Shoulder pain at MPR Health
Shoulder pain is a painful condition that often prevents people from doing every day activities. From being able to work and sleep to going for a jog and playing with their kids, figuring out the cause of their shoulder pain becomes a high-priority. Let’s cover some of the causes of shoulder pain and how we at MPR Health can help.
What is shoulder pain?
The shoulder is a complex joint with a wide range of movement and demands. This allows the shoulder to be incredibly robust and able to compensate and adapt to many different environments. This adaptability can come at a cost however, as the shoulder is able to compensate readily for injuries and issues in the shoulder. This can lead to shoulder pain and conditions often having multiple components and being harder to treat and manage.
For the purpose of this blog we will break shoulder conditions into 2 separate areas, acute injuries and chronic issues.
Acute shoulder pain
We’ve all been there, playing with the kids in the backyard, throwing a ball at the park, playing social sport on the weekend, or even falling on a night out. Injuries are an unfortunate reality in our lives and the shoulder can get its fair share of them. But how does an acute injury change how we may assess, treat and manage the shoulder?
Acute injuries often have a trauma or strain at onset that we want to identify. This can help us assess the potential severity and complexity of the damage that has occurred. It is also important in understanding how the injury has occurred, in case it is likely to happen again in the future.
Often acute injuries are extremely painful, inflamed and can even be guarded and protected. These factors can all affect how we may assess the area. If we suspect that the area may have suffered a tear or fracture, we will not put you through unnecessary pain by testing the area and may send for imaging to get a clear picture of what is happening so we can formulate the best plan.
If the area is not in extreme pain we will use a mixture of questioning, palpation, orthopaedic testing and range and strength testing to identify the likely structures involved.
Treatment and recovery from acute injury is mostly dependent on how good the blood flow is the the damaged structure, how much we can off-load from the structure to allow a better healing environment, and how early and accurate diagnosis and treatment starts.
Chronic shoulder pain
Chronic injuries occur when the structures and tissues involved in the injury, never fully healed and recovered. This often causes the shoulder to adapt to the injury instead of healing it. These cases are very common and can even get worse over time as the original injury degenerates or surrounding structures that have compensated for the injury begin to overload.
Chronic injuries have a different treatment and management arc when compared to acute injury as there tends to be not as much focus on severe pain, but more focus on understanding the root cause of the problem and translating that to lasting change.
Some common structures and tissues we see presenting with chronic injuries include:
- Tendon injuries
- Undiagnosed or resolved damage and tears
- Scapular instability
- Subacromial impingement
- Frozen shoulder
As you can see, the shoulder is an incredible joint and vital to an enjoyable experience of life. If you have been suffering from pain or impaired movement in your shoulder, talk to one of our practitioners at MPR Health so you can get back to the life you love.
Osteopathy North Shore Sydney
We're ready when you are
MPR Health proudly offers a wide range of Osteopathy services & treatments covering back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, hip pain, headaches, upper back pain, sports injuries, work-related injuries and ergonomic assessment.
