Shoulder pain can be a source of frustration and disruption. The shoulder is key to many of the activities that make up our daily existence, like reaching overhead or behind us. Whether the pain comes from an injury, overuse, or bad posture, shoulder pain regularly occurs in many people’s lives and often requires specialized care.
Not surprisingly, physiotherapists are the go-to people for shoulder pain when the goal is to avoid surgery and other invasive measures. This article explores the causes of shoulder pain and the physiotherapy methods that can help address it.
Causes of Shoulder Pain
Before exploring treatment options, it is essential to grasp the origins of shoulder pain.
The shoulder is a complicated joint, and many factors can lead to discomfort. Among these are rotator cuff injuries, which damage the group of muscles and tendons stabilizing the shoulder joint; tendinitis, which is inflammation of the shoulder tendons, usually caused by overuse; and bursitis, which is inflammation of the small, fluid-filled sacs cushioning the shoulder joint. Other potential problems are a frozen shoulder, poor posture, and, occasionally, heart problems.
The good news is that Edmonton, Ab physiotherapy can help with most of these conditions, and you can significantly contribute to your own healing by staying active and recovering function in the shoulder joint.
Best Physiotherapy Methods for Shoulder Pain
Shoulder pain can be treated with physiotherapy methods like manual therapy, exercise, and modalities.
Manual Therapy
Manual therapy is a hands-on treatment. Your physiotherapist may use any of the following techniques.
Soft Tissue Mobilization
Soft tissue mobilization involves using the hands to apply force in a very specific way to very specific areas of the soft tissue in and around the shoulder. Your physiotherapist wil use their hands to apply the right pressure onto the right areas of the right muscles to get the tension out of them. They work to restore the normal function of the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in and around the shoulder. Mobilization helps the body heal and gets muscles back to functioning normally.
Joint Mobilization
Joint mobilization is an effective technique for patients whose shoulder movement is restricted. A physiotherapist gently moves the shoulder joint in specific directions to stretch the tissues around the joint, increase mobility, and reduce pain. The method is especially helpful for frozen shoulder, postoperative stiffness, and shoulder tightness following an injury.
Exercise Therapy
To relieve and prevent recurring shoulder pain, a specialized set of exercises target the painful area. At Revive Spine & Sport Physiotherapy Clinic, your physiotherapist will devise a program just for you, using what we know from your diagnosis to guide us in choosing the exercises. The most effective ones tend to be simple to do but require you to do them regularly. They also demand that you pay close attention to how you perform them so that you fully engage the right muscles in your shoulder.
Exercise therapy innvolves differnet types of exercises that strengthen your shoulders, improve their flexibility, and restore your range of motion.
Modalities
Physiotherapy modalities for treating shoulder pain include dry needling, ultrasound therapy, and Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Heat and cold therapy may also help
Dry needling is a contemporary treatment that involves inserting a thin, sterile needle into tight muscle areas or “trigger points,” which helps release the knots that have formed in the muscles.
Ultrasound therapy is a non-invasive method employing high-frequency sound waves that promote healing and reduce inflammation in the shoulder. In this treatment, a physiotherapist applies a gel to the patient’s skin and uses an ultrasound wand to deliver the sound waves to the painful area. The deeper the sound waves penetrate, the more they help to heal the tissues and restore function.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) also helps control shouler pain. It is quite simple and sends little electrical impulses to the tissues around the shoulder. This blocks pain signals and stimulate the production of endorphins (natural painkillers).
Muscle relaxation and improved circulation are the benefits of using heat as a therapeutic medium. Heat is particularly beneficial as it helps loosen stiff muscles so that one can more easily engage in the physical exercises.
Conversely, cold therapy is used for acute injuries. A shoulder that is hurting and is getting worse can feel a kind of relief if a pack of ice is laid over it.
Conclusion
Impacts on the quality of life from shoulder pain can be quite significant, but physiotherapy has a variety of effective treatments that can alleviate this discomfort. Manual therapy and exercise form the basis of treatment options, but modern techniques like dry needling, ultrasound, and electrotherapy are also used to successfully address shoulder pain. It’s important to seek shoulder pain therapy in Edmonton, AB, early to avoid long-term consequences and to promote complete and full recovery.
