If you have shoulder pain not related to an injury combined with problems breathing, tight chest, pain in the neck or jaw, sweating or dizziness, call 000 immediately. Those can be signs of a heart attack!
Shoulder pain
Shoulder pain can often be the result of an injury to the rotator cuff (torn or inflamed tendons).
Other common causes are pinching a nerve (referred neck pain), dislocated shoulder or a condition called frozen shoulder where various structures stiffen and are very painful and difficult to move. This requires careful assessment and management, and may be easily aggravated by even the most well intending therapist.
Very often a minor injury, can cause exquisite pain. Thorough assessment and proper management can correct this quickly and prevent progression – early intervention again is vital here.
Athletes can injure the shoulder slowly, sometimes due to cumulative, repetitive training routines.
Typically we underestimate the significance of even a seemingly minor injury – low intensity pain is easily tolerated. We cope with this and avoid those movements that reproduce the symptoms. Without timely treatment, this can deteriorate or become difficult to resolve. Your best quality of life is surely continuing to do the activities you love. Our job is to keep the smile on your face, and get you back to your sport asap.
The shoulder
The shoulder is a very complex and versatile body part formed by unique bones, ligaments and tendons which permit extensive mobility. It forms a false “ball and socket” joint made up of an intricate array of ligaments and has three main bones:
- Humerus: the long arm bone
- Clavicle (collarbone)
- Scapula (also known as shoulder blade)
Two main joints exist: acromioclavicular joint (between scapula and clavicle) and glenohumeral joint (or shoulder joint, between the top part of humerus bone and scapula)
The shoulder joint gets the award of the most flexible joint in the body! It allows from forward, backward and circular movements, up and away from the body. The rotator cuff is responsible for much of the fine coordination of the shoulder movements. Its individual components are very susceptible to damage.
Shoulder treatment
Shoulder treatment depends on the severity of the condition. Physiotherapy helps in most of the cases. If you are going to surgery, we can help you with both pre-op workup and the post-operative rehabilitation.
Due to its complexity of both structure and function, designing the right treatment plan for you is not an easy task. There are many people that follow treatments that just don’t work!
Please don’t take the advice of a well-meaning family member regarding how to exercise your way out of your problem – you could be doing the totally wrong thing.
Trust the team at Atlas with your shoulder problem. With over 20 years of experience, we have seen many shoulder injuries and we know firsthand what works and what doesn’t.