What’s the matter with my shoulder?

Many people complain of shoulder pain and/or losing range of motion.  It can be  painful to exercise or just to do regular activities of daily living.  Some people can’t lay on their shoulder at night because this causes pain.  The pain can even wake you up at night which isn’t the best for getting a good nights sleep. Many times, the problem is with one or all of the following:

1. Trigger points in one or more of the rotator cuff muscles
2. Tight shoulder joint capusule
3. Tight shoulder ligaments
4. Loss of normal motion in middle spine region
5. Loss of normal motion at the shoulder blade.
6. Irritated nerves in the neck that supply the shoulder

Most of these problems can be cause by either an injury or from repetitive micro traumas such as sitting at a desk for long periods or doing the same activity over and over again.

One thing is for sure, if you have chronic shoulder pain or mobility problems, it’s not going to get better on its own.  If anything it is very possible to develop frozen shoulder which is a difficult condition to treat.  When seeking professional help, make sure you see someone who capable in addressing the above problems and knowledgeable in how the shoulder works.  The sooner you start, the better your results will be and the less time it will take to fix.