Jill U. Adams November 7, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. EST
Frozen shoulder is painful, aggravating and inscrutable. Sometimes it occurs after a shoulder injury, but more often, “It just happens,” says Todd Schmidt, an orthopedic surgeon in Atlanta.
An inflammatory process causes the ligaments that hold the shoulder together to contract and tighten up. “It’s like a shrink wrap around the joint,” Schmidt says.
The condition affects women more often than men, and tends to occur between the ages of 40 and 60. People with diabetes, hypothyroidism or lipid disorders have elevated odds of getting frozen shoulder. These characteristics hint at some hormonal contribution, but precisely what triggers frozen shoulder is unknown. It can happen to someone who’s physically active and it can happen to someone who is sedentary.
Here’s another curiosity: The shoulder freezes, and then it thaws. That’s the natural course of the condition, even without treatment. “It might take two years,” Schmidt says. “But it will resolve on its own.” Read HERE.