Symptoms Of Shoulder Pain
As one of the most complex joints in the body, the shoulder is formed where the humerus joins with the scapula creating a ball and socket mechanism. Apart from the humerus and scapula, other bones found around the shoulder include the acromion, clavicle and coracoids.
As a result of the ball and socket structure, the shoulder is able to have a wide range of movements. You can move your arm forward, backward, to the sides and upwards. All these movements are accomplished with ease until pain becomes present.
Causes of shoulder pain
It is quite common to injure yourself when working, training or even when sleeping on the wrong side. Furthermore, there are diseases that may affect your body and cause discomfort around the shoulder.
While these diseases do not affect the shoulder directly, they do affect other organs in the body such as liver, heart, gallbladder and spine. As a result of the diseases adverse effects, the shoulder will be affected.
Furthermore, as one gets older, normal wear and tear weakens the ball and socket structure. There are other sources that result in pain around the shoulders. They include:
1. Shoulder joint instability
2. Frozen shoulder
3. Dislocation
4. Bone fractures
5. Strain
6. Pinched nerves
7. Tendonitis
8. Rotator cuff pain
How to diagnose shoulder pain
It is a common practice among people to seek help from the internet when they experience pain on their body, for example, shoulder pain treatment. While information available on the internet is credible and can help you to self diagnose a problem, the first step you need to take is make an appointment with a shoulder joint pain doctor.
At the hospital, the doctor will start examining your shoulder pain rotator cuff before making any recommendation. A physical examination will be carried out to determine what area of the rotator cuff is problematic.
Furthermore, the doctor will check for any redness, swelling or even signs of dislocation. If any of the symptoms described above are present, the doctor will be able to make the right prognosis. There are occasions where the doctor may need further clarification to know if other problems are present.
This calls for the use of professional techniques like X-rays, MRI and blood tests. In an X-ray exam, plain x-rays will be used and help in revealing the narrowing of the space located between the joint bones. This is necessary so that the doctor can find out if any damage has occurred to the bones or signs of arthritis.
On the other hand, MRI helps to reveal more details about shoulder joint pain. This is because the equipment uses imaging technology assuring you of a non invasive procedure. If blood tests are carried out, the doctor will be able to learn the probability of polymyalgia rheumatic.
How to reduce symptoms of shoulder pain
Avoid strenuous activities
When training, your shoulder may sprain especially around the acromioclavicular joint. If this happens, your shoulder pain diagnosis doctor will advise you to avoid strenuous activities that involve moving your arms across your body, for example, engaging in weight lifting.
Instead, your shoulder must stay mobile by performing light tasks only. Heavy lifting should not be done for the next 8 to 12 weeks. If the problem persists, the doctor may provide a sling that you will be required to wear and support your shoulder for the coming weeks.
Apply cold press
As noted earlier, it is quite common to injure your shoulder when training whether in the field or at the gym. The injury will result in you experiencing pain around the shoulder.
To ease the discomfort and prevent any further damage, it is highly advisable to apply an ice pack. This will help in reducing inflammation as well as pain.
One thing you need to note when applying an ice pack is to avoid direct skin contact. Instead, wrap the ice pack with a damp towel. This will help to prevent ice burn.
To ensure the inflammation or pain is reduce effectively, apply the ice pack for 10 to 20 minutes. Ease of pain in the affected area helps to promote healing.
Apply hot press
Instead of an ice pack, you will be applying heat to the affected area. There are two ways of accomplishing this. For starters, you may opt to stand in a slightly hot shower for 5 to 10 minutes. This will help to alleviate any swelling or inflammation.
Alternatively, you can fill a hot water bottle with hot water and apply it over the injured shoulder. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. The good thing about using a hot water bottle is that you can apply it while lying down comfortably.
By applying the hot water bottle a few times over the coming weeks, your shoulder will experience relief from pain and discomfort.
Massaging the problematic area
Apart from heavy training and other strenuous activities, bad posture and weak muscles play an important role when it comes to shoulder pain. Shoulder massage techniques have been found to provide relief in case of shoulder pain or inflammation.
It is important to understand that for the best relief, it’s wise to avoid self massage. Instead, seek the services of a professional massage therapist. Why?
1. They are in a good position to reach areas on your body that you
will be unable to.
2. They are well versed with different pressure points thus provide
relief within minutes.
3. They know how to apply just the right amount of pressure.
This will surely relieve shoulder pain discomfort.
One of the best massage techniques that assure you of relief is Swedish massage. Why? It helps to increase oxygen levels resulting in a decrease in muscle toxins as well as improve circulation in the body.
