Optimizing Pain Control and Function in Patients With Adhesive Capsulitis by Choosing the Best Injection Site

Abstract

Two patients present to the sports medicine clinic with shoulder pain and limited range of motion. A 51-year-old healthy female rower presents 5 months after developing left shoulder pain. She had no specific inciting injury, although she increased overhead workouts with dumbbells prior to the onset of pain. She describes soreness that started in the left biceps and then shifted to the lateral shoulder. The other patient, a 61-year-old male golfer with a history of hyperlipidemia and hypertension, developed right shoulder pain also after increasing overhead exercises with weights 3 months prior to presentation. His pain is most significant with sleeping on the right side, abducting the right arm, and lifting heavy objects. Both patients have limited shoulder flexion, abduction, and internal rotation despite 8 weeks of physical therapy.