Health blog Category: shoulder pain
Shoulder Discomfort Effecting Your Sleep?
The shoulder is a common region in which people complain of pain and discomfort. Shoulder discomfort and pain can commonly affect your ability to get a good nights’ sleep, carry groceries, shower, wash clothes, reach into overhead cabinets, and to tuck in your shirt. Don’t let your shoulder discomfort and pain limit you from these activities or anything else you enjoy doing.
Minor inflammation or minor tears can become worsened if aggravating factors are not addressed and prevent you from playing tennis, reaching that plate from the upper cabinet or scratching that itch in the middle of your back. The sooner treatment is initiated, the better.
Shoulder Joint Discomfort and Common Causes
Shoulder joint discomfort and pain can restrict you from doing simple ordinary everyday tasks such as washing your hair, reaching into cabinets, doing laundry or washing the dishes. Perhaps you are no longer able to throw a ball with your kids or participate in any sports because of shoulder joint discomfort or pain. Common movements such as:
- Wear and tear from poor lifting mechanics and poor posture,
- Overuse without proper conditioning, like bench-pressing or golfing,
- Overhead activities, like throwing a ball or painting walls,
- Tackling sports, like football or wrestling,
- Repetitive movements like lift/holding a child; and
- Your dog pulling you with his leash
- Falling and breaking the fall with arms
Put you at risk for shoulder joint discomfort and pain and may lead to shoulder joint damage. If you keep pushing through these symptoms you may make the injury worse or even larger and it may begin to limit your ability to *reach behind your back to tuck in your shirt, *drive a car, or even *lift something simple like a grocery bag; or *throw a ball at practice.
Read full blogShoulder Pain and How Physical Therapy can help!
Our shoulder is the most flexible and movable joint in our body, consisting of several bones, muscles, joints and tendons. This means there are several ways the shoulder can become injured and cause pain.
There are many causes of shoulder pain but there are steps we can take to eliminate the discomfort.
Causes of Shoulder Pain
Sometimes, a sudden injury can occur that causes shoulder pain. Other times, repetitive motions can gradually cause joints, tendons and muscles in the shoulder area to hurt.
Read full blogReaching up or behind uncomfortable?
Ever found that reaching up to get a plate out of the cabinet was painful? Or maybe you feel a pinching in your shoulder when you lift your arms to washing your hair. These are common complaints we hear in the physical therapy world when patients are dealing with some kind of shoulder issue.
Shoulder pain is a very common problem and can cause a lot of difficulty with many daily activities. People frequently come to physical therapy with different complaints involving the shoulder.
Is discomfort making showering or dressing difficult?
By Devin Wurman, DPT
It’s pretty common for different joints to feel sore after repetitive use over even just a short period of time and the shoulder is no exception. Your shoulder is a joint that is very mobile and is made up of multiple muscles, which attach to the bones via tendons. Those muscles and tendons, the rotator cuff, are notorious for getting inflamed and becoming painful with overuse. In addition, as we get older, usually in our 50’s and 60’s, it’s common to find arthritis in the joint.
This joint can flex, extend, adduct and abduct
The shoulder is probably the most unstable joint in the entire body. The shoulder complex is the only joint in the human body that can perform true ‘circumduction,’ which is a combination of flexion, extension, adduction and abduction. The shoulder is a true ball and socket joint. The ball refers to the humeral head and the socket is the glenoid fossa.
The shoulder complex is help together by ligaments, tendons and muscles. The shoulders’ stability comes from the ligaments and tendons around it and the range of motions comes from the surrounding muscles.
Planning to Hit the Pool this Summer?
Are you planning to hit the pool this summer? Swimmers’ shoulder is a very broad term used to refer to a wide range of painful overuse injuries that occur in swimmers. There are various parts of the shoulder that can be injured due to swimming stroke so symptoms can be anything from localized pain near the shoulder joint, to pain that spreads and travels up your shoulder and neck or pain that travels down into your arm.
Read full blogWhat is the function of the Rotator Cuff?
May 22nd 2018By Kieran Loving, ATC
Who hasn’t used their shoulder at some point? Shoulders are primary movers in daily living for the upper body. At the center of ALL shoulder injuries is the rotator cuff. People frequently say, “I think it’s my rotator cuff, I think I tore it.” But do you know what the rotator cuff is? Where is it located? Is it one muscle? Is it a joint? What exactly is the rotator cuff?
Trouble lifting your arms to wash your hair?
By: Cierra Washington ATC
“My shoulder is killing me! I can’t even get my arm up to wash my hair!” Shoulder pain is one of the most common complaints we hear in the physical therapy world from patients. Whether the pain is sharp and stabbing, or full and achy, it causes the person a significant amount of discomfort and inability to perform their everyday activities. So what causes shoulder pain in the first place?
Read full blogLifting and carrying items uncomfortable
Shoulder pain is one of the most common problems we see in physical therapy. It’s not just athletes like baseball players or swimmers either; we treat patients of all ages for shoulder problems. This condition can be the result of repetitive overuse of muscles in the shoulder, poor posture or traumatic injury to the shoulder.
Repetitive overuse of muscles can lead to tendinopathy or irritation of the tendons that attach at the shoulder. Some example of common repetitive activities include:
- Gardening and yard work
- Throwing (think about a baseball player)
- Carrying/lifting
Poor posture can lead to impingement of the rotator cuff tendons and is often seen in individuals that sit at a desk for long hours each day or spend a lot of time at the computer.
Read full blog
