shoulder pain

Shoulder pain can make the most ordinary routines extremely difficult to perform and in some cases, excruciatingly painful.

Shoulder pain may be diagnosed as subacromial impingement, rotator cuff tears, tendinitis and bursal pathology. Most of these can fall under the terminology of rotator cuff tendinopathy or rotator cuff related pain. Other shoulder conditions may include stiff painful shoulders as a result of osteoarthritis or frozen shoulder as well as instability. Your shoulder pain may even originate in your neck, causing referral pain into your shoulder.

You can get relief from your shoulder pain without surgery or injections!
A graduated exercise program is as effective as surgery for most problems of the shoulder. Exercise significantly reduces the need for surgery by up to 80%. (Holmgren et al 2012; Kuhn et al 2013) and is as effective as surgery(Kukkonen et al 2014).

There are many different types of exercise programs. At Target Physio, your exercise program is personalised, meaning that we combine different elements of exercise and tailor it to you, your presenting condition and your target goals. On average, rehabilitation programs can take 12 weeks – this can differ depending on your personal condition, response to exercise and program adherence (do your homework!).

Manageable pain during Therapeutic Exercise does not prevent a successful outcome.
Muscles and tendons at the shoulder are generally strong. Experiencing pain while you exercise typically does not mean there is harm being done to your shoulder. Pain during exercise is commonly related to loading – you’ve gone too hard too fast and haven’t allowed your body enough time to repair. Your personalised exercise program takes loading into consideration. Working with your Physiotherapist, we personalise your exercise program to you, guiding you through the appropriate exercise load for you and your body.

Think again about your scan results.

Medical imaging is used to see the structures inside the body to help clinicians understand the cause of a problem and establish a diagnosis. For the shoulder, you may have X-rays, Ultrasound, MRI or CT scans. These can assist with the diagnosis of problems such as fractures, cancers, dislocations and tendon tears.

BUT imaging findings such as tendon tears and bursal thickening are just as common in people with no shoulder symptoms as they are in people with symptoms. Asymptomatic tears can be twice as common as symptomatic tears (Minagawa et al 2013). This can also be the case with elite athletes. These tears do not stop them competing at a high level. Rotator cuff tear severity is not associated with pain level (Dunn et al 2014). Tendon tears in your shoulder relate more to your age than your shoulder pain and pathology. This can mean that what is seen in imaging is not usually the cause of your shoulder problem.

Common Treatments
By far, most people with shoulder pain manage well with a carefully constructed, personalised exercise program. For those not coping there are additional treatments such as medication and injections (which may carry risks). Surgery is always an option, but you must be aware that recovery from surgery can take between 3 months to a year.