SHOULDER PAIN

Are you suffering with a pain in your shoulder that’s getting in the way of you being able to enjoy your sport? We ask a lot of our shoulders, and when we’re not playing sport, our everyday lives (which might be desk-based) can give the shoulder a hard time.

The shoulder is wonderfully clever arrangement of three separate joints, combined with an articulation of the shoulder blade (scapula) on the chest wall (thorax).  A complex scaffold of ligaments and muscles allow it to function both as a stable platform for transmitting force through the arm, and a mechanism for hand positioning.

But mobility comes at a price, and so it’s no surprise that the shoulder is more vulnerable to trauma and prone to overuse injuries. Our habits of daily life such as poor posture, work activities, and misguided exercise routines, can produce a muscularly imbalanced shoulder, leading to tendon degeneration, impingement of soft tissues, and chronic pain.

To compound the situation, there can often be a confusingly similar manner in the way that minor and more serious injuries can present. You might be unsure as to whether the pain is coming from your shoulder or your neck. It’s therefore really important to get an early, skilled assessment of a shoulder problem, so that the correct diagnosis and treatment can be given.

Are you suffering with a pain in your shoulder that’s getting in the way of you being able to enjoy your sport? We ask a lot of our shoulders, and when we’re not playing sport, our everyday lives (which might be desk-based) can give the shoulder a hard time.

The shoulder is wonderfully clever arrangement of three separate joints, combined with an articulation of the shoulder blade (scapula) on the chest wall (thorax).  A complex scaffold of ligaments and muscles allow it to function both as a stable platform for transmitting force through the arm, and a mechanism for hand positioning.

But mobility comes at a price, and so it’s no surprise that the shoulder is more vulnerable to trauma and prone to overuse injuries. Our habits of daily life such as poor posture, work activities, and misguided exercise routines, can produce a muscularly imbalanced shoulder, leading to tendon degeneration, impingement of soft tissues, and chronic pain.

To compound the situation, there can often be a confusingly similar manner in the way that minor and more serious injuries can present. You might be unsure as to whether the pain is coming from your shoulder or your neck. It’s therefore really important to get an early, skilled assessment of a shoulder problem, so that the correct diagnosis and treatment can be given.