As the doctor's arm swung up toward the ceiling for the first time in years, almost hitting me, the audience asked themselves, "Can Frozen or Painful Shoulders Really Be Unlocked in Minutes, Even after Years or Decades of Pain and Immobility?"

On 2002, at a si:minar in Din-vcr, a doctor in his 30's stated lie had had only 90° shoulder abduction for ten years. After apply­ing this technique, his arm immedi­ately rose to almost full abduction of 160°. In Oregon, a doctor had had severe pain and limitation of mo­tion for over thirty years. In front of 150 DCs, his ROM increased from 30° to 130° and almost all the pain was eliminated within minutes. This improvement maintained itself the next day, which he demonstrated by waving his arm over his head! I've now treated over 35 DCs and MD's at seminars with frozen shoul­ders of many years duration; over 85 percent of them have had immediate restoration of full movement; gener­ally this improvement is permanent after just one or a few treatments. Painful or frozen shoulder is one of the most frustrating symptoms many DCs are confronted with. This condition occurs in up to 2 percent of the United States' population.': Pain­ful and limited shoulder movement of any kind is much more common than true frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis). The treatment discussed in this article is extremely effective for all kinds of shoulder pain, if there is pain on movement, and has been successful in well over 85 percent of cases in restoring almost full range of abduction and other movement in minutes. Non pathologic joint dysfunction responds best, but even severe arthritic degeneration may greatly improve. Obviously, a true adhesive capsulitis with adhesions or severely arthritic joint will have a worse prognosis than a joint with no pathology that just has pain on motion.u-4-7-* Nevertheless, I saw a sixty-eight-year-old patient with severe crcpitus and degeneration of the shoulder joint. His abduction was restricted to 50°, and he had severe pain in the shoulder. I cautioned him that our expectations were limited. However, by the end of the first treatment, he was able to abduct easily to 135°, with no pain! After several sessions, he regained almost full movement to 150° or so, with no pain. Frozen shoulder can last for years or decades. Most surgeons agree that this con­dition is "unresponsive to treatment, including physical therapy, injections and medication" 16 and generally self- limiting, usually lasting up to a year. I've seen many patients who've been frozen for years or decades. Three patients come to mind who had the problem for thirty years; they all responded within minutes with full restoration of pain free movement. Here's how to unlock a shoulder that is painful on motion. These procedures are highly effec­tive at eliminating pain on movement. If there is no pain, but the restricted ROM is due to adhesions or muscle spasm, it's much more difficult to improve. Sometimes the pain will immediately improve but the motion will stay restricted. The following procedure is non manipulative, with no thrust­ing. It aims to realign the soft tissues and retrain them to take the humerus through a normal range of motion as it rides on the glenoid cavity, in shoulder abduction. There arc advanced procedures for other planes of movement, but this simple technique is often effective at immediately reducing pain on motion and allowing increased ROM on abduction. 1. Have the patient straighten their ami and actively abduct the arm away toward the ceiling. 2. Note where pain begins. 3. Search the insertion and origins of the deltoid tendons for tender areas; if you find them, apply firm pressure on each area for ten seconds. The deltoid is the prime mover for shoulder abduction; this procedure will facilitate full functioning. 4. Stabilize the patient's scapula with the palm of your hand pressing anteriorly, and gently pull the humcrus posteriorly. Maintaining this pull, have him again abduct the shoulder. He may immediately have less pain when it moves. If so, have him continue to slowly abduct and lower his arm five to ten times. Remember, no thrusting! 5. Note: this procedure will not affect palpatory pain (trigger points) or the subjective pain the patient feels; it is only for pain on movement. The subjective pain will usually improve as the ROM increases. (Other procedures that in­stantly inhibit trigger points are described in The American Chiropractor, Aug. 2007, "Can Trigger Points Be Turned Off in Seconds, Using Neurological Reflexes?".) Of course, in your office, you may need to continue treat­ment for several weeks for an injury of this duration. There are other techniques to restore shoulder internal and external rotation, flexion, adduction, etc., as well as different proce­dures for instantly neutralizing trigger points in the shoulder. Many shoulder problems are complicated by local trigger points and it may be necessary to eliminate these using Pain Neutralization Technique (P.N.T.), as described in a previous issue of The American Chiropractor." Stephen Kaufman, DC, graduated from Los Angeles Chiropractic College in 1978, and practices in Denver, CO. After studying dozens of techniques and being dis­satisfied with the lack of consistent results, he finally developed P.N.T. to relieve pain in seconds. For more information, visit www.kiiii/hiciiitechiiic/ue.coni. He can he reached at l-X00-774-5078or 1-303-756-9567. References 1. Amir-Us-Saqlain II, Zubairi A, Taufiq I. Functional outcome of frozen shoulder after manipulation under anaesthesia../ Pak hied Assoc. 2007 Apr:57(4): 181-5 2. Andrews JR. Diagnosis and treatment of chronic painful shoulder: review of nonsurgical interventions. Arthroseopy. 2005 Mar;2I (3):333-47. Com­ment in: Anlimxaipy. 2006 Jan;22( I): 117-8; author reply 118-9. 3. Bunker TD, Anthony PP. The pathology of frozen shoulder. A Dupuytren-like disease. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1995 Sep;77(5):677-83. 4. Cutts S, Clarke D. The patient with frozen shoulder. Practitioner. 2002 Nov;246(1640):730, 734-6, 738-9. 5. Dias R, Cutts S, Massoud S. Frozen shoulder. BMJ. 2005 Dec 17;331 (7530): 1453-6. 6. Dinnes J. Loveman E. Mclntyre L, Waugh N. The effectiveness of diag­nostic tests for the assessment of shoulder pain due to soft tissue disorders: a systematic review. Health Techno! Assess. 2()03:7(29):iii. 1-166. 7. I land GC, Athanasou NA. Matthews T, Carr AJ. The pathology of frozen shoulder. ./ Bone Joint Swg Br. 2007 Jul:89(7):92S-32 8. Kaufman. Stephen. Can Trigger Points Be Turned Off in Seconds Using Neurological Reflexes? The American Chimpraetor. Aug. 2007. p. 40-42. 9. Malhi AM. Khan R. Correlation between clinical diagnosis and arthroscop-ic findings of the shoulder. Postgrad Meet J. 2005 Oct;8I(960):657-9. 10. Need patients be stuck with frozen shoulder'.' Drug Ther Bull. 2000 Nov;38( 11 ):86-8 [No authors listed] 11. Nilz AJ. Physical therapy management of the shoulder. Phys Ther. 1986 Dcc;f)6(12):l912-9. 12. Noel E. Thomas T. Schacverbeke T, Thomas P. Bonjcan M. Revel M. Frozen shoulder. Joint Bone Spine. 2O00;67(5):393-4OO 13. Polkinghorn BS. Chiropractic treatment of frozen shoulder syndrome (adhesive capsulitis) utilizing mechanical force, manually assisted short lever adjusting procedures. J Manipulative Phvsiol Ther. 1995 Feb; 18(2): 105-15 14. Wadsworth CT. Frozen shoulder. Phys Ther. 1986 Dcc:66( 12): 1878-83 15. Warner, JJ. Frozen Shoulder: Diagnosis and Management. J. Am. Acad. Onho. Surg.. May 1997; 5: 130- 140. 16. Frozen shoulder, www.mayoclinic.com.QS3 Frozen Shoulder. This condition occurs in up to 2 percent of the United States' population. Painful and limited shoulder movement of any kind is much more common than true frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis).