Your Painful Shoulder
When your shoulder is painful and stiff, you quickly realize how much
you depend on this most flexible and mobile of joints for daily tasks.
Your chiropractic physician can evaluate and treat your shoulder. You
can help, too, with a program of home care and exercise to keep your shoulder
moving safely. Your chiropractor will tell you which of the following
shoulder problems you have.
- Neurologic Referred Pain - Pain can radiate to the shoulders
from compressed and inflamed nerve roots in your neck or from problems
in your internal organs. "Referred" pain is usually a dull
ache that gradually gets worse.
- Bursitis and tendonitis - Years of overusing your shoulder
by lifting, reaching, or repeated overwork can inflame the bursa and
tendons of your shoulder. The pain is localized, but limits shoulder
mobility.
- Degenerative Arthritis - As you age, normal wear and tear can
damage the bone, cartilage, and saclike bursa in your shoulder. unprotected
bone surfaces rub together, causing a dull ache that gets progressively
worse.
- Rotator Cuff Injury - One or more of the four rotator cuff
tendons that hold your arm in place can be inflamed or torn by injury.
The disorder is painful and limits the mobility of your shoulder.
- Frozen Shoulder - When your shoulder is in pain, you tend to
keep it immobile. This under use can lead to adhesions, which limit your
shoulder mobility until suddenly it "freezes". The pain can
be intense.
Your Remarkable, Fragile Shoulder
Imagine if your shoulder joint had no more flexibility than your hip joint.
Your arms, hands, and fingers couldn't do many of the everyday tasks your
remarkable shoulder joint permits. It is the most flexible, mobile, yet
fragile joint you have.
Your chiropractor can tell you which parts of your shoulder are causing
your problem.
Your Shoulder parts
Like all joints, your shoulder is comprised of many parts. The shoulder
joint includes bone, cartilage, a bursa lining, nerves, and many muscles,
tendons, and ligaments that hold it together. Your should is particularly
fragile because its exceptional flexibility and mobility make it vulnerable
to wear and tear.
Your Shoulder in Motion
 Whether
you are a computer operator or plumber, a weekend athlete or cheerleader,
it is your shoulder that allows your arms and hands to function with a
wide range of motion. Here are the ways strong, flexible muscles keep
your shoulder moving safely.
- Abduction-adduction is the up-down motion of your arm to the
side of your body.
- Flexion and extension are the forward-backward motions of your
arm.
- External rotation is the outward swing of your arm away from
the front of your body.
- Internal rotation is the inward swing of your arm toward the
front of your body.
Your Shoulder in Trouble
Overuse or underused can cause pain and stiffness that lead to immobility.
This, in turn, causes muscle weakness and adhesions around the joint which
further limit mobility and cause more pain. And so the cycle goes until
one day your shoulder stops working. Treatment, safe use, and exercise
can break the "shoulder in trouble" cycle.
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