Understanding Shoulder Pain
The shoulder is the most mobile and fastest moving joint in your body.
It is capable of speeds up to 7500 degrees per second. It only accomplishes this by being a very open joint that requires a high degree of dynamic stability using its rotator cuff muscles.
Because of all of this, the shoulder is vulnerable to a wide range of injuries involving the structures around the joint such as the rotator cuff tendons, bursa and capsule.
The primary goal of physiotherapy for shoulder pain is to reduce pain and determine the root cause of the dysfunction. We call shoulder pain a “movement disorder” because the area of pathology will commonly not be the area of dysfunction.
In other words there is likely a weakness, tightness or other dysfunctional movement that causes a compression or repetitive strain on the injured tissues. Therefore it is the job of your physiotherapist not to treat the pathology, but to solve the root cause of the dysfunction.
Understanding the complex nature of the injury and helping to find a solution to the problem can be quite challenging, which is why a very thorough assessment is often necessary for these conditions.
When it comes to treating the shoulder there are a couple of important points to remember:
They often take time. Rotator cuff related pain can commonly last for 12 months or longer without appropriate treatment. But good news, with treatment they will usually be mostly resolved within 3 months.
Even with a rotator cuff tear, the majority of pain and dysfunction can be resolved within 6 months of starting appropriate exercises.Exercises are important. Exercise is the front-line care for these conditions.
Manual therapy such as massage and dry-needling, cortisone injections and other passive treatments can help with pain relief but will be unlikely to make a long term change by themselves.
That's why it is very important to stick to your exercise plan consistently and see your physiotherapist to progress the plan forwards.
If you’re experiencing shoulder pain, don't wait for it to get worse.
Consult your physiotherapist to explore how they can help you to get back to living pain-free and enjoying all of the activities you love.
