A shoulder consists of many joints that join with muscles and tendons to enable a suitable range of motion in your arm. It is one of the most flexible and mobile joints we have. While this is great, your shoulders are subjected to injuries and conditions that could lead to pain. If you already have it, locate a shoulder pain doctor NYC and get checked. He or she can provide detailed information about the cause of the pain in your shoulder.
The ache could be related to one of the three shoulder bones: humerus, scapula and clavicle. It could also be that the problem is with the rounded socket in which your shoulder blade rests. Still, shoulder pain could emerge from tendons and muscles (rotator cuff) that keep your arm bone intact in the socket. Doctors in NYC are in a position to track the shoulder pain and determine the cause and the best type of treatment.
The real causes of shoulder pain
Shoulder issues can be grouped into 4 main groups and these are: tendon inflammation, instability, arthritis and fracture. Other causes, although they are rare, are infection, tumor, and nerve problems. So when you get in touch with a shoulder pain doctor NYC, he or she will want to find out if you have the following:
- Bursitis – There are tiny fluid-filled sacs found in not only our shoulder joint but also other joints all over the body. These act as padding amid bones and the overlying soft tissues. They help with the reduction of friction between the sliding muscles and bones. There is a condition called subacromial bursitis that occurs when there is extreme use of the shoulder, causing inflammation and swelling of the bursae situated between the rotator cuff and acromion. Pain management doctors in my area can examine your shoulder for bursitis.
- Tendinitis –As expected, a tendon is a cord that attaches muscle to bone and tendinitis refers to tendon inflammation. Tendinitis can be acute; a condition that is caused by too much ball throwing and other overhead sports or work. In addition, there is chronic tendinitis involving a degenerative disease such as arthritis and age-related degeneration. According to doctors in NYC, tendinitis affects the rotator cuff tendons at one of the biceps tendons. The former has four tiny muscles with tendons that cover the head of the upper arm bone and hold it within the socket.
- Tears in tendons – The shoulder pain you are feeling could be related to torn tendons. Tendon tears are caused by a degenerative change brought about by aging, sudden injury, acute injury or tendons overuse and deterioration overtime. Sometimes the tendon is totally removed or separated from whatever attaches it to the bone and other times it is partially detached. A shoulder pain doctor NYC already knows that biceps and rotator cuff tendon injuries are so common.
- Arthritis – If you feel shoulder pain, it could be that you have arthritis. It can take several different forms, although osteoarthritis is the commonest. It is brought about by wear and tear and presents symptoms like pain, stiffness and swelling. A disease that starts around the middle age, osteoarthritis develops gradually over the years. The pain it triggers only worsens as one grows old. It can be caused by sports, injuries that are related to work and chronic degenerative changes. Sometimes doctors in NYC will locate arthritis in your rotator cuff due to the tears, inflammation of the joint lining or an infection. It is important to seek medical help from a shoulder pain doctor NYC; therefore, as it is only then that arthritis of the shoulder joint can be found and treated. Even if you want to take your time and limit activities that increase the pain, this might work against you. The soft tissues of the joint itself might stiffen or tighten, increasing the pain and reducing the arm’s range of motion. If your shoulder pain doctor NYC discovers your pain earlier on, he or she will offer treatment that will control the ache.
- Fractures and dislocations – When a bone breaks, you have a fracture and shoulder fractures mostly involve the collarbone, upper arm bone or shoulder bone. As an older person, you can fall from a standing height and break a shoulder bone. On the other hand, younger people’s fractures are caused by a high impact situation, including a motor vehicle accident. When there is a broken shoulder bone, the pain will be a lot and it will be accompanied by swelling and bruising. There are times when a shoulder joint will simply dislocate. As this joint is the most mobile, it can shift to different directions and this makes it easy for it to dislocate. If the humerus bone is partially jutting out of the socket, that’s subluxation or partial dislocation. If you suffer a complete dislocation, the humerous will be totally out of the socket and the shoulder will be unstable and painful.
- Impingement – When the top of the shoulder blade or acromion exerts pressure on the underlying soft tissues, shoulder impingement can happen. It basically happens when the arm is lifted away from the body because as it gets lifted, the acromion impinges on the bursa and rotator cuff tendons. Besides bursitis, this can lead to tendinitis, pain and stiffness. To discover if you have this problem, go to a shoulder pain doctor NYC
- Instability – It happens when the upper arm bone’s head is compelled out of the shoulder socket. This can occur because of joint overuse or an abrupt injury. Once the soft tissues around the shoulder joint become torn and/or loose, it is easy for instability to occur. This can continue over and over when you try to raise your arm or move it away from the body, pain can be felt. Doctors in NYC are able to check your joint for instability and other symptoms when you go to the clinic.
