Home rehabilitation training for patients with periarthritis of shoulder

As the trend of population aging in my country becomes increasingly obvious, there are more and more diseases among middle-aged and elderly people. The periarthritis of the shoulder we are talking about today is one of the common diseases among middle-aged and elderly people in my country.

The full name of frozen shoulder is periarthritis of the shoulder joint. Since the disease is more common in people around 50 years old, it is also called frozen shoulder. The main symptom is gradual pain in the shoulder, which is usually more obvious at night and gradually worsens, accompanied by the worsening of the symptoms of limited shoulder joint movement. Although the pain will gradually decrease over time, if it is not treated in time, it will cause irreversible loss of functional activity of the shoulder joint, and widespread tenderness may occur in the shoulder joint, extending to the neck and elbows, and varying degrees of atrophy of the shoulder muscles, which will eventually affect the patient's normal daily life.

So when frozen shoulder occurs, what can we do to prevent such consequences? Let's learn the self-training method of frozen shoulder.

1. Pendulum Training

10-15 times/set, 8-10 sets/day

Specific method: The patient is in a standing position, with the affected limb hanging naturally along the midline of the body in the starting position, like the hands of a clock swinging their arms freely, and practicing swinging the upper limbs back and forth and left and right to the maximum range of motion.

Note: When doing left and right swing training, the trunk should be slightly tilted forward and violent swinging should be avoided. The degree of swinging should be appropriate to the pain to prevent further injury to the muscles and joints.

2. Shoulder flexion training

10-15 times/set, 8-10 sets/day

Specific method: The patient lies down or stands, crosses the fingers of the affected limb and the healthy side, and uses the good side of the upper limb to slowly lead the affected limb to raise the arm forward. Raise the affected limb as much as possible, stop the lifting movement when severe pain occurs, slowly lower both upper limbs to the starting point, and repeat this movement.

Note: During this process, the torso should be kept upright and try to avoid leaning backward.

3. Passive Shoulder Flexion Training

10-12 times/set, 3-5 sets/day

Specific method: The patient sits on a stool, holds a wooden stick with both hands, and uses the healthy hand to help the patient slowly raise his upper limbs. The helper is behind the patient, holds the wooden stick with both hands and places it between/on both sides of the patient's hands. Use both hands to help the patient raise his upper limbs to the maximum range, then help the patient slowly lower both upper limbs, and repeat this type of action.

Note: The helper should stay close to the patient's trunk to stabilize the patient and prevent the trunk from leaning back, which will affect the training effect. This method is suitable for patients with insufficient upper limb strength and good pain tolerance.

4. Shoulder Ladder Training

10-15 times/set, 8-10 sets/day

Specific method: The patient stands and faces the wall. At this time, the affected limb is lifted up so that the fingertips/palm can touch the wall when the upper limb is fully extended. The mobility of the fingers is used to slowly lift the affected limb along the wall through contact with the wall (similar to fingers climbing a hill). When the maximum range of motion is reached, the trunk is slightly tilted forward to keep the affected limb lifted up. After 10 to 15 seconds, use the fingers to slowly lower the affected limb along the wall. After a short rest, repeat this action.

Note: During this process, the torso should be kept upright and try to avoid tilting the torso.

5. Shoulder extension training

10-15 times/set, 5-8 sets/day

Specific method: This method requires the use of a wooden stick/elastic band for practice. First, the patient's affected hand is in the position of touching the back (as shown in the picture), with the elbow flexed, and the healthy hand is raised to the ear with the elbow flexed. At this time, each hand holds one end of the wooden stick/elastic band, and the healthy hand is gradually straightened to drive the affected limb to lift up along the back through the wooden stick/elastic band, feeling the stretching of the affected shoulder backwards. After reaching the tolerance limit, the healthy elbow is slowly flexed, and the affected limb slowly returns to the starting position, and this action is repeated.

Note: During this process, the torso should be kept upright and try to avoid tilting the torso.

Precautions

1. You should be accompanied by someone during the training. If you experience severe pain during the training or there is no obvious improvement after 2 weeks of persistence, you should seek medical attention in time.

2. The number of training sessions should be determined based on the actual situation of the patient. The number of training sessions mentioned above is for reference only.

3. For patients with osteoporosis/early rotator cuff injury, the intensity should be appropriately reduced during training.

4. Training should be gradual and it is forbidden to lift the affected limb violently to prevent more serious consequences.

5. Pay attention to keep the shoulder joint of the affected limb warm.