What to do about Shoulder Pain?
Chronic shoulder pain is most common in ages 40 to 60. It’s even more common in those who repeatedly perform overhead motion at their work or participate in racket sports like tennis or baseball. Shoulder pain can cause difficulty with sleeping if not dealt with early, and improper diagnosis and treatment can lead to months or even years of shoulder pain.
If you want to get rid of your shoulder pain, you must identify the root cause and perform the right exercises to fix the problem.
The most common cause of shoulder pain is from injuries and inflammation to ligaments, tendons or bursae (fluid-filled sac around shoulder joint) that surround the shoulder joint. Long standing inflammation can cause the rotator cuff muscles and the capsule around the joint itself to stiffen and will lead to a loss of movement.
When to Seek Help
If you experience persistent shoulder pain at rest or with movement and it’s been over three weeks and the condition is worsening, you should seek professional help from a McKenzie method physiotherapist that can properly diagnose the pain and start you on the road to recovery.
At MECH physiotherapy we exclusively use the McKenzie method to analyze the movement of the shoulder and its correlation with your shoulder symptoms.
For example, we look for the elbow to line up with your shoulder when you place your hand behind you back as shown with the red line in the picture below.
Treatment for most shoulder pain should involve hands on mobilization therapy to help the flexibility of the shoulder joint and strengthening exercises.