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If you feel soreness or notice a clicking sound when you move your shoulder, you may think you worked out too hard and the issue will go away with some rest. Unfortunately, ignoring aches, pinching or a lack of fluidity does not make it disappear and, with time, the issue will likely worsen.
You may take it for granted but the shoulder is a complex area of the body. A ball-and-socket joint, ligaments, tendons, muscles and cartilage all work together to provide range of motion, stability and flexibility.
In fact, our shoulder is the body’s most mobile joint, passing through three planes of motion. Yet there’s a downside: Your shoulder joint is one of the most vulnerable to injury.
Issues Involving the Shoulder Joint
It’s a common misconception that only athletes get shoulder injuries. Yet, overstretching, an abnormal movement or getting into an accident can also affect the shoulder joint, as can age and overuse injuries.
Common issues involving the shoulder joint include:
- Feeling Stiff and Sore: A stiff and sore sensation can indicate you slept on your shoulder incorrectly. It can also mean something more serious if the discomfort doesn’t go away, including a repetitive motion injury, athletic injury or early-stage osteoarthritis.
- Pain: If you can’t get through daily tasks without a sharp sensation traveling down your arm, the tissues around the joint may be inflamed. Especially if you’re dealing with a limited range of motion, the sensation may be due to tendonitis, bursitis, a fracture, arthritis or the shoulder blade pressing against the nerves. If the pain comes on suddenly or is accompanied by swelling, you may be dealing with a fracture, dislocation or a torn muscle, and the condition requires immediate medical attention.
- Can’t Raise Your Arm: The inability to fully lift your arm is a condition known as frozen shoulder. You not only feel pain and stiffness but find it next to impossible to complete basic daily tasks, including dressing, eating and lifting. Although this can point to a severely inflamed shoulder, it also indicates the possibility of a rotator cuff injury, a condition that may require surgery to heal.
- Weak Sensation: A weakness in your arm may also indicate a rotator cuff injury, torn ligament or your bones rubbing against the joint’s tissues. In this case, you find it difficult to carry items over a certain weight.
- Deformed Joint: Not only will you feel a significant amount of pain, but the shoulder takes on a misshapen appearance when the humerus fully or partially detaches from the shoulder joint.
- Crepitus: You notice a popping sensation in your joints, the reason for which can range from bursitis and osteoarthritis to overuse injuries, dislocation and fracture.
Common Shoulder Joint Injuries
If you’re dealing with shoulder pain, regardless of the source, you could be living with one of the following conditions.
Rotator Cuff Injury
This condition affects the group of four rotator cuff muscles surrounding the shoulder joint. An overuse- and age-related injury, you’ll have less use of the joint, which may be accompanied by pain, especially when you have to lift something or an object hits your shoulder.
Unfortunately, the diagnostic process can be lengthy, with a doctor ruling out arthritis or a neck injury before recommending a course of physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medications.
In more extreme cases, surgery may be required to fix the issue. Unfortunately, ignoring the condition may result in decreased joint function.
Frozen Shoulder
Formally known as adhesive capsulitis, frozen shoulder occurs when a joint’s tissues become thicker and grow tighter. As this happens, bands of scar tissue begin to form and you find your range of motion lessened. After some time, you may develop swelling, pain and stiffness around the joint and find you have trouble performing daily activities or reaching for items.
Repetitive Motion Injuries
A repetitive motion injury to the shoulder may manifest as tendonitis or bursitis. The tendons, ligaments and other tissues are repeatedly strained or pulled, to the point the joint becomes swollen and limits your range of motion, which could eventually lead to a tear. Learn more about how repetitive motion injuries occur.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage surrounding the bone wears down over time and affects joints throughout the body, including the shoulder. You’ll notice an aching sensation around your shoulder blade, which may develop into chronic joint pain. While osteoarthritis is not reversible, it can be managed with physical therapy and medication.
Are you experiencing shoulder pain? Rather than waiting for it to go away, work with the physical therapists at Integrated Rehab for shoulder-specific exercises to help restore movement.
To learn more, contact us today.