Frozen Shoulder
Frozen shoulder causes pain and marked stiffness in the shoulder joint with restricted movement.
When to get help quickly: It is not usually urgent, but review should be sooner if pain follows major injury, the shoulder suddenly becomes very swollen, or there are red-flag symptoms such as fever or severe weakness.
Common symptoms
Typical symptoms include shoulder pain, especially at night, progressive stiffness, and difficulty reaching overhead, behind the back, or out to the side.
When imaging helps
Imaging helps when doctors need to rule out other causes of shoulder pain, look for associated soft tissue problems, or plan an image-guided injection.
What radiology does
Imaging is often used to rule out other causes of pain, and MRI or ultrasound may show related soft tissue changes in selected cases.
What usually happens next
Treatment commonly includes physiotherapy, pain relief, injections, and time, though recovery can be slow.
Seen this on your report?
Your doctor or the radiologist who wrote it can tell you what it means for you.