What are the dietary taboos for frozen shoulder?

There is currently no authoritative evidence-based research to prove that certain foods can directly induce or aggravate frozen shoulder. Dietary recommendations given in clinical practice are mostly based on the purpose of reducing inflammatory stimulation and helping soft tissue repair. There are indeed several types of foods that are recommended to be eaten as little as possible during an acute attack, but there is no need to be overly taboo.

A while ago, I met a UI designer girl. She was 28 years old. She worked at the computer for more than ten hours every day. She suffered from periarthritis in her right shoulder, which was so painful that it was difficult to even hold the mouse. After two shock waves and home rehabilitation exercises, she was 70% better. She ate cream cakes and iced milk tea for two consecutive days in time for her birthday, and went to eat a spicy butter hot pot with a friend. The night she came back, she was in pain so much that she couldn't sleep all night. When she came for a review, the edema in her joints was much more obvious than a week ago. Although the blame cannot be placed entirely on diet, high-sugar, high-purine, and highly irritating foods can indeed cause fluctuations in the level of inflammatory factors in the body, which is not friendly to the tissue around the shoulder joint that already has an inflammatory reaction. There is no need to add more firewood to a place that is already on fire, right?

Many people will ask whether they should avoid so-called "fat foods", such as seafood, beef and mutton, etc. This is actually quite controversial in the industry. If you don’t have gout yourself, and you don’t have allergies or redness or swelling when eating these foods, there is absolutely no need to stop eating them altogether. I once had an aunt in her 50s. She heard from neighbors in the community that people with frozen shoulder should avoid eating anything. She didn’t even dare to touch eggs and milk. She only ate white porridge with vegetables. After half a month, her shoulder pain didn’t get better. On the contrary, due to insufficient protein intake, her muscle strength failed to increase, and her recovery progress was slowed down a lot. Instead, she took a detour.

To be honest, the dietary precautions are actually very loose. During the period of acute attack, when the pain makes you unable to lift your arms, and when you turn over at night and wake up in pain, try to eat less high-sugar foods like milk tea and cakes, high-fat foods like fatty fried chicken, and high-purine foods like soupy hot pot seafood, as well as drinks that are too cold, such as ice beer and ice cola. Cold stimulation will constrict the blood vessels in the shoulder, making it harder to expel metabolic waste in areas with poor circulation. It is not unfair to have more pain. If you are already in the remission period, your arms can be raised normally, and you only feel a little sore after sitting at your desk for a long time, you don’t need to eat more high-quality protein from eggs, milk, and lean meats. On the contrary, it can help repair the soft tissue of your shoulders, which is much more effective than not eating anything at all.

Of course, many orthopedic colleagues believe that the progression of frozen shoulder has a very low correlation with diet. As long as you do not have underlying metabolic diseases such as diabetes or gout, a normal diet will have no impact at all. This is no problem. After all, the role of diet itself is very small. It can be regarded as an auxiliary item at most. The most important thing is to loosen adhesions through moderate activities and keep your shoulders warm every day. There is really no need to be too harsh on yourself in terms of food.