ChiroTrust

The ChiroTrust Pledge

You are here: Home / Joint Pain / What Causes Shoulder Pain?

What Causes Shoulder Pain?

by

Each year, Americans make 7.5 million doctor visits related to shoulder/upper arm pain. After neck and back pain, shoulder pain is one of the top reasons patients seek chiropractic care. So, why are shoulder injuries so prevalent?

Though there are many possible explanations that address this question, there’s a simple answer: anatomy. There are essentially three joints that make up the shoulder: 1) scapulothoracic joint, 2) the glenohumeral joint, and 3) the acromioclavicular joint. These joints work simultaneously and in harmony to carry out the many tasks we throw at our upper extremities from swimming to swinging a tennis racket or even reaching up to hang a curtain or change a light bulb. The overall structure of the shoulder favors mobility over stability and as a result, there is a greater chance for injury. So, what can we do to prevent shoulder injuries?

Perhaps the most important strategy is to think before you act; that is, don’t take unnecessary chances such as over-lifting in especially awkward positions. Try asking someone else for help instead. Also, use proper form and stay conditioned. Research shows that a strong core (back and belly) can help prevent shoulder injuries.

Common shoulder conditions include (but are not limited to): inflammation (bursitis and tendinitis), instability (“sloppy” joints), arthritis (bone/cartilage injury/wear), fracture, and nerve injuries. Injuries can be acute (from an obvious cause) or more commonly, they can be chronic from wear and tear and can occur gradually over time (from no obvious, single cause).

It’s important to understand that a shoulder complaint may be the end result of dysfunction throughout the body, just as a knee problem can place added stress on the hip (or vice versa). So in addition to direct treatment of the shoulder, your doctor of chiropractic may identify and treat problems elsewhere in the body (forward head carriage, poor core strength, leg length deficiency, etc.) that likely contribute to your shoulder pain complaint. In order to promote a speedy recovery, your chiropractor may also recommend certain food or vitamins/supplements with the aim of reducing inflammation.

Related Articles

 Hip Pain or Low Back Pain – Which One Is It? Technically, the hip is the ball-and-socket joint between the long bone of the thigh and the pelvis; but more often than not, many people will point to a number of different places on their back or pelvis and say, “My hip is killing me” when it’s not really “the hip” at all! Hip pain can be located in the front (groin area), the side, the back, ...
Can Chiropractic Help Prevent a Hamstring Injury? Sports that require rapid acceleration and deceleration, cutting left and right, agility, jumping, and bending pose a unique risk for injury to the lower limbs. Hamstring injuries are the most prevalent injury in Australian rules football, afflicting 16% of players, causing an average of 3.4 missed matches per injury, accounting for the most time l...
A Weak Core May Contribute to Hip Pain When people think of hip pain, they generally turn to hip-specific exercises as a self–help strategy. However, recent evidence shows there’s a correlation between poor core stability of the trunk and injury to the lower extremities, which includes the hips. In March 2018, Belgian researchers reviewed data from nine previously published studies with...
Hip Pain and Iliotibial Band Syndrome WHAT IS IT? Iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) is one of the most common causes of hip and/or knee pain among athletes. The pain is caused from swelling or inflammation of a muscle group (including the tensor fascia lata or TFL, gluteus medius, and minimus muscles), the tendons that attach muscles to the knee or hip, and/or the bursa that surrounds th...