There are many forms of shoulder injuries, ranging from your average Rotator cuff strain and tendonitis problems to the more chronic frozen shoulder. The interesting thing about shoulders is that the nature of the injury, and how the injury came about, determines how quickly or slowly the injury heals. For example, if you get a shoulder injury playing rugby or get a bang to the shoulder from a fall, with the proper care and treatment these types of injuries usually heal very successfully. However, if a shoulder starts to be irritated, becomes very stiff and sore, and the patient gets sharp pain on lifting the arm in particular directions, this is where complications start to arise.
If these symptoms arise for ‘no apparent reason’, and the range of movement in the shoulder becomes extremely limited, this is where shoulders can take a long time to heal, and only with the necessary exercise regime and manual therapy can the injury improve. Unfortunately a common practice is to ignore these symptoms and ‘hope’ they disappear, but the reality is if ignored the shoulder problem will just get worse and worse. The best thing to do is get it treated sooner rather than later.
The shoulder blades are suspended on either side of the spine and are held in their positions by a lot of muscles that attach both on the front and back of these blades (scapulae ). Because of the positions of these scapulae and the nature of their suspension they are always working against gravity, and if the muscles that are attached to them are not in their appropriate length or strength, various imbalances can occur within the muscles which in turn cause nerve impingement which leads to chronic pain and discomfort. So when a shoulder problem arises for ‘no apparent reason’, it’s a combination of overuse, abuse, misuse, and disuse, which leads to bad posture which causes all these imbalances in the shoulder to occur.
Marvellous; now we know why shoulder problems can occur, so what can we do to go about fixing the injury? First things first - make an appointment with your local physical therapist who will do various tests on the range of movement of the shoulder joint to narrow down the nature of the shoulder problem. The ‘hands on’ nature of this treatment will also break down any adhesions or gluing that occurs within the muscle, which in turn takes pressure off the nerves. If the problem is only a small one, literally one or two of these treatments will sort this problem out. However if the range of movement of the shoulder joint is very limited then the treatment needed is much more extensive. A lot of exercise will be needed to increase the range of movement in the joint and strengthening exercises will also be instructed. But a deep tissue massage with various muscle energy techniques works wonders for shoulders and having worked with a lot of shoulder injuries over the years, the results from a physical therapy session is very significant.
To book your appointment with local physical therapist Emer Dunne just ring (090 ) 6477430.
