Adhesive capsulitis

Abstract

Despite extensive research, the adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder is pathology of uncertain etiology and with poor consensus regarding the optimal method of treatment. The first appearance of a description of a pathologic condition of the shoulder generically defined as scapulohumeral periarthritis that leads to stiffness hails in the nineteenth century in France and in the USA. In 1934, Codman first introduced the term “frozen shoulder” to identify a clinical entity difficult to define, to treat, and to explain. Neviaser identified as “adhesive capsulitis” a “chronic inflammatory process involving the capsule of the shoulder causing a thickening and contracture of this structure which secondarily becomes adherent to the humeral head.” Zuckerman and Cuomo defined the condition as a condition characterized by “significant restriction of both active and passive shoulder motion that occurs in the absence of a known intrinsic shoulder disorder.”