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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Weakness And Stiffness In Arms?

I have symptoms similar to adhesive capsulitis in both shoulders and the pain in my upper arms is making sleep difficult. I had therapy for adhesive capsulitis years ago, one shoulder was affected at a time, but this time is different. I do not have the same weakness in my arms, just a limited range of motion and a lot of pain, sometimes shooting down both arms. I have been under heavy stress lately, moving my 94 year old mother 1300 miles. Could this pain and stiffness be just a result of tension from the move, can I treat this on my own without therapy? I am 69 years old.
Thu, 7 Apr 2016
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Physical Therapist or Physiotherapist,  's  Response
hi,

thanks for the brief history.
as you mentioned you had a capsulitits in the past for which you have undergone the therapy and now you facing same pain in both shoulder. Since the pain is in the arms as well it is to be checked once. there are couple of possibilities like - adhesive capsulitits, bicepital tendonitis, trapezitis, pinched nerves. Only on examination we can come to a conclusion.

Since you mentioned you have a restriction of ROM of the shoulder it can be due to stiffness of joint or may be a muscle stiffness/weakness.

Also, you can perform some slow neck exercises to strengthen the muscles of the neck. Perform ROM exercises for the shoulder while lying down on the floor as it will be free of gravity and the ROM will be a bit easy. Post that slowly strengthening the shoulder girdle , arm muscles and then chest with upper back muscles will help produce more input to your overall strength.

If you find difficult to perform than you can take the help from a physcial therapist and later you can perfrom at your own.

With the grace of God I wish you a speedy recovery

Regards
Jay Indravadan Patel
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What Causes Weakness And Stiffness In Arms?

hi, thanks for the brief history. as you mentioned you had a capsulitits in the past for which you have undergone the therapy and now you facing same pain in both shoulder. Since the pain is in the arms as well it is to be checked once. there are couple of possibilities like - adhesive capsulitits, bicepital tendonitis, trapezitis, pinched nerves. Only on examination we can come to a conclusion. Since you mentioned you have a restriction of ROM of the shoulder it can be due to stiffness of joint or may be a muscle stiffness/weakness. Also, you can perform some slow neck exercises to strengthen the muscles of the neck. Perform ROM exercises for the shoulder while lying down on the floor as it will be free of gravity and the ROM will be a bit easy. Post that slowly strengthening the shoulder girdle , arm muscles and then chest with upper back muscles will help produce more input to your overall strength. If you find difficult to perform than you can take the help from a physcial therapist and later you can perfrom at your own. With the grace of God I wish you a speedy recovery Regards Jay Indravadan Patel