Frozen Shoulder Treatment in Norwest & Dural
The Short Version
Frozen shoulder is not the same as a stiff, sore shoulder. The defining feature is that someone else cannot move your arm through range either, particularly rotating it outward. It is more common between forty and sixty, more common in women, and much more common if you have diabetes. It runs a predictable course of freezing, frozen and thawing, and the honest timeframe is often twelve to eighteen months in total. Treatment meaningfully improves the journey rather than shortening it dramatically, and the largest trial to date found no surgical option was better than good structured physiotherapy at twelve months.
The Shoulder We See Most
The most common version is someone four or five months in who cannot reach behind their back or into a back pocket, cannot sleep on that side, and has been told they have a rotator cuff problem. The giveaway is that when we move the arm for them, it still will not go. That single finding changes the whole plan. The second version is someone in the very early painful phase, before the stiffness is obvious, who is being treated for impingement and is getting worse.
Do You Need a Scan?
Usually not for the diagnosis, which is made by examining your passive range of movement. Imaging matters mainly to rule other things out. We would image if there was significant trauma, if the pattern does not fit, if we suspect a full thickness cuff tear or arthritis, or if an injection or surgical opinion is being considered.
Whether you need imaging is something we work out with you at the appointment. Frozen shoulder is diagnosed by how the shoulder moves, not by a scan, and imaging is mostly used to rule out the things that imitate it. Your practitioner will talk you through whether a scan would change anything, and organise it if it would.
When You Should Be Seen Urgently
Several conditions imitate frozen shoulder and get managed as one for months. That is the reason to be assessed properly rather than waiting it out.
Go to emergency if the shoulder is hot, swollen and red with a fever, if it looks deformed or came out of joint, or if you can’t move the arm at all after a fall. Also if shoulder pain came on with chest tightness, breathlessness, sweating or nausea, which can occasionally be cardiac.
Book in with us soon, and tell us when you book, if the shoulder stiffened up after a specific injury rather than gradually. If you’ve got night pain that’s getting worse rather than better. If there’s unexplained weight loss, fever or a history of cancer. Or if you’ve been diagnosed with frozen shoulder but the stiffness is only in one direction, because a true frozen shoulder restricts movement in every direction, including when someone else moves your arm for you.
Tell us if you have diabetes. It’s strongly relevant and it changes what we expect.
What Matters Most
Frozen shoulder is inflammation and then contracture of the capsule around the joint. These are the six things that matter most.
Which stage you are in
How early it is recognised
Diabetes and thyroid status
A period of not moving the arm
Diabetes or thyroid problems in the background
A period where the shoulder stopped moving
How We Actually Treat It
Start with the thing you’ve almost certainly been told and which turns out not to be true.
Frozen shoulder is usually described as passing through three phases of freezing, frozen and thawing, and resolving on its own within one to three years. That description is nearly eighty years old and it has never actually held up. When it’s been looked at properly, most of the improvement in untreated shoulders happens early rather than late, which is the opposite of what the model predicts.
The recovery picture is also less rosy than the reassurance implies. Follow up years later finds a meaningful minority still have symptoms, usually mild and occasionally not. Range of movement tends to come back further than pain does, so plenty of people end up with a shoulder that moves well and still aches.
We’re not telling you that to be discouraging. We’re telling you because “it’ll sort itself out in a year or two, just wait” is what a lot of people are told, and for around four in ten that isn’t what happens.
What does help is treating the painful early stage rather than waiting it out. A cortisone injection into the joint, combined with exercise rather than instead of it, gives better pain and movement over the first few months than exercise alone. It buys you a window where the shoulder is workable.
So the plan is: get on top of the pain early, keep the shoulder moving through whatever range it has without forcing it, and rebuild strength and range as the irritability settles. Aggressively stretching a hot, painful frozen shoulder makes it worse, and a lot of people arrive having been told to push into pain.
What Recovery Actually Looks Like
This is the one condition on our site where we won’t give you a clean timeline, because the honest answer is that it varies enormously and anyone giving you a confident number is guessing.
The painful stage. Weeks to months. Night pain and pain at rest dominate, range is dropping, and the priority is getting the pain under control rather than chasing range.
The stiff stage. Months. Pain settles somewhat, stiffness is the main problem, and this is where loading and range work start earning their keep. Progress is slow and non-linear.
The rebuild. Months again. Range comes back before strength does, and the shoulder usually feels weak and unreliable for a while after it stops hurting.
