursitis) must be excluded as causes of the inflammation of the shoulder. In the first stage, the shoulder capsule on Frozen Shoulder is very sensitive to pressure.

Causes of Frozen Shoulder Disease
Direct causes are unknown. Certain concomitant conditions and symptoms make the disease on a frozen shoulder more likely: diabetes , metabolic disorders (metabolic syndrome) or hypertension. Most patients are between 40 and 60 years old when they first appear.

Therapy of Frozen Shoulder without affecting the duration of the disease
Without known mechanisms of causation a causal therapy is not possible: usually treated with painkillers only symptom-oriented. Physiotherapy as strengthening and manual therapy are really helpful only in Phase 3, where the shoulder “thaws” again. Only the arthroscopic shoulder surgery, which solves adhesions of the capsule capsule directly by means of cuts, has proven to be a shortening of the disease.

Frozen Shoulder from the point of view of cell biological regulation medicine
The cell biological regulatory medicine sees in Frozen Shoulder a protracted, hormonally favored dysregulation of the affected shoulder. The transport of nutrients within the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the affected tissues is as disturbed as the removal of metabolic end products. Under oxygen deficiency cells go to or resort to the emergency program: lactic acid fermentation. Lactic acid excreted in ECM causes chronic pain, which is characteristic of frozen shoulder, through painful local acidosis and reactive inflammation.

Activation of the metabolism by ZRT matrix therapy
The cell biological perspective of Frozen Shoulder makes it clear why strengthening and manual therapy in the acute stage of the disease have no effect. A poorly supplied tissue is not trainable, but gets even more into the metabolic deficit. Therefore, matrix therapy with the help of biomechanical stimulation – a vibration therapy – initially improves the mass transfer in the affected tissues. With the help of deep heat (wIRA red light), this process is supported. With warm base wraps, the acid stored in the extracellular matrix can be removed via the skin.

Course of Frozen Shoulder with ZRT Matrix Therapy
Unlike pain medications, the ZRT matrix therapy is causal: patients report already after the first treatment of up to 30% pain reduction. After six treatments, a significant improvement has occurred. Now, manual therapy and exercise training can finally be used in physiotherapy. After 12-18 sessions the therapy can usually be continued on the basis of self-exercises. Also important is the inclusion of the ZRT matrix therapy as a prevention at the first appearance of Frozen Shoulder symptoms in the other shoulder.

© Joint Clinic Gundelfingen – translated from the original German text