Shoulder Pain and Stiffness: Frozen Shoulder, Diabetes and Other Causesकंधे में दर्द और जकड़न: फ़्रोज़न शोल्डर, डायबिटीज़ और दूसरे कारण

Shoulder pain is one of the most common reasons people over 40 see a doctor. Difficulty lifting the arm, combing hair, wearing a shirt or sleeping on one side can seriously affect daily life.

Common causes

• Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis): gradually increasing pain followed by marked stiffness, much more common in people with diabetes and thyroid disease
• Rotator cuff tendinitis or tear: pain when lifting the arm sideways or overhead, pain lying on that side
• Polymyalgia rheumatica: both shoulders and hips stiff, especially in the morning, in people above 50, often with tiredness and raised ESR/CRP
• Rheumatoid arthritis or other inflammatory arthritis
• Pain referred from the neck (cervical spondylosis)
• Rarely, pain from the heart, lungs or gall bladder. Left shoulder pain with sweating or breathlessness needs emergency care.

What helps

• Gentle exercises: pendulum swings, wall-walking with fingers, towel stretch
• Warm packs before exercise
• Good blood sugar control if you are diabetic
• Medicines, and sometimes a precisely placed injection, as advised by a specialist
• Polymyalgia rheumatica responds dramatically to correct treatment but needs careful supervision