Assistive Tool for Frozen Shoulder & Other Arm/Shoulder Limitations (4K)

[tsbrownie]

My son made this for my wife who has frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis, which restricts the range of motion of her arm. That makes it difficult to pass money / parking stubs and such to toll booth people, and poking the gate open button for parking gates is hard.

MATERIALS
- Thin walled plastic pipe, length as needed.
- Rubber end cap

Per the Mayo Clinic:
Overview
Frozen shoulder, also known as adhesive capsulitis, is a condition characterized by stiffness and pain in your shoulder joint. Signs and symptoms typically begin gradually, worsen over time and then resolve, usually within one to three years.

Your risk of developing frozen shoulder increases if you're recovering from a medical condition or procedure that prevents you from moving your arm — such as a stroke or a mastectomy.

Treatment for frozen shoulder involves range-of-motion exercises and, sometimes, corticosteroids and numbing medications injected into the joint capsule. In a small percentage of cases, arthroscopic surgery may be indicated to loosen the joint capsule so that it can move more freely.

It's unusual for frozen shoulder to recur in the same shoulder, but some people can develop it in the opposite shoulder.
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Symptoms
Frozen shoulder typically develops slowly, and in three stages. Each stage can last a number of months.
Freezing stage. Any movement of your shoulder causes pain, and your shoulder's range of motion starts to become limited.
Frozen stage. Pain may begin to diminish during this stage. However, your shoulder becomes stiffer, and using it becomes more difficult.
Thawing stage. The range of motion in your shoulder begins to improve.

For some people, the pain worsens at night, sometimes disrupting sleep.
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Causes

The bones, ligaments and tendons that make up your shoulder joint are encased in a capsule of connective tissue. Frozen shoulder occurs when this capsule thickens and tightens around the shoulder joint, restricting its movement.

Doctors aren't sure why this happens to some people, although it's more likely to occur in people who have diabetes or those who recently had to immobilize their shoulder for a long period, such as after surgery or an arm fracture.
Risk factors

Certain factors may increase your risk of developing frozen shoulder.
Age and sex

People 40 and older, particularly women, are more likely to have frozen shoulder.
Immobility or reduced mobility

People who've had prolonged immobility or reduced mobility of the shoulder are at higher risk of developing frozen shoulder. Immobility may be the result of many factors, including:

Rotator cuff injury
Broken arm
Stroke
Recovery from surgery

Systemic diseases

People who have certain diseases appear more likely to develop frozen shoulder. Diseases that might increase risk include:

Diabetes
Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism)
Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)
Cardiovascular disease
Tuberculosis
Parkinson's disease

Prevention
One of the most common causes of frozen shoulder is the immobility that may result during recovery from a shoulder injury, broken arm or a stroke. If you've had an injury that makes it difficult to move your shoulder, talk to your doctor about exercises you can do to maintain the range of motion in your shoulder joint.

[old kodger]

tsbrownie,
I am not a doctor, so I urge you to do your own research, I don't know how old your wife is, but from your comments, more than 40.
Iodine was surreptitiously removed from "our" diets many years ago, subsequently huge numbers of people are deficient in Iodine, often resulting in under, or overreaction of the thyroid gland, amongst others.
Hope your search turns up something useful.
And to everybody else, I'm sorry if this post hyjacks the thread.

[tsbrownie]

Thanks. We use iodized salt, but I will suggest she ask her doctor next check up.

[Riverdog2]

Thank you for the write up. I've never heard of this condition before; every time I hear a new medical term, it either causes me pain or costs me money (or both). I think you just hit on my problem. I've had shoulder pain since the end of Jan. The Dr. and I thought it was a torn rotator cuff but that wasn't found on the MRI. He's sending me to PT on Friday and this describes exactly what has been going on. I'm diabetic, have had heart problems, COPD, and I might have memory loss, but if I do I don't remember lol! I also have a condition called arachnoiditis which sounds very similar. Tell your wife I wish her the best.

[old kodger]

there is no indication of location for either tsbrownie of riverdog2 but if you are in Australia, look up Doctors are Dangerous.
the Iodine solution is "lugol's solution" it's 5% iodine and 10% potassium iodide in water.
Iodine is used by nearly all bodily functions and therefore deficiency has wide spread results.