How diagnosis is done
It all depends on the kind of symptoms you have. If you have muscle spasms, it is likely that you have a dislocated shoulder and X-ray will be able to indicate this. If there is an acute injury that is triggering a lot of pain, you may not let it rest. Get in touch with a shoulder pain doctor NYC the soonest possible. Besides taking your medical history, including certain activities that worsen the pain and specific ones you do that reduce the pain, the physician will do a physical examination.
During this, doctors in NYC will search for physical abnormalities, muscle weakness, deformity and swelling among other issues. They must also check the shoulder’s range of motion as well as strength. Tests will also be involved to identify and confirm the real cause of pain. These are:
- X-ray – It shows injuries to the shoulder bones
- MRI scan – They show problems with soft tissues. Injuries to the ligaments and tendons around the shoulder joint are identified via MRI
- Computed Tomography (CT) scan – It uses computer technology and X-ray to generate a detailed view of the bones in the shoulder.
- Arthroscopy – It is a surgical process where the doctors in NYC search inside the joint using a fiber-optic camera. It may indicate soft tissues injuries that cannot be noted easily during physical examination. Tests and x-rays. It can be used to solve a problem.
- Arthrogram – The doctors in NYC will inject dye into the shoulder and the surrounding soft tissues during an X-ray exercise. This can be done along with an MRI.
- Electrical studies – The shoulder pain doctor NYC may order a test like electromyogram(EMG) to check the nerve function.
Treatment
After carrying out a diagnosis and discovering the main cause of shoulder pain, doctors in NYC will normally create a suitable treatment program. The most conservative way to treat pain in the shoulder is to rest, alter your activities and do physical therapy to be able to have shoulder strength and flexibility.
It is also common sense to avoid overexerting yourself when working to reduce shoulder pain. Prescriptions are common and entail drugs that reduce pain and inflammation. If drugs are prescribed to get rid of pain, you better follow the instructions of your shoulder pain doctor NYC. Depending on how severe your problem is, your doctor might give you steroid injections to numb the area and reduce pain.
Surgery can be necessary to get rid of shoulder issues, although most patients will do just fine with normal treatment techniques like rest and exercise. Given kinds of shoulder issues like frequent dislocations and given rotator cuff tears may not be improved by exercises. If you have these, it will be good to try surgery earlier on. It can entail arthroscopy to get rid of scar tissue or repair torn soft tissues.
Traditional open surgical procedures may be needed when larger reconstruction is necessary or when there is need to do a shoulder replacement therapy. Your shoulder pain doctor NYC will be able to decide if you need surgery and the kind that would be best to try.
Rehabilitation process
One thing that doctors in NYC will do is to place your shoulder in a sling or another gadget for many weeks after treatment is over. As well as this, it will be necessary to rest the affected shoulder more, and you can apply ice to the aching area about three to four times a day. When the pain and swelling reduces, a great physician like Dr. Michael Nguyen will prescribe certain rehabilitation exercises that will help you with recovery. These can re-establish the range of motion and strengthen the muscles. If you go through this rehabilitation process, you will reduce your chances of dislocating your shoulder in future.
Simple muscle toning exercises are all great, plus later on you can do weight training. First, you can do exercises that will boost the arm’s range of motion and your shoulder pain doctor NYC. Here, you will stand up and lean over to look at the floor. The aching arm should dangle straight down and then make a circle in the air with it. One thing you will notice is that it will be difficult to make bigger circles at once. So you will begin with small circles and then go increasing them. Do these workouts five to ten times each day.
Rotator cuff strengthening is great too and is done with rubber tubing. The tube is looped around a closed door’s doorknob and then it is pulled across the stomach. It is important to do one set of ten workouts daily and then increase the number as the shoulder pain reduces. As the pain disappears, do upper extremity strengthening workouts with free weights or weight machines. So lie down on your right side with left arm placed at your side.
Hold a weight in your left hand and the forearm across the tummy. Then, raise your forearm while keeping your elbow near the side. Another thing to note is that when a shoulder dislocation becomes bothersome or recurrent, you may use a brace to support it and doctors in NYC can provide it. If bracing and physical therapy don’t produce good results, the only solution left is surgery. It will repair and/or tighten the loose ligaments so they can hold the joint in place as designed to do.
This surgery is also great because it can prevent the dislocating shoulder’s humerus or socket from developing irreversible bone damage. And if there is bone damage, doctors in NYC might do bone grafting type of surgical operation. Whatever will be picked will depend on how severe the damage is.
Final word
An injury that may last a long time may cause the tendon to develop a tear. Doctors in NYC always advise patients to talk about this especially when the pain continues despite receiving good treatment. The selected shoulder pain doctor NYC will perform deep investigation to find out if there is a torn rotator cuff, arthritis or another issue. If surgery is needed, he will determine which kind and how to cure it.