Chiropractic care is commonly sought by people seeking relief from neck or back pain. I would say that about 60% of my patients come in with a lower back problem. But here’s the deal. I don’t want you to forget that we’re different. At this office we are not limited to only care of the spine.
Most chiropractors I went to college with were trained to adjust. I went a little further and become trained in treating extremities including knees, smaller joints such as the toes, and the shoulders.
Sometimes a patient’s shoulder pain is caused by joint irritation, while other times it is caused by tissue irritation. We can give you relief for shoulder pain and this is often achieved through manipulation and other specialized treatments only available at this office.
Shoulder Anatomy
Your shoulder joint is the most mobile joint in your body. What a lot of my patient’s do not realize is that the shoulder joints are surrounded by millions of delicate nerves, tendons, bursa and other tissues which can all be irritated and cause them pain. As you probably know, tendons help “attach” muscle to bone while ligaments attach bone to bone.
Let me give you a little more information on what is going on and why we can help your should pain. Four tendons make up the rotator cuff: supraspinatous, infraspinatous, subscapularis and teres minor.
Those are big words, but let’s just say all of these muscles originate from the back near the shoulder blade and attach to make a cuff or circle around the glenoid fossa, or shallow bowl, of the shoulder blade, also called the scapula. The cuff and joint are further strengthened by cartilage and ligaments, but they are still vulnerable to injury and irritation.
Testing
When you have a shoulder injury we do a number of tests on it to make sure we know exactly what your problem is. We’ve found out through the years that tendons, muscles or ligaments around the joint can stretch and tear causing pain.
Pain further up your body, for example, in the neck, can also refer pain into your shoulder joint as it can ALSO cause trigger points in the muscles, or a “knot.” I’ve had them before and I’m sure you’ve had them as well. THEY HURT!
Diagnostic examination at our office will include determining range of motion of the neck and shoulders as well as testing of the muscle and related sensations. Specific orthopedic tests meant to isolate certain parts of the rotator cuff or neck help determine pain generators. If the pain and symptoms are unresponsive to initial treatment, imaging such as a MRI can further help identify origin of the problem – if that becomes necessary. Whatever you do, do NOT put off coming to the office for this type of pain. Yes it may go away, but you can still have issues that need to be addressed immediately. Just because you don’t have pain, does not mean you don’t have a health problem. Ask any CANCER patient how they felt a few years before they were diagnosed. Most will say they felt okay and didn’t hurt. Don’t wait. Call now and get a thorough comprehensive examination for any painful joint, etc. We’re here to help. CALL NOW.