BIOPTRON and TREATMENT of FROZEN SHOULDER

THE CITY INSTITUTE OF GERONTOLOGY, BELGRADE, 18.06.2018
THE APPLICATION OF BIOPTRON LIGHT THERAPY IN TREATING PATIENTS WITH FROZEN SHOULDER
Case Report
Dr. Dejana Petrovic

Introduction: The adhesive capsulitis or the frozen shoulder is considered a non-joint rheumatic disease. It is very unpleasant and creates a movement dysfunction with pain. Most often, it is caused by precipitation of calcium salts in the muscles and the tendons of the shoulder area.

Clinical Manifestation: It is, most often, manifested in two ways: In the first case, the pain in the shoulder appears suddenly (acutely) , with temporary limited function/ range of motion of the shoulder joint (acute painful shoulder).Secondly, it happens very often that the condition starts with medium pain in the shoulder and gradually decreasing range of motion, so that in the end phase almost none of the motions in the shoulder joint are possible. It usually begins with the tendons of the shoulder area, followed by pain during certain shoulder motions. During the next phase of the disease, inflammation of the synovial joint is present which causes very strong pain and limitation of the range of motions. This condition is called the frozen shoulder.

Diagnosis: It is diagnosed based on the anamnesis and the clinical findings. It is necessary to do a comparison of the RTG image of both shoulders, and in the elderly a profile image of the cervical spine.  During the acute phase it is necessary to do the sedimentation rate, blood test and fibrinogen. It is desirable to do an ultrasound of the shoulders because of the differential diagnosis of Bursitis which is a limitation of the range of movement to a lesser degree but there is also a very strong pain present.

Treatment: The first part of the therapy is usually with NSAIDs (anti-inflammatory medicine which are used against pain and inflammation), and sometimes it is with local infiltration of glucocorticoid in the shoulder. One important aspect of therapy is kinesiotherapy (the application of which should improve the range of motion) as well as physiotherapy  (which accomplishes an analgetic effect as well as improvement of the local and systematical circulation). In this case, Bioptron was used for 15 days for 10 min daily applied at the projection of the deltoid muscle, and in conjunction with assisted exercise. During these 15 days of additional Bioptron treatment considerable pain relief was observed and further pain relief was not required after this treatment (reducing the overall consumption of pain and anti-inflammatory medication).