A personal message from physical therapist, Kevin Mao...

Dear Reader,

If so, you have come to the right place.

A frozen shoulder is a condition where the “joint capsule” (which is made up of strong, connective tissues deep inside the shoulder) is placed under high levels of inflammation, which ultimately creates an excessive amount of scar tissue that restricts the shoulder from being able to move.

This scar tissue can make it hard for the muscles to move the shoulder, to the point where the joint feels very stiff, and sometimes extremely painful. It can be frustrating because no matter how much stretching, or natural remedies you try, it just doesn’t seem to go away…

The frustrating thing about frozen shoulder is in most cases there is no specific “mechanism of injury.” Meaning it can sometimes feel like it comes out of nowhere.

One day you might feel some pain in your shoulder that seems to nag, and ache, but the pain never really goes down. And one morning after a few weeks, or a few months you realize you can’t even lift your shoulder and it just feels stuck.

There are many potential causes for the ‘root causes’ of frozen shoulder, and it highly depends on the individual. But the most common group of people affected by frozen shoulder are women in their late 40’s and 50’s.

Frozen shoulder isn’t a ‘disease’ like an infection or a virus where you can take some medicine for, and it will go away.

Researchers are still trying to find ‘underlying causes’ of frozen shoulder, in our experience it is caused by some form of ‘autoimmune’ problem where the body ‘attacks’ itself.

And in working with hundreds of people with frozen shoulder over the past decade, I can confidently say the usual culprit is due to something called a “repetitive stress” injury

Repetitive stress injuries occur when some type of ‘stressor’ continuously affects the body without significant rest, or break.

Unlike ‘acute’ or ‘traumatic’ injuries (such as a broken bone, a car accident, or a muscle strain), repetitive stress injuries create stress and strain on tissues at a low level, over long periods of time.

These stressors can be physical (such as a dentist holding a mirror for hours on end, using a mouse or typing on a keyboard for hours)

Or these stressors can be non-physical (such as job stress, family stress, emotional stress)

And it’s true, we as humans have a great tendency to hold our stress in our shoulders…but the problem is, we can only ‘hold’ so much stress before the body starts to break down.

Once our bodies start to sense it’s starting to break down, it will try to heal itself by creating inflammation, and ultimately lay down scar tissue in an attempt to heal itself.

And when this scar tissue builds up, it can cause injuries like a frozen shoulder to develop.

THE GOOD NEWS IS, a frozen shoulder is not a life-long, debilitating injury, and will get better over time…

And there are SEVERAL options for treatment (which are non-invasive, and don’t have to involve pills or even injections)

But it is important that you know what your options are so that you can make a well-informed decision prior to seeking or care.

Believe it or not, there are many cases where frozen shoulder can go away on its own, completely. But it is never something we would ever recommend, because it can be unpredictable, and you run the risk of the shoulder pain:

There are many different providers that might offer some relief from frozen shoulder, such as chiropractic, massage, or acupuncture. While these type of treatment options can absolutely help in some cases, you must be aware of the level of specialty these specific providers have while treating frozen shoulder.

A massage therapist may be good at reducing stress, or muscle tension, but cannot safely move, or manipulate the shoulder joint itself.

A chiropractor may try to adjust your spine, and while it may feel good temporarily, they may not spend nearly enough time or focus on treating the inflamed scar tissue around the shoulder muscles and joint capsule.

An acupuncturist may be able to help relieve stress, or open up energy channels, but may not be putting enough focus on the shoulder itself.

Meanwhile, a physical therapist may have the ability to work on all of the above, but if all they do is show you a few stretches, or some ‘e-stim’ instead of using proper hands-on techniques to improve the joint mobility and muscle flexibility, then it will not be worth it.

What can Balance and Body Restoration do to help my frozen shoulder?

Our therapists at Balance and Body Restoration are specialists at managing and treating this painful and debilitating condition.

While it is rare to expect a ‘quick fix’ or ‘silver bullet’, with our type of treatment, we can guarantee to give you the best possible chance of not only relieving your pain, but restoring your motion (and sanity) within the shortest time possible.

We utilize a full-body, holistic approach to care, understanding that everything in the body is ‘connected’, and there are several components that need to be addressed.

In order to give you the best possible chance of healing your shoulder naturally, and help you get back to living a normal lifestyle (including sleeping and just being able to lift your arm), we utilize a 5-step process to ensure the highest quality of care possible.

1. Getting to know you

We understand it can be hard to get more than 15 minutes with a doctor nowadays, who often times will rush to give you pills, or even recommend surgery, even though a more natural, non-invasive solution exists.

We also realize that every single person who walks into our clinic with a frozen shoulder is different. We understand every single person is unique in the fact that we:

Which is why before we will do ANY form of treatment, we want to get to know you better. You deserve to have your story told, so we can understand your fears and frustrations…

But we also want to know what your goals are, so we can create a custom-tailored plan to exactly what you need…

Whether or not you

We want to get to know you first…

And it starts with having an honest conversation about YOU.

