Arm & Shoulder Pain
Shoulder and arm pain
The shoulder joint is the most mobile joint in the body and it helps your arm to move in a variety of directions. When something goes wrong with the shoulder joint, your everyday life can be affected. Actions like reaching out, washing your hair, fastening the bra, getting dressed, driving or turning in bed can suddenly become very challenging. This can cause a great deal of pain and discomfort and the pain can be felt in the shoulder, along the arm and even in the fingers.
Shoulder pain can be caused by
- problems in the joint itself
- dysfunction in the cervical (neck)
- stiffness in thoracic area
- poor posture
- weakness in the muscles surrounding the shoulder girdle.
The referred pain in the arm/hand can have a neurological but also a muscular origin. The pain can be followed by pins & needles, loss of strength or numbness in some part of the arm and fingers.
Physiotherapy will help first of all to find the cause of the shoulder pain.
Rotator Cuff Problems
RC muscles problems are often caused by
- overuse or wrong technique in sport
- repeated strain
- band laxity and previous dislocation
- incorrect posture over prolonged time,
- poorly organised workstation, can also cause a lot of problem in the shoulder and arm structures.
Of course there are other structures which can cause shoulder pain. For neural problems, we will carefully assess the spine and nerves and where appropriate we can refer you to a diagnostic scan or to a specialist.
Besides treating the soft tissue our physiotherapists will check the quality of the movement and the muscular balance. We pay a lot of attention to the way you use your arm and the whole body during your daily activities and sport specific drills.
Check this blog if you love training in the gym:
- https://swissphysio.co.uk/rotator-cuff-tendinopathy-in-weightlifters/
Where appropriate you will teach you how to stretch and strengthen the involved muscles. Manual therapy, kinesio taping, and exercises are usually of great benefit. By chronic inflammation we will also use shockwave therapy