Shoulder Pain Relief

Want Fast Shoulder Pain Relief? Try Physical Therapy

Wave Goodbye to Your Shoulder Pains!

Shoulder pain can take several forms. When you reach the top shelf to put dishes away or when you try to find a comfortable sleeping position, it can show up. As a result of an accident, it can show up and make you feel a dull pain or even make you feel as though your shoulder is immobile.

There are various explanations why you can feel shoulder pain, and the severity can range from a strained muscle’s temporary discomfort to arthritis’s agonizing bone-on-bone friction. Whatever the case, Pace Physical Therapy is committed to supplying you with natural modalities for pain control that will easily alleviate your shoulder pain.

Why am I experiencing shoulder pain?

Your shoulder has the ability to achieve many physical feats. Compared with all the joints in the body, it also has the greatest range of motion. The increased risk of injury that causes shoulder pain and discomfort, however, also comes with its complications. The head of the upper arm bone, or “humerus,” fits perfectly in the corresponding room inside the shoulder blade or “scapula,” as a “ball-and – socket” joint. Fortunately, a dense layer of cartilage secures the ends of the humerus, preventing the bones from rubbing together.

The tendons are often shielded from rubbing against the bones by fluid-filled sacs called “bursae.” Tendons bind to a group of bones, known as the rotator cuff, the bones in the shoulder. Pain will result if anything goes wrong with the intricacies that make up the shoulder’s mechanical interplay.

Depending on what is causing it, the type of pain you feel in your shoulder can vary. Impingement pain, for example , usually happens when you lift your arm up, and begin in the range of motion at a certain point. Any time you move your arm in some directions, pain resulting from a degenerated shoulder can cause persistent aches. Acute injuries can lead to sudden and extreme pain that makes it difficult for your shoulder to function at all.

A common injury – rotator cuff tears

The muscles and tendons covering your shoulder joint are composed of your rotator cuff. Often, due to repeated overhead movements such as those done in sports such as tennis or certain occupations such as carpentry, the rotator cuff may become torn or injured. You will normally experience a dull ache deep in your shoulder, arm fatigue, trouble reaching behind your back, and disrupted sleep due to pain if you are having a rotator cuff injury or’ torn shoulder.’ Our natural and non-invasive approaches at Pace Physical Therapy will help alleviate your shoulder pain and repair your injury to the rotator cuff.

While rotator cuff injuries often require surgery if they are serious enough, physical therapy treatments will work just as well (if not better) than surgery in some instances. “A new report from Finland claims that when it comes to the treatment of nontraumatic rotator cuff tears, physical therapy alone provides results comparable to those obtained by arthroscopic surgery and open surgical repair,” according to the American Physical Therapy Association. In this same study, a follow-up study found that conservative care, such as physical therapy, could be regarded as the main treatment for this disorder in 167 patients undergoing physical therapy alone for their rotator cuff injuries.

We will perform a physical examination and diagnostic testing at Pace Physical Therapy to decide whether you truly have a rotator cuff tear, and we will design a customized treatment plan based on the needs of your diagnosis.

What’s causing my shoulder pain?

Many possibilities for pain-causing problems are provided by the dynamics of the shoulder joint. Four of the most common causes of pain in the shoulder are:

Impingement

Impingement usually happens when you raise your arm overhead because of irregular movement and monitoring of the humeral head. When raising your arm at or over 90 degrees, pain usually begins.

Arthritis 

Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the two major types of arthritis affecting the shoulder. Osteoarthritis happens when substantial “wear and tear” is sustained by the cartilage in the shoulder joint, usually due to age or prolonged overuse. When the immune system tries to invade the membranes around the shoulder joint, rheumatoid arthritis occurs , resulting in pain and inflammation. Both result in discomfort, loss of mobility, weakness in the muscles of the shoulder, and difficulty in completing normal and daily tasks. 

Tendinitis

Tendinitis occurs when the shoulder joint is usually overused, due to the demands of a laborious task, overhead operation, or sport, . In addition, bad posture is a big contributor, as this affects the usual forces on the tendons and can set you up for tendon injury. This causes continued inflammation of the tendons, resulting in swelling and painful impingement when the arm is lifted.

Frozen shoulder

Frozen shoulder may occur when your arm has been in a cast or sling for a while or if you have been bedridden for an extended period of time, also known as “adhesive capsulitis.” It results in a painful loss of mobility with a tightening of the shoulder joint in the shoulder that seriously restricts movement. There are some more predisposed ethnicities, and females appear to have more cases than males. In women aged 40-60 years, frozen shoulder is more prevalent.

Rotator cuff tear

The 4 muscles, tendons, and soft tissue that surround the shoulder joint form the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff’s job is to correctly direct the shoulder joint’s motion. The rotator cuff may be partly or totally torn with injury, overuse, bad posture, or even age. Often surgery is required, depending on the severity and condition, but also the right physical therapy treatments will help relieve discomfort and restore strength to the rotator cuff to compensate for the partial tear. Physical therapy is an important part of pre and post-surgical rehabilitation for a complete recovery if surgery is necessary.

Find relief for your shoulder pain today:

Physical therapy, without the need for harmful drugs or unnecessary surgery, is a safe, simple and convenient way to find relief from shoulder pain. A variety of problems resulting in shoulder pain have been treated by the physical therapists at Speed Physical Therapy, with patients experiencing progress and relief after just a few short sessions, and even fewer!

Our physical therapists in San Jose, CA are specialists in movement, trained through a range of testing methods to determine the source of your pain. We will analyze your range of motion, strength, agility, your medical history, joint mobility, and the mechanics of your joint motion during your assessment.

We will develop a specialized mix of physical therapy approaches to treat and alleviate your pain once we have identified the source of your shoulder pain. Gentle manual therapy helps to restore natural joint mobility, relieve constraints on soft tissue, and facilitate circulation, while restoring strength and the proper sequence of muscle activation around the shoulder joint through precise therapeutic exercises. Finally, we teach you strategies to strengthen your power and to stop the recurrence of future shoulder problems. Don’t let your pain in your shoulder hinder your physical skills any longer! Our physical therapy practice in San Jose, CA, will give you the support you need to once again start living your regular life. To schedule your appointment and get started on your journey towards pain relief, contact Pace Physical Therapy today.