Shoulder Pain Treatment in Annapolis, MD

Injury to the shoulder can occur from an accident, fall, overuse, excessive movement, and more. The shoulder joint includes articulations with the humerus, scapula, and clavicle and is made up of numerous muscles, tendons, and ligaments. When just one of these areas suffers trauma or overuse it will quickly affect the other areas, which is why prompt treatment of shoulder injuries is so important.

The rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder are actually four different muscles that are the primary muscles responsible for stabilizing the shoulder joint. When any of these tendons become inflamed it can be referred to as “Tendinitis”. Typically tendinitis will occur from excessive movement/use over a period of time. This can include pushing your body without properly training or warming up for an activity. Symptoms can include swelling, pain, limited motion, and weakness of the joint.

This is the most common form of bursitis. There are many bursa in the body, these fluid filled sacs help act as a type of cushion between areas of high friction like bone and tissue in joints. When the bursa collects excessive fluid in it we refer to it as Bursitis. Injuries, overuse, and infections can cause bursitis and can lead to symptoms like pain and swelling that can occur both gradually or suddenly.

A very painful condition characterized by increased pain when raising the arm or laying on the affected side as well as inflammation and swelling. Essentially it is from tissues in the shoulder becoming pinched under part of the scapula (the acromion) that is located directly over their attachment on the humerus (arm bone). This condition is more common in patients over the age of 50 as degeneration of the shoulder joint can contribute to the onset of this syndrome. Those who play tennis, swimming, baseball and other activities requiring repetitive movements of the arm and shoulder have a higher risk of developing shoulder impingement.

It is typical to experience some wear in our joints as we age. It is the cumulative effect of both big and small injuries as well as repetitive and overuse activities that when given enough time result in arthritis. Decreased joint space, cartilage wear, inflammation, and decreased healthy fluid lead to a joint not moving properly and therefore arthritis causing pain.

Most often a “pinched” nerve at the shoulder is actually one of the nerves that exits out of the cervical spine being compressed by either bone or soft tissue of the shoulder complex. A more well known example of this is Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS). Because of the shoulders proximity to the brachial plexus (nerves exiting from the spine) and the complexity of the shoulder joint we commonly treat patients who are experiencing numbness, tingling, and/or burning of their arm or hand caused from their shoulder complex irritating a nerve exiting from the spine.

You may have heard this referred to as adhesive capsulitis. A condition characterized by both pain and stiffness in the shoulder joint. Overtime range of motion of the shoulder joint will become more and more limited resulting in a “frozen” or immovable joint. This condition can be extremely painful as well as restrictive for a patient and treatment should begin as soon as possible.

Due to the complexity of the shoulder as well as its proximity to the neck and upper back, poor posture as well as improper mechanics of any of these areas can and will affect the other areas. Many patients we see may have originally “just” had a minor shoulder problem that was left untreated and eventually developed into a bigger shoulder problem that is now also affecting the neck and/or the upper back.