Final Thoughts
It is important to know that shoulder joint pain can be avoided by simply learning the proper techniques, especially when it comes to weight lifting and training. You can improve your posture while working at your desk or when walking.
If you dislocate your shoulder during training, seek medical assistance. Don’t forget to eat a balanced diet as this helps to nourish your body and allow new muscles to grow.
A shoulder impingement is an injury of the shoulder muscles caused by a heavy impact, crash, or a sudden movement. The symptoms may include pain on top of the shoulder or the rotator cuff.
You will also feel pain while raising the shoulder or moving it. Usually, athletes suffer from shoulder impingement syndrome and its symptoms, but any accident can make us victims too and negatively impact our shoulders and its muscles.
WHAT ARE IT,S KEY SYMPTOMS?
You will be unable to reach your hands behind the back. Even if you do, it will be with great difficulty and pain in your muscles. Also, when you move your arms along the rotator cuff or move your arm out to the side in a sixty-degree arc, you will feel a surge of pain.
It is not easy to detect the symptoms and assess them yourself. You do not know the extent of your injury, and might wind up causing more damage if you are careless. So it is best you go to a therapist to get it checked out.
DIAGNOSIS: HOW TO DETERMINE WHAT,S WRONG?
When you go to a sports injury expert, they will do a detailed assessment by asking questions about your injury.
He will ask about your medical history and any previous injuries incurred to your shoulders. Keep in mind, going to a therapist is very important to locate your injury and to receive a full and correct assessment of your impingement.
The therapist will look and feel around your shoulder, trying to locate your points of pain. He will also look for changes in your skin temperature and for places with muscular tightness.
Afterwards, the therapist might want you to move your hands to see the range of motion on your shoulders.
He or she will try to locate for any muscle weakness while comparing your normal arm to the injured one. You will be the best judge as to what is okay and what is not. Let he or she know what you are feeling.
TESTS THAT YOU CAN TAKE:
There are different kinds of tests that a therapist/ sports professional will ask you to take in order to complete your assessment. A few of them are listed below for informational purposes.
1. Empty Can—
In this test, the therapist asks you to put your arms out in front of you at an angle of 45 degrees to your body and point your thumb downwards to the floor as if holding an empty can.
The medical professional will then ask you to slowly raise your arm as he will provide resistance to your movement. This tests the Supraspinatus tendon of your arms.
2. Neer’s Sign—
To look for impingement on the Supraspinatus tendon, the professional will try to position your arm with the thumb facing downwards to the ground, and again move your arm to an angle of 45 degrees to your body.
He or she will try to move your arms up to a position above your head. If you experience pain and heavy discomfort, there’s a chance of the impingement of the tendon.
3. Hawkin’s- Kennedy Test—
The professional will try to move your hands up and in front of you to an angle of 90 degrees, given that the elbow is bent.
They will try to rotate it and find the spot of pain between by turning the wrist down and the elbow up. If this gives you pain and discomfort, you have an impingement of the Supraspintus tendon.
TREATMENT:
Shoulder impingement syndrome can be treated by a lot of methods. You can simply take and ingest oral inflammatory medications, commonly called aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen which are the most easily available drugs to get rid of the immediate pain.
The response to these medications differ from person to person, so it is of utmost importance to first secure a prescription from a doctor who will recommend the best medication for you.
If the medication doesn’t work in a week or two, alert your doctor to how your body reacts to the medicine and get another one prescribed.
Daily morning slow- stretching in a warm shower might help, and you could slowly make your thumb work its way up and behind your back.
Don’t try to rush the process and avoid playing sports for a while; especially if you are an athlete, to stop receiving repetitive injuries in the same arm before recovery.
SHOULD YOU GO FOR IT?
You can feel uncomfortable any point of time. It might be when you’re playing on the field, and it may even happen when you’re sleeping.
Your doctor might recommend a physiotherapist for you who will help you work out by stretching your arm with exercises which will further strengthen the shoulder muscles.
If your symptoms persist and do not go away in a while, your doctor might recommend you a cortisone- based injection which is a viable anti- inflammatory medicine.
If that doesn’t help, the doctor will send you to get an MRI or an arthrogram done to see the extent of your injuries and evaluate a better treatment for you.
IN CONCLUSION:
A majority of people have been successfully treated with the help of anti- inflammatory drugs and injections.
Regular stretching exercises and avoiding further injuries until the shoulder has had time to completely recover are very important.
Nobody can take care of your body, unless you commit to it too. If you want to recover in a short period of time, follow your doctor,s recommendations.
Remove or lessen pain in the joints of the body