Written By: James Hayes
Chiropractor
Shoulder pain is a common condition that we see at Dee Why Chiropractic Care and is something we can help you recover from!
Shoulder pain can happen to the active individual or can gradually creep up on you if you have desk job. Being on the Northern Beaches many people come in complaining of shoulder pain because they play sports that involve lots of shoulder activity such as surfing, swimming, golf and tennis.
Due to the shoulders ability to move in such a tremendous range of motion it is prone to injury. It sacrifices stability for mobility!
Common causes of shoulder pain in sports
SLAP tears
This is a tear of the cartilage that helps hold the shoulder in the socket. SLAP tears are commonly referred to as labral tears. They occur over time due to repetitive overhead movements of the shoulder such as playing tennis, baseball or swimming.
Symptoms include:
- Athletic performance is reduced
- Throwing motions cause pain
- Decreased shoulder range of motion
- You can’t pinpoint the exact location of the pain
- Clicking, grinding or popping in the shoulder
- Achy shoulder at rest
Shoulder instability
This can happen in contact sports such as rugby or in ones that require repetitive shoulder motions such as tennis.
We have all heard of someone who has dislocated their shoulder or you may be one of them! Shoulder instability occurs when the muscles, ligaments and tendons can no longer hold the ball and socket joint together.
Symptoms include:
- Severe sudden onset of pain
- Arm weakness and lack of movement
- Swelling of the shoulder joint
- Dangling arm, unable to move without severe pain
Rotator cuff tears
Similar to SLAP tears, rotator cuff tears occur in people who play repetitive overhead sports.
Symptoms Include:
- Unable to sleep on the aggravated shoulder
- Certain movements such as moving your arm above your head causes a sharp pain at the front or top of the shoulder
- Can be a dull ache in the shoulder at rest that may extend into the arm
- Decreased shoulder range of motion
Rotator cuff tears can occur in individuals with poor posture as the tendons of the rotator cuffs become more aggravated, leading to a tear over time.
How Dee Why Chiropractic Care can help!
We use a combination of techniques, which can help decrease the pain and restore normal motion to the shoulder; this involves correcting the muscle patterns and treating the injured tissue. Home exercises will be prescribed to complement the treatment done in clinic.
Treatment techniques used to treat shoulder pain:
- Shoulder mobilisation
- Active release techniques
- Dry needling
- IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilisation)
- Theraband exercises
- Chiropractic adjustments
- Sports taping
If you have any questions or think we can help you, don’t hesitate to contact us. Stop the pain today!