A shoulder that has quietly stopped going where you send it.
What it looks like: Cannot reach behind your back or fasten a garment; Pain at night, worse lying on that side; Range that has narrowed gradually over months; Pain when reaching overhead or out to the side.
Frozen shoulder is read as Apabahuka — Vata lodged in the shoulder joint, drying and contracting the capsule around it. Its long, slow course, and its tendency to appear alongside diabetes, both fit the Vata picture the texts describe.
Warmth and mobilisation together. Naadi Swedanam directs medicated steam through a tube onto the joint, which reaches the capsule better than a bolus does; Elakizhi and Pizhichil follow over the shoulder girdle. Upanaha Lepam — a warm herbal paste bandaged over the joint overnight — is used where stiffness dominates. Graded movement is taught from the first session, because heat without movement gains nothing.
Typical course: 14 to 21 sessions, with daily home movement between them.
When to see a doctor first, not us: A shoulder that lost movement suddenly after a fall, or one with visible deformity, needs imaging for a tear or dislocation before therapy.
Assessed at Sri Vinayaga Ayurvibe, a doctor-led Ayurveda hospital at Nookampalayam, Perumbakkam, Chennai 600131 — reachable from Sholinganallur, Medavakkam, OMR, Velachery, Pallikaranai and Tambaram. Open every day, 10 AM to 8 PM.
This page is for you if your shoulder has grown stiffer over weeks or months, until you can no longer reach a high shelf, fasten a garment behind you or sleep on that side. It is common between the ages of 40 and 60, particularly with diabetes or a thyroid problem, and after the arm has been kept still following an injury or surgery. It explains how the doctor confirms the problem, and what therapy and home movement involve.
The texts describe two stages of the same shoulder disease. Amsa Shosha, the drying and wasting of the shoulder, comes first; Apabahuka, in which the arm loses its movement, follows. The modern account of frozen shoulder runs in similar phases: a painful freezing phase, a stiff frozen phase and a slow thawing phase. Where you are in that sequence decides how much heat, oil and movement the shoulder can take.
In the painful early phase the shoulder is inflamed and sensitive, and the emphasis is on settling pain with gentle steam and paste rather than vigorous work. In the stiff phase the pain is less but the capsule is tight, and the plan turns to deeper heat, oil and progressive movement. Treating the early phase as though it were the stiff one can flare the shoulder.
Dr.V.Vaitheeshwari B.A.M.S., compares the movement of both shoulders: how far you can lift the arm forward and to the side, reach behind your back and turn the arm outwards, both on your own and when the doctor moves it for you. That comparison helps separate a frozen shoulder from a tendon problem. The neck is checked too, since neck trouble can be felt in the shoulder. A first visit runs 40 to 60 minutes and includes pulse, tongue, constitution, sugar control and sleep.
Naadi Swedanam, herbal steam led through a tube onto the joint, is usually used to warm the shoulder before other work, and it suits the painful phase as well as the stiff one. Elakizhi, with warm boluses of medicinal leaves, works the muscles of the shoulder girdle and upper back. Pizhichil is used in the stiff phase when the shoulder, neck and upper back all need sustained warmth and oil, and Upanaha / Lepam, a warm herbal paste bandaged over the joint, keeps warmth on the capsule for hours after you leave.
Internal medicines are prescribed after consultation, with any diabetes or thyroid medicines in view. Each session ends with movement work you repeat at home, within the range the shoulder allows that day. So two people with frozen shoulder can be on very different plans: one in the painful phase may have short, gentle sessions and little stretching, while one in the stiff phase has longer sessions and a growing home programme.
A frozen-shoulder plan usually runs 14 to 21 sessions, with home movement every day in between, including days without a session. At the start the doctor notes how far you can reach, up a wall, overhead and behind your back, and repeats the same checks at each review so change is seen rather than guessed at. The home programme is updated as the shoulder changes, and night pain and sleep are reviewed alongside range.
We never ask you to stop medication prescribed by another doctor. Painkillers continue as prescribed, and diabetes medicines matter especially: steady blood sugar is part of the treatment, and internal medicines are chosen so they do not conflict with yours.
If you have had a steroid injection into the shoulder or a hydrodilatation, tell us the date so heat can be timed around it; a steroid injection can also raise blood sugar for a few days. Physiotherapy fits naturally alongside. If a surgeon has suggested manipulation under anaesthesia or a keyhole release, the doctor can discuss a course as a way to work on pain and stiffness first, but that decision stays with you and the surgeon.
What you do between sessions carries much of the plan. These points appear in most frozen-shoulder plans, adjusted to your phase.
Sri Vinayaga Ayurvibe — 12/597, Main Road, Nethaji Nagar Main Rd, Nookampalayam, Perumbakkam, Chennai 600131. Phone: +91 81229 39197.