Most people are substantially better within twelve to eighteen months. A meaningful minority still have some symptoms years later, usually mild. Both of those things are true and you should hear both.
One useful marker: if pain at night is improving, things are moving, even if the range hasn’t changed much yet.
What Else It Could Be
The defining feature of a true frozen shoulder is that movement is restricted in every direction, including when someone else moves your arm for you. If that isn’t the case, it’s probably something else.
Rotator cuff related shoulder pain. Painful to reach overhead and behind, but range is preserved when someone else moves the arm. Much more common, and responds to loading.
Frozen shoulder. Progressive loss of movement in all directions, particularly rotating the arm outwards, with a period of severe night pain. Usually no injury to point at.
Osteoarthritis of the shoulder. Stiffness plus grinding, usually older, and it shows on an X-ray where frozen shoulder doesn’t.
Referred from the neck. Pain into the shoulder and arm with pins and needles, or that changes with neck position.
Post-surgical or post-immobilisation stiffness. Behaves like a frozen shoulder but has an obvious cause and often a different timeline.
Worth knowing about diabetes. Frozen shoulder is far more common in people with diabetes, and a good share of people who get one turn out to have it. If you’ve got an unexplained frozen shoulder and haven’t had your blood sugar checked recently, it’s worth doing.
Related pages: Shoulder Pain, Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does frozen shoulder last? Longer than most people are told, and it varies a lot. Most people are substantially better within twelve to eighteen months. In a study following 269 shoulders for an average of four and a half years, 41 percent still had some symptoms, though most were mild. Anyone giving you a confident number hasn't looked at the data.
Is it true it goes through freezing, frozen and thawing phases? That description is nearly eighty years old and has never been validated. When researchers looked for evidence behind it, they found most improvement in untreated shoulders happens early rather than late, which is the opposite of what the model predicts. It's a useful rough picture and it shouldn't be treated as a schedule.
Should I push into the pain to get my range back? Not in the painful stage. Aggressively stretching an irritable frozen shoulder tends to make it worse and sets you back. There's a stage where firmer range work is the right thing, and getting the timing right is most of the skill in treating this.
Should I get a cortisone injection? For the early painful stage, the evidence supports it, particularly combined with exercise rather than instead of it. Across 65 trials it produced better pain and function in the first three months. The honest caveat is that the research doesn't follow people far enough to say whether that advantage lasts beyond a year.
Why did I get this? Often there's no clear reason. It's more common in women, most common between forty and sixty, and strongly associated with diabetes and thyroid disease. It can also follow a period of the shoulder being immobilised. If you've got one and haven't had your blood sugar checked, it's worth doing.
Do I need a referral to book? No. You can book directly with any of our chiropractors or physiotherapists. If you've got a GP care plan or you're claiming through a fund, bring the paperwork and we'll work with it.
Who Treats This at Strive
Frozen shoulder is treated at both clinics by our physiotherapists and chiropractors. The first appointment is mostly about confirming it actually is a frozen shoulder and working out which stage you are in, because that decides everything that follows.
Tammy Ong
Women’s Health Physiotherapist
Rehabilitation Pilates Instructor
Tammy helps women and active individuals recover from injury, improve movement, and return to the activities they love.
Warren Zhou
Chiropractor, competitive powerlifter, and trail runner who treats athletes from the gym floor to the platform to the start line.
Tegan Webster
Chiropractor
Providing evidence-based care to help patients achieve their health goals.
Richard Kan
Sports Chiropractor
Strength and Conditioning Coach
Helping athletes and active individuals recover, perform, and stay injury-free.
Rawan Haydar
Physiotherapist
Passionate about personalised care that supports recovery and long-term wellbeing.
Jess Larder
Physiotherapist
Passionate about rehabilitation, movement, and helping people achieve their goals.
Getting Here
We treat frozen shoulder at both our Norwest and Dural clinics.
Norwest
301/10 Century Circuit NORWEST NSW 2153
Inside Norwest Central Building Complex - 8 - 12 Century Circuit
Entry doors next to Zaatar and Zucchero Cafe
Operating Hours
Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm
Sat 8am - 12pm
Sun CLOSED
Ready to Sort Your Shoulder Out?
We treat frozen shoulder for patients from across The Hills, including Dural, Round Corner, Kenthurst, Glenhaven, Castle Hill, Kellyville, Baulkham Hills, Cherrybrook and Bella Vista, at our Norwest and Dural clinics, and in Canberra at Giralang. Book online or call and we will get you assessed.