When Your Shoulder Won't Move: What's Really Going On?

I had a patient last week, let's call her Sarah, who came in frustrated as hell. "Doc, I can't even put my bra on anymore. What is wrong with my shoulder?"

Sound familiar?

After twenty years of treating shoulders, I've learned that most people lump all shoulder pain into one bucket. Big mistake. Your shoulder telling you "no" when you reach overhead is completely different from sharp pain that hits at a specific angle. And the way you treat each one? Night and day.

The Real Story Behind Your Stiff Shoulder

Here's what I see in my clinic every single day: people who've been dealing with shoulder pain for months, trying random exercises they found online, getting more frustrated by the week. The problem isn't that they're lazy or not trying hard enough. The problem is they're treating the wrong thing.

Let me walk you through what I tell my patients during their first visit.

Your Normal Shoulder Should Work Like This: Raise your arm straight up. Can you touch the ceiling? If yes, and it doesn't hurt, congratulations, your shoulder is doing its job.

Early Frozen Shoulder Feels Like This: You're reaching up, everything's fine, then around chin or eye level, boom. It's like hitting a wall. You can push a little further, but it's uncomfortable and tight. This is your shoulder saying "Hey, pay attention to me."

Full-Blown Adhesive Capsulitis (The Nightmare Version): Your arm basically stops working. I've had patients who can't lift their arm past their belly button. Getting dressed becomes a 20-minute ordeal. Sleep? Forget about it. This is what happens when you ignore that early warning.

Rotator Cuff Tendinitis is Different: This one's sneaky. You can move your arm all the way up, but there's this sweet spot, usually somewhere between shoulder height and overhead, where it feels like someone's jabbing you with a knife. Move past it, and the pain goes away. That's your rotator cuff throwing a tantrum.

What Actually Works (From Someone Who's Seen It All)

I'm going to be straight with you. Most of the shoulder advice online is garbage. "Do this stretch three times a day" doesn't cut it when your shoulder is legitimately stuck.

For the Early Frozen Shoulder:

Find a doorway. Put your forearm against the frame, elbow at 90 degrees. Now turn your whole body away until you feel that familiar tightness. Hold it there for 30 seconds. Do this every couple hours.

The other one that works: face the doorway, put your hand on the frame, and walk your fingers up as high as you can without forcing it. Then lean your body forward slightly. You should feel the stretch in the front of your shoulder.

Here's the thing nobody tells you, this isn't a "do it when you remember" situation. When I'm working with someone who's catching this early, I tell them to set reminders on their phone. Every two hours, hit those stretches. Your shoulder needs constant reminders to stay mobile.

If You're Already Locked Down:

Grab a broom handle, an umbrella, whatever's handy. Lie on your back and use your good arm to move the stuck one. Don't force it. Just gentle, consistent pressure into the ranges that feel tight.

I won't sugarcoat this, if you're here, you're looking at months of work. I've had patients take anywhere from six months to two years to get their full motion back. The ones who do well? They're religious about their exercises.

Rotator Cuff Issues:

This one responds to different treatment. You need to calm down that inflamed tendon while gradually building strength. Ice after you aggravate it, heat before you exercise. And for the love of everything, stop sleeping on that side.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Most people don't want to hear this, but I'm going to say it anyway: consistency beats intensity every single time.

I'd rather have you do five minutes of the right exercises every two hours than have you do an hour-long session once a day. Your shoulder needs frequent, gentle reminders to maintain mobility, not occasional aggressive stretching sessions.

And here's another hard truth, some of you reading this have already waited too long. If you're at the point where you can't lift your arm to shoulder height, you need professional help. Home exercises might help, but you're probably looking at months or years of recovery instead of weeks.

When to Stop Fooling Yourself

Look, I get it. Nobody wants to admit they need help. But if you've been dealing with this for more than a month and it's getting worse, stop playing around.

Red flags that mean you need to see someone: you can't sleep on that side anymore, you're having trouble with basic activities like washing your hair, or the pain is spreading down your arm.

Your shoulder problem isn't going to fix itself while you wait for it to get better. I've seen too many people turn a six-week problem into a two-year nightmare because they thought it would just go away.

The bottom line? Your shoulder is trying to tell you something. The question is whether you're going to listen before it starts screaming.