The Shoulder Pain Bandwagon

By: Kelsie Mazur, DPT

Let’s talk about the shoulders. Also known as the glenohumeral joint by all medical professionals, the shoulder or GH joint is both complicated and complex. Bound together by the four rotator cuff muscles, numerous ligaments, the humerus bone and the labrum which sucks the shoulder into the socket. The shoulder is also surrounded by the AC joint, SC joint, Clavicle, and shoulder blade! Wow, let's appreciate this work-horse of a joint. The shoulder joint is complicated because it has a lot of movement and involves many parts, which makes it prone to problems. 

One of the most common issues I see as a physical therapist is an insidious onset of shoulder pain. Insidious onset refers to a gradual and subtle development of symptoms rather than a sudden or obvious injury. It often happens over time, making it harder to pinpoint the exact cause. For example, someone might start experiencing shoulder pain after repeated activities, but they may not remember a specific moment when the injury occurred. There are over 21+ separate diagnoses or injuries that can occur at one shoulder joint, via a traumatic onset or insidious onset. 

Weakness, stiffness, and muscle imbalances can all lead to shoulder pain. Recently, us physical therapists have re-focused our efforts on not getting caught up on specific diagnoses referring to the shoulder. Diagnoses for insidious onset shoulder pain that does not have you debilitated can be misleading, harmful, and provoke fears about improving or coming out of the pain pattern you’re in. They are an attempt to simplify the complex and multifactorial nature of pain, while also easing our own uncertainty about the exact tissue structure that may be contributing to symptoms. But as long as I know that you’re experiencing non-traumatic shoulder pain, unrelated to another serious diagnosis, how we name your pain doesn’t necessarily influence rehab.

What’s more useful for me is knowing your age, occupation, lifestyle, sleep habits, exercise habits, goals, what makes your symptoms better, what makes your symptoms worse, etc.  It’s important to remember that problems in the shoulder can also be affected by issues in nearby areas, like the neck and upper back. To effectively manage shoulder pain, we need to look at and address these surrounding areas too!

So what does all of this mean? It means that onset of shoulder pain is quite frequent in active persons. Does this make it normal? Not necessarily. However, what I want to normalize here, is that shoulder pain in people who lift weights, do crossfit, carry a newborn, pick up toddlers, etc. is common, due to the complex nature of the glenohumeral joint. Shoulder pain has the potential to persist and limit you from doing the things you love if you don’t take care of it quickly. Sometimes all it takes is a movement screen with a physical therapist who can recommend exercises to keep you on par for appropriate movement patterns and help you avoid serious injury going forward. 

Wattage Physical Therapy will take an in depth look at your ergonomics, posture, muscle tone, muscle weaknesses, and movement patterns to create a plan for YOU. If this article intrigues you, you can directly email me, Kelsie at Kelsie@wattagept.com. I would be happy to help you start the process of living a life free from pain.