frozen shoulder injection 

Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) is a serious disease that can go undiagnosed and result in shoulder problems for years. Unfortunately, there are limited medical interventions that have been proven to work.

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Thankfully, there is a novel medical procedure called hydrodilitation. This  injection procedure has been shown to substantially improve patients' pain and range of motion. The procedure involves an ultrasound-guided injection into the shoulder capsule with a large amount of sterile water, anesthestic and a small amount of cortisone. The procedure can drastically improve both pain and shoulder restriction (1,2). In one trial, 86% of patients had either “complete or good” improvements in their symptoms 4 months after the injection (2). To be effective, this injection must be done under ultrasound guidance.

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References:

1. Sun et al. (2017) The effect of corticosteroid injection into the rotator cuff interval for early frozen shoulder. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1-8

2. Yoong et al. (2014) Targeted ultrasound-guided hydrodilatation via the rotator cuff interval for adhesive capsulitis. Skeletal Radiology.

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