Shoulder pain is easy to shrug off. We rarely think about the importance of our shoulders to full physical function until they hurt and suddenly, we’re dealing with lost strength and limited joint mobility.
Think about all the things your shoulders do for you. As the title suggests, they’re expressive. Shrugging them sends the message to others that we don’t know something. But when we’re getting up from a sitting position, we’re pushing ourselves up, using strength provided by our shoulders. Imagine that one day, you try to get up and find your shoulders aren’t being as helpful as they might be.
Don’t shrug off shoulder pain as something that will “just go away”. Pain in the shoulders can become chronic when not addressed. Old injuries that haven’t healed properly, rotator cuff tears and other problems with your shoulders can be painful and impact important daily functions.
That means reduced quality of life.
Not as strong as you think.
The way we think about our shoulders is revealed in language. Someone described as having “broad shoulders” is thought of as a paragon of strength in a crisis. When we “shoulder” a burden, we’re describing the shoulders in a pivotal supportive role. Even the great poet, Carl Sandburg, described Chicago as the “city of the big shoulders”, implying vigor and industry.
But your shoulders are vulnerable. As we get older especially, loss of cartilage can result in pain and even arthritis. That’s why it’s so important that we pay attention to pain messages from our shoulders and act when something doesn’t feel quite right.
If you’re not normally active, suddenly burdening your shoulders with too much at once can shock them into an injury, too. My advice to all patients is that they maintain strength in the shoulders to avoid injury. But when injury happens (and pain follows), I can certainly help.
Complex care.
If you’ve been experiencing pain in your shoulders for more than a couple of weeks, you should be coming in to talk to us, at Back & Body Medical. We’ll diagnose the source of your pain (which can be anything from a rotator cuff tear to bursitis) and then, we’ll apply a complex of therapeutic models to address the pain.
Our clinicians are skilled in the disciplines of chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy and sports medicine. Under these rubrics fall myriad treatments. When applied as a direct response to the patient’s unique challenge, multi-disciplinarian care provides an intelligent way forward to relieve pain.
But I’m just as interested in preventing future pain as I am in relieving the pain patients come to my office to relieve. My role is that of a partner. What happens in your pain relief sessions is just the beginning. At Back & Body, our team believes in creating the conditions necessary to prevent reinjury, by prescribing targeted exercises and stretches that build you up to avoid the problem in future.
And that’s powerful medicine.
Don’t shrug off shoulder pain. Book an appointment and let the team here help.
