What is Shoulder Pain?
A lot of us consider the shoulder to be just one part of the body’ when it is in fact a group of muscles, tendons and joints. And that’s not even to mention the three bones: your upper arm bone (humerus), your shoulder blade (scapula), and your collarbone (clavicle). When you have this many components in use to simply lift your arm, it’s expected that you’ll experience some kind of shoulder problem, pain or discomfort along the way.
The pain itself could be caused by a range of conditions, impacting any or all of the surrounding tissue or joints and could happen to really anybody unfortunately. We’ll look at the common causes of shoulder pain further down the page.
What Are The Symptoms of Shoulder Pain?
Shoulder pain can present in a variety of ways, from limiting your range of motion known as “frozen shoulder”, to feeling pain and soreness in the shoulder or hearing a clicking, popping, or grinding noise when you move your arm. All pain should be seen by a medical professional for proper diagnosis, treatment and care.
What Causes Shoulder Pain?
Shoulder pain could be triggered by a range of conditions – including simple overuse, like if you’ve spent a long day making lifting and throwing motions, through to something more serious like rotator cuff tendonitis or a rotator cuff tear (a tear in the section of muscle connecting to bone). The exact diagnosis will require medical attention and a comprehensive assessment.
Some of the most common causes of shoulder pain include:
- Tendon inflammation
- Muscle and tendon tear
- Arthritis
- Bursitis
What Are My Treatment Options For Shoulder Pain?
The treatment options for shoulder pain are broad ranging, depending on the root cause for your pain. Your doctor will consider the severity of your pain, your medical history and more when developing your custom treatment plan. Some of the ways your doctor may choose to treat your pain could include:
1. Rehab therapy – Physical therapy specialists will develop a custom exercise plan, designed to encourage normal, pain-free movement.
2. Trigger Point Injections – There are a selection of non-opioid injections that may be used to help relieve your pain. If the pain is centered in the muscles that make up your shoulder, trigger point injections may provide the relief you’re looking for.
3. Biologic Injectables – This treatment consists of naturally occurring proteins and growth factors that promote healing and acceleration of new tissue growth, helping to relieve pain.
4. Chiropractic care – This treatment consists of our chiropractors repositioning any spinal or extremity abnormalities that may be causing compression of a nerve, leading to your shoulder pain.
Frequently Asked Questions About Neck Pain
When should I worry about shoulder pain?
If your pain is very severe, comes on suddenly, or comes on seemingly without cause, (i.e. you didn’t spend the day pitching a ball in your local baseball league) then you should seek medication attention. This is crucial to ensure you do not lose the mobility of your arms, and continue to be able to move your shoulder.
How do I know what type of shoulder pain I have?
It isn’t necessary for you to know what type of shoulder pain you have before going to speak to a medical professional. There are a variety of special tests they will run, to identify which areas of your shoulder are injured/damaged. Once diagnosed, your doctor will share this information with you.
How can I tell if I tore my rotator cuff?
If you think you may have torn your rotator cuff, seek medical attention for proper diagnosis. The symptoms most commonly associated with this kind of injury include:
- Difficulty and pain when raising your arm.
- Popping or clicking sounds or sensations when moving your arm.
- Shoulder weakness and struggling to lift items.
