What is shoulder pain?

Shoulder pain is pain that you feel in your shoulder area. It’s often a sign that a part of your shoulder is injured, strained, or not working properly.

Up to 2 in 3 people will experience shoulder pain at some point in their lifetime.

What symptoms are related to shoulder pain?

Usually, you can feel shoulder pain in the front of your shoulder, or at the top of your arm. Often, you can feel the pain only when you move your arm in a certain way. Sometimes you can also feel shoulder pain when you lie on your sore side when in bed at night.

Symptoms you may feel include:

  • pain deep in the shoulder joint
  • numbness
  • tingling
  • pins and needles

The shoulder pain you feel may radiate down into the arm or up into your neck or head. Sometimes the pain may be caused by problems with your neck or spine, rather than your shoulder.

You may experience weakness of the shoulder and upper arm or reduced movement

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What causes shoulder pain?

Your shoulder pain can be serious or minor. Your symptoms may be acute (meaning with a sudden onset) or chronic (meaning they develop over and last for a long period of time).

The causes of shoulder pain include:

  • osteoarthritis, due to general wear and tear with increasing age or an injury
  • inflammation of the shoulder capsule
  • inflammation in the fluid sacs in your joints, called bursitis
  • a frozen shoulder (when the tissues harden around your joint)
  • an injury to your shoulder (tears or strains, dislocation or fracture)
  • pain from a problem in your neck or spine
  • nerve pain

Other causes of shoulder pain can include:

  • weakness or overuse of the muscles around your shoulder, called the rotator cuff
  • poor posture
  • inflammation of the tendons, called tendonitis
  • problems with the muscles, ligaments or tendons around your shoulder

Often shoulder pain is caused by a combination of these factors — as one factor can aggravate another. For example a torn muscle in the rotator cuff might cause:

  • bursitis
  • tendonitis
  • inflammation of the ligaments

Your shoulder pain could sometimes be caused by an underlying medical condition, such as fibromyalgia or polymyalgia rheumatica. Occasionally, someone having a heart attack may have shoulder pain and shortness of breath.

In many cases of shoulder pain, it’s not be possible to find the exact cause. However, it’s still possible to treat your shoulder pain even if the exact cause is unknown.

 

 Contact us or book online today to get your shoulder pain back under control!

      J. Press
      Physiotherapist