Shoulder Pain
The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the human body and it is held in place through the shoulder blade which “floats” on the back. This makes it susceptible to pain due to an inability to control all of this motion.
You don’t realize how often you use your shoulders until you have an issue with it. Shoulder pain is often intense and has a significant effect on all of our activity. Often pain will occur in the front or side of our shoulder, sometimes traveling down to the elbow or even the hand.
Do you have trouble:
Reaching overhead
Reaching behind your back
Lifting
Reaching out
Lying on your affected side
Common Diagnosis We Treat:
Rotator cuff tendonitis
Rotator cuff tear
Bursitis
Impingement
Instability
Frozen Shoulder
Biceps tendonitis
Talk to a physical therapist, who can assess muscle and strength imbalances common in the most dynamic joint in the body, and reduce your pain with proven conservative methods
Tips for Shoulder Pain
Imaging Results
As with many areas of the body, imaging of the shoulder will often find “abnormalities” that may or may not be relevant. Imaging of the shoulder is very unreliable at finding what is causing the pain. In fact, many people without pain will show signs of tears and arthritis. A thorough evaluation is needed to understand and treat the underlying cause of pain, rather than treating based solely on an image that may or may not be relevant.
Conservative Treatments=Same Outcome
Physical Therapy has been shown to have the same outcomes as steroid injections and surgery for many common shoulder diagnoses, without the negative side effects or risks. Something to consider…surgery for shoulder impingement was no more effective than a placebo surgery!
Individualized Treatment Approach
The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body and involves several moving parts. We see every shoulder as unique, and use a combination of manual therapy and exercise based on consensus guidelines to provide treatment to each patient’s specific problem.