I’m sure that you or somebody closely related to you currently has shoulder pain or has experienced it in the past. If you have experienced it first hand you know the debilitating effects of a painful shoulder.
Who would have thought that reaching behind into your back seat or trying to wash your back would be so incredibly painful. When this happens you no longer take for granted the amazing shoulder. But why do you have this pain…what in the world could be going on inside your shoulder that you lose sleep over (LITERALLY!)?
The Paradox of the Shoulder
No other joint in the human body requires so much mobility, while at the same time requiring so much stability. Whether you are a professional baseball pitcher or an office worker reaching into an overhead cabinet, the shoulder is a full service joint. I am telling you, the shoulder is the real deal.
When you start to have pain in the shoulder…well you know what happens. You lose mobility (the shoulder gets STIFF!) and you lose muscle function (the shoulder becomes WEAK!). The beautiful piece of art, the shoulder, begins to show cracks. The piece of art becomes fragile.
Why do I have this pain?
Please keep in mind that you need to have a skilled physical therapist perform a thorough evaluation in order to fully assess the shoulder and it’s contributing relatives…the neck and the shoulder blade.
However, my experience after treating thousands of shoulder patients, leads me to list out the following four reasons as the main causes of shoulder pain: rotator cuff strain/tear, shoulder labral tear, osteoarthritis of the shoulder or the neck, and weakness of the muscles surrounding the shoulder blade. More to come on this in future blogs!
The reasons behind pain are deep and beyond the scope of this article. But you should know that abnormal stresses on soft tissues in our body leads to inflammation which then leads to pain.
Your physical therapist will help to increase your shoulder’s tolerance to physical stress. That way you can do more physical activity without excess stress on your soft tissues.
OK, I Have Pain, Now What?
I have one major piece of advice for you. Are you ready for this landmark statement? DON’T IGNORE THE PAIN! My opinion, based on years of experience, is that any pain that lingers more than a week will rarely, and I mean rarely, go away and not reappear. In fact, an article from 1996 (trust me, this 24 year old article correlates to today!) by Croft, Pope, and Silman states 40 to 50% of patients with shoulder pain report persistent shoulder pain or recurrence of shoulder pain after 12 months of pain onset.
Seek out a physical therapist with advanced Residency or Fellowship training in orthopedic manual physical therapy. This practitioner has in-depth knowledge of the shoulder and all its contributing parts. The source of the injury can only be ascertained after a thorough evaluation is performed on the area.
Oh yes, I know, your MRI shows you have a rotator cuff partial tear. The radiologist didn’t lie, you do have a rotator cuff tear. However that may not be the source of your pain. What if you have a bulging disc putting pressure on a nerve in your neck? And what if that nerve goes straight to supply muscles of the shoulder? The reality is that the pain this person feels could closely resemble pain from a rotator cuff tear.
Conclusion
You know and I know that shoulder pain is miserable. Just like you take your car to a mechanic when it stops working, you need to take your body to see the skilled physical therapist to restore your shoulder, the piece of art, to its most beautiful state.
iMove TelePT is here for you. Our advanced physical therapists will get you on the right track, all while you are in the safety and convenience of your own home. For more information, contact our Founder and Physical Therapist Dr. Michael Gorman at mgorman@imovephysicaltherapy.com or message him at (636) 578-3649.