Click below to schedule a free, no-cost, 20-minute Phone Consultation with our frozen-shoulder specialist PT

2. Finding the “ROOT CAUSE” of your pain.

When it comes to frozen shoulder, there is never only “one” cause…and very rarely is there a “magic pill” or a “silver bullet” you can take to get rid of it over night.

But choosing to do ‘nothing’ could also be damaging because of the unnecessary length of time, and pain that many people go through because they didn’t know a natural solution such as ours existed.

Before we perform ANY form of treatment, we will perform a thorough analysis of your body, and your shoulder so we can find the real “ROOT CAUSES” of your pain.

What do I mean by “root causes”?

You see, at Balance and Body Restoration, we understand that everything in our body is truly ‘connected’…and even though you may have a ton of shoulder pain, there can be other aspects of our mind, or our body that can be causing it…

Examples of this might include:

The biggest problem today in medicine is most doctors will NEVER take the time to consider these types of “root causes” and force people down a dangerous path of unnecessary medications and surgeries.

But I want you to understand, this issue CAN get better completely naturally, but we must respect how complex the body is, and create a thorough plan to heal it from as many ways as possible.

If you’d like to learn more about how we can help YOUR frozen shoulder issue, click the link below to ask us about our 100% Free, No-Cost “discovery visit”

One of the quickest, safest, and most natural ways to get rid of the scar tissue and inflammation in order to get rid of your pain and restore your mobility is through the use of our “Manual Therapy” techniques.

What is “Manual Therapy”?

Unlike most physical therapists who may use “hands-off” modalities such as ice, heat, ultrasound or electrical stimulation, therapists at Balance and Body Restoration are expertly trained in the field of “Manual Therapy”

“Manual Therapy” is an art-form of healing where our Doctors of Physical Therapy use our hands and specialized tools and techniques to help heal the body more quickly, safely, and effectively.

The goal of manual therapy is to quickly:

And in terms of fixing Frozen Shoulder, our Manual Therapy techniques are what allows us to provide the pain relief and increase in mobility you are looking for.

Will it hurt?

While there may be some soreness associated with our manual therapy techniques in the following hours, it usually comes in the form of that “good hurt” or “good pain” that you know is helping you.

Our techniques are very gentle in nature, and we PROMISE to NEVER work outside of your comfort zone, and you will ALWAYS be in control of how much pressure you want, or the intensity you want to work within.

No, it’s not like chiropractic…

Our techniques are much gentler than the quick, neck-snapping techniques of chiropractors, and we tend to use our hands and very specific tools to address the root cause of your pain, instead of only looking for temporary relief options.

If you want to know if this type of treatment is right for you, fill out this webform and ask us about our FREE Taster-Session and you can feel for yourself if it’s right for you.

You probably know you need to do some form of exercise, but it can be frustrating to know which ones are effective, and which ones might make things worse.

It might also be hard for you to know if you are doing things with the correct “form”…

When it comes to ‘exercise’, at Balance and Body Restoration, we take a much more in-depth approach instead of simply handing you a “sheet of exercises”.

We will walk you through the exercises every step of the way, and guide you safely through proper form, and technique, to guarantee the effectiveness and safety of the exercise.

We understand how ‘connected’ the mind is to the body, and want to help you re-establish those connections through our exercise programs.

And for frozen shoulder, you will start with very gentle, pain-free, ‘range of motion’ exercises prior to doing anything more strenuous.

Once your pain has relieved, and you can start to feel your shoulder moving more freely, then we will help you rebuild the muscle you may have lost…but done with an individualized program that suits you.

We will also help you restore your posture, and strengthen your ‘body awareness’ so that you can avoid these types of injuries from happening again.

Frozen shoulder can be a very stressful experience, but not as stressful as trying to ‘wait things out’ and hoping it will get better the next day.

We have helped hundreds of people naturally recover from frozen shoulders, avoid unnecessary surgeries and procedures, and keep off painkillers or other harmful medications.

But most importantly, we want to help you not only get rid of your pain, but help you restore the quality of life you had before your injury.

Whether you want to get back into the gym and start exercising again…

Or if you want to get back to working without the constant pain and naggings aches

Or maybe if you ‘don’t want to do anything crazy’ and just get back to living a normal routine

We will create a plan for you.

Sincerely,

Kevin Mao

Doctor of Physical Therapy.

“Kevin's intuition about the body and its function goes beyond technique. Not all physical therapist are the same and not all bodies respond the same. As he is working, he is constantly monitoring and assessing your response, looking for trigger points to alleviate and accomplish the best results. I am so appreciative of the time and talent he expends in a compassionate and careful manner! I am now an avid supporter of physical therapy. I encourage others to not wait. It does not go away and get better on its own!”

Kevin, like most physical therapists, got hurt at an early age as an athlete in high school. Having gone through multiple shoulder dislocations and surgery, he had his fill of PT at a young age. Even though getting injured and having to have surgery was painful, he was curious about the fact that he actually “enjoyed going to PT”, because he was able to learn about his body in ways he was never taught! This curiosity drove him to study Kinesiology at Penn State University in 2008, and he finally graduated with his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Boston University in 2011.