Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain is a common complaint and is often experienced by sports people, manual workers and the general population (especially as we age). This is partially due to fact that the shoulder joint relies heavily on its muscles (especially the rotator cuff) for stability and good function. These rotator cuff muscles are very small, and as we age the blood supply to their tendons becomes poor, making rotator cuff tears and rotator cuff tendinopathy a fairly common occurrence. When the rotator cuff fails to work well, the humeral head (the upper arm part of the shoulder joint) can pinch the cuff tendons and the sub-acromial bursa against the acromion, causing pain when the arm is lifted. This can lead to a cycle of pain, inflammation, swelling, disuse and further weakness that can be difficult to break without appropriate care. Sometimes this will be termed as ‘impingement syndrome’, ‘shoulder bursitis’, ‘rotator cuff tendinopathy’ or a ‘rotator cuff tear’. All of these terms refer to issues in the shoulder where the rotator cuff doesn’t function well to control shoulder motion, resulting in pain and dysfunction. Luckily, Physiotherapists are experts in diagnosing and treating shoulder pain and getting you back to living a full life!

By conducting a thorough assessment we will be able to identify what is contributing to your pain and put in place effective treatment strategies to get you back on track. This might include strength and control exercises for the muscles of the shoulder and shoulder blade, modification of your technique if there are particular activities that are impacting your shoulder function, massage or dry needling for tight and overactive muscles or mobilisation and mobility work if there is a lack of adequate mobility. If you are experiencing shoulder pain our experienced physio’s can help!