Elle reported on frozen shoulder featuring insight from Tiana Woolridge, MD, MPH - Peds, sports medicine physician at HSS.

The condition, technically known as adhesive capsulitis, is pain that occurs when there’s inflammation around the shoulder joint that eventually leads to “freezing,” meaning the shoulder’s range of motion is limited and the arm can’t move or rise above a certain point. It often occurs in one arm, without injury, and is experienced in three stages. The length of each stage varies, but on average, each stage lasts four months. In the first stage, there is inflammation that results in intense pain. When the pain becomes less acute, the shoulder sticks, or freezes, in a certain position in the second stage, restricting mobility. 

“The most common thing that I will hear from my patients is, ‘I can’t take my bra on and off. I can’t turn my arm in. I can’t reach to put something on the top shelf. I can’t get my jacket on,’” said Dr. Woolridge. Mobility finally returns in the third, thawing stage.

“We don’t want people out there just suffering in silence and just not able to use their arm for a long time, developing atrophy or weakness of the arm because they’re just like, ‘Oh, whatever, it’ll get better eventually," Dr. Woolridge said. “And then three, four years later, they’re still having issues with that shoulder.”

Read the full article at elle.com.