Noticing shoulder pain whenever you raise your arm above your hand or after certain activities? The shoulder is highly mobile, which also leaves it prone to injury. While shoulder pain is never something that you want to deal with, if you are, you’ll be happy to hear that an osteopath can identify the cause of your shoulder pain and how to treat it.What is causing my shoulder pain?
This is the first question we need to answer before we can begin treating your pain. We will go through your medical history and ask you a variety of questions about your symptoms. From there we will examine your shoulder and recommend imaging tests such as X-rays or a CT scan. Common causes of shoulder pain include,
- Shoulder impingement
- Frozen shoulder
- Osteoarthritis
- Shoulder joint dislocation/instability
- Rotator cuff tear
- Joint pain
- Tendonitis
Why turn to an osteopath for shoulder pain?
As any osteopath will tell you, shoulder problems are fairly complex and may require long-term management and care to improve problems such as instability and pain. Some causes of shoulder pain, such as osteoarthritis, are chronic and require long-term care too. In this case, you certainly want a doctor that understands not just the cause of your pain but can also provide you with a variety of treatments and therapies that are non-invasive but can effectively improve how the body functions as a whole. This is what an osteopath can do.
An osteopath will look at several factors including your overall health, your age, and fitness level to determine which stretching and strengthening exercises to perform daily, along with other treatment options such as massage therapy. Other manipulative techniques help to stimulate blood flow to the area to promote the body’s natural healing response while alleviating muscle tension, pinched nerves, and other skeletal symptoms.
By prescribing certain exercises to our patients, we can improve posture and help to strengthen the muscles, ligaments, and tendons around the shoulder to provide better support, functionality, and stability to the shoulder joint. Not only can this improve your current condition but also prevent injuries and other problems in the future.
From poor posture to rotator cuff injuries, there are a host of conditions, injuries, and diseases that could impact the health and function of your shoulder. When these problems happen it’s a good idea to have an osteopath that you trust to provide you with the comprehensive treatment you need to speed up the healing process and to get chronic pain under control.