Shoulder Pain Physio at Physio4Wycombe
Shoulder pain requiring physiotherapy is an extremely common complaint, and is a symptom that occurs in men, women and children. It is crucial to make an accurate diagnosis of the origin of your shoulder pain so that any appropriate treatment can be targeted at the cause.
The shoulder joint is a relatively unstable bony arrangement designed as such to allow a large range of movement of your upper limb. As a result of this bony design the shoulder joint relies heavily on muscles, tendons, ligaments, joint capsule, and the labarum to help make it stable. Many shoulder problems are caused by the breakdown of these soft tissues, traumatic injury as well as this excessive use of the shoulder can cause these soft tissues to break down faster causing shoulder pain and loss of function requiring physiotherapy.
Common Causes Of Shoulder Pain
Rotator cuff disorders and bursitis problems are a very common cause of shoulder pain. Bursitis occurs when the bursa, a small fluid-filled sac that helps protect the shoulder joint is inflamed. This occurs commonly when playing sports that overuse the shoulder or by jobs and hobbies with frequent overhead reaching or positioning.
Tendinopathy of the rotator cuff is another very common cause of shoulder pain, this pain can be as a result of inflamed tendons, tendons becoming pinched or impinged by parts around the shoulder as well as tears to the tendon themselves. Tendon pathology can be caused by simply falling on an outstretched hand or onto your elbow, as well as many sports, occupations and hobbies can cause strain on the rotator cuff tendons.
Dislocation and Separation: Dislocation of the shoulder joint as well as acromioclavicular joint separation injuries are common causes of shoulder pain, injuries caused during sports or falls. Although not exclusively so dislocation and separation injuries do tend to be a younger persons injury due to activity levels at these younger ages.
Frozen Shoulder: Also called “adhesive capsulitis”. A frozen shoulder is a common condition that leads to stiffness of the joint. Movement of the shoulder becomes very restricted with a frozen shoulder and typically in the early stages a frozen shoulder can be very painful.
Torn Labrum: Labral injuries are common and can occur as the result of a traumatic event or as a developed condition, SLAP lesions are a common type of labral tear seen at Physio4Wycombe, these SLAP lesions can be caused by a fall onto an outstretched hand and shoulder dislocations among other things.
Shoulder Arthritis: Although shoulder arthritis is less common than either knee and hip arthritis, osteoarthritis caused by “wear and tear” on the shoulder can be a cause of significant shoulder pain. At Physio4Wycombe we are frequently involved in the conservative management of patients complaining of shoulder pain as a result of shoulder arthritis engaged to improve function and relieve pain.