What is a Frozen Shoulder?
Frozen shoulder is a condition where there is a limitation of motion in the joint. This is caused due to the inflammatory thickening of the capsule. The stiffness occurs mainly in the shoulder. It is also referred to as adhesive capsulitis. Frozen shoulder is one of the most commonly occurring disorders. The pain can be usually felt exactly above the shoulder joints. This pain slowly radiates to the outer part of the arm and then towards the back of the arm. The pain experienced constantly increases in severity.
In Ayurveda,the frozen shoulder disease is called as “Ababahuka”. This is a pure reflection of Vata Roga. The Vata Dosha people tend to absorb the ‘Kapha’ fluids.This absorptiom in the joints results in Frozen Shoulder. Vata dosha impairs the efficiency at the root of shoulders,then contracts the veins and ultimately results in Apabahukam.Apabahukam results in loss of motion of the arms. Ayurveda treatment is very efficient in curing this illness.
It is more prevalent in Diabetes patients and who have chronic inflammatory arthritis. It can occur to people after any chest or breast surgery. If uncared, such long-term shoulder immobility can put the patient at risk and leads to high risk for frozen shoulder or paralysis.
Symptoms of Frozen Shoulder:
Pain and Stiffness with gradual limitation in motion and also worsens with time. The pain is uusally worse at night and could even wake up a person from sleep. It becomes worse when trying to lie on one side of the affected arm. The patient will find difficulty in doing normal day to day tasks. Frozen shoulder usually occurs on one side of the body and can also spread to the other side if untreated. Usually,the pain comes down in some time but the stiffness makes the pain more severe.This makes it difficult for the affected person to even lift their arm.
Causes Of Frozen Shoulder:
The Frozen shoulder disease can occur due to lung or heart problems or diabetes. It is common in people who are aged above 40 years and also more common in females.
Other reasons include hereditary reasons or prior shoulder joint injury history. Excessive exercises, excess dry and salt food consumption, night outs, fasting, digestion problems,stress problems can also be the reason. Another reason could be synovitis which is the tear of the lesion in the muscle around the joints. Trauma history could also be a reason for Frozen Shoulder. And, keeping the arms immobilized in a certain position for longer periods of time can also lead to frozen arm. Cardiac procedures,diabetes or heart and lung diseases can also lead to frozen shoulder.
Other causes include Inflammation,thickening, scarring and shrinkage of the muscle capsules surrounding the shoulder joint. Bursitis,Tendinitis and rotator cuff injury can also lead to severe pain and Frozen shoulder.
Ayurvedic Remedies for Frozen Shoulder:
People with frozen shoulder disease generally apply analgesics steroids or anti-inflammatory medications. This relieves the pain for shorter amounts of time but doesn’t solve the root cause of the disease. It’s not a definitive cure for frozen shoulder disease. Thus, this results in recurring pain on different parts of the arm. Thus,the affected individual shifts to using higher dosage medicines or injections repetitively. Hence rather then eliminating the main cause of the pain,these outlayer cure actually increases the severity of the disease.
Ayurvedic treatment’s main focus is to eliminate the underlying root cause of the pain. Also,permanent relief from these symptoms is the main goal.
Ayurveda treatment includes usage of herbal medications like Aristas, Kashayas, use of oils both externally and internally. This is to purgate the offending toxins permanently from the body. Panchakarma treatment uses oil massage, steam bath along with Narangakizhi and Nasyam. This unique treatment has originated from the Indian state of Kerala. General recommendation is to take at least 10 days of this massage therapy followed by a minimum of 7-day rest period.
Panchkarma and the Kerala therapy are effective if the cause of the frozen shoulder is because of secondary group. This Ayurvedic treatment helps in balancing the disturbed vata levels in the body.
Massage therapy includes using medicated oil to squeeze on the body with a cotton cloth. Elakizhi is another popular herbal massage which helps in strengthening the muscles. This also facilitates the mobility in the shoulder and all the parts of the body.
The duration of the therapy usually depends on the severity of the disease and the symptoms. It can extend between a week to 3 weeks and might be months also in some cases.
Purification Therapy:
Some toxins present in the body can also lead to pain and immobility in shoulder and other body parts. Thus, the main concentration is to eliminate these toxins.And the treatment is done to pacify the vata dosha. Nasal insufflations of herbal oils are also carried out sometimes to cure frozen shoulder. These Ayurvedic therapies might vary from person to person based on their constitution and other disease causing factors. These massage and therapies give a lot of relaxation to the shoulder muscles and surrounding body parts.
Proper Nutrition:
A proper understanding of foods is also important. It helps in avoiding any such illness.Always take foods which are easy-to-digest and helps your health to nourish. It should also cleanse the physiology from time to time,provide you the strength and balance the body’s inner metabolism.
Ayurveda Herbs:
Ayurhealing,well known Ayurvedic hospital advises various herbal formulas for this disease. Herbal drugs like nirgundi, rasna,guggulu are very good joint pain relievers. Please note that the above mentioned drugs, should only be taken after consulting qualified Ayurvedic doctors. Dr. Mini Nair from Ayurhealing is awarded as one of the best Ayurveda doctors in Bangalore. Ayurhealing provides various formulations of all the above herbal medicines and does continuous research on many more herbs.And,hence become the famous Ayurvedic hospitals in Bangalore.
General Tip:
It is advised to have a healthy and proper life style to reduce the exacerbation episodes.Sedentary life style or excessive exercises or exposure to cold or wandering in rain can lead to Frozen shoulder and should be avoided. Warm water bath is recommended and cold water baths should be strictly avoided.