25 NOV 2020

What is Frozen Shoulder?

Frozen shoulder belongs to the category of “Arthralgia”, and Chinese medicine also refers to it as “Shoulder syndrome”, “Frozen shoulder” and so on.

From the perspective of Chinese medicine, we generally refer to frozen shoulders as “50s Shoulders” because many patients develop symptoms at around that age. Most of the time, the cause of this disease is due to a combination of different daily factors involving ones’ living environment, living habits, and exercise habits.

What are the causes of Frozen Shoulder?

Frozen shoulder is a manifestation of Qi and blood deficiency in TCM. If you do not have the habit of stretching exercises or your life posture is improper, and your muscles and bones are not properly stretched, your qi and blood will become weaker and weaker once you are about 50 years old. In turn, your muscles will lack nourishment easily and increase your chances of getting frozen shoulder.

In addition, inhabiting the tropical areas, eating raw and cold food will cause wind, cold, and damp evil to invade the blood and impede the long-term movement of the shoulder. Such internal damage will cause tightening of the muscles and veins of the shoulders, in turn causing blood stasis and frozen shoulder.

Relationship between obesity and Frozen Shoulder

Although there is no direct relationship between obesity and frozen shoulder, the occurrence of frozen shoulder may also be closely related to the stomach. The Yangming Stomach Meridian has multiple meridians that bypass the stomach and can be easily affected by ones’ diet. Patients with frozen shoulder are likely to suffer from “stomach cold”, which is poor digestion, bloating, and frequent hiccups.

Who are more susceptible to Frozen Shoulder?

In tropical areas like Singapore, where the moisture level is high, we are more susceptible to wind, cold, and dampness that invade our shoulders and joints especially when we are tired, sleeping, traumatic or weak. For office workers, most symptoms of frozen shoulder will surface between 4-50 years old, due to prolonged use of aircon and staying in air-conditioned rooms. It is an important taboo of TCM to allow air to blow directly on the shoulders and necks.

Many patients with frozen shoulder have a history of local strain or dislocation sprain. Such patients are common for patients to have physical weakness and poor blood circulation.