What are the Symptoms of a Shoulder Injury?
Injuries can affect the joints, tendons, muscles, ligaments, and bones that make up your shoulder. If you experience a shoulder injury, you may notice a number of common symptoms like:
- Pain
- Stiffness
- Arm weakness
- Limited range of motion
- Bruising or swelling
Your symptoms can vary depending on the type of shoulder injury you have. Certain shoulder injuries can result in severe, crippling pain.
If you experience a shoulder injury during exercise or physical activity, it’s important to stop and seek medical attention as soon as possible. Attempting to play through the pain can cause greater damage to your shoulder and increase the severity of your pain.
What are the Different Types of Shoulder injuries?
Common shoulder injuries include:
- Rotator Cuff Tear: The rotator cuff is a group of tendons that provide strength and stability to your shoulder joint. Because the rotator cuff is highly mobile, it’s prone to injuries caused by repetitive overhead movements and overuse. Over time, small, repeated injuries to the rotator cuff can result in tears. A rotator cuff tear can cause severe pain, weakness, and limited range of movement. Rotator cuff tears are one of the most common types of shoulder injuries.
- Shoulder Impingement: Shoulder implement is a painful injury caused by trauma and excessive overhead arm movements. Shoulder impingement is frequently caused by sports injuries and motor vehicle accidents. Also known as swimmer’s shoulder, tennis shoulder, or rotator cuff tendonitis, shoulder impingement causes inflammation and pain to the tendons of the shoulder joint. Left untreated, shoulder impingement can result in a rotator cuff tear.
- Frozen Shoulder: Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is a condition that causes stiffness and limited range of motion in your shoulder joint. Frozen shoulder occurs when the connective tissue in your shoulder thickens and tightly restricts the motion of your shoulder joint. Frozen shoulder typically affects people who have recently had their shoulder immobilized after a fracture or surgery. People with diabetes are also at risk of developing frozen shoulder.
How are Shoulder Injuries Treated?
Your shoulder injury treatment depends on the nature of your injury and the severity of your symptoms.
In most cases, your doctor at The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre combines a number of conservative treatments to help you recover and regain normal function of your shoulder. Conservative treatments include:
- Steroid injections
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
- Physical therapy
- Shoulder sling
- Ice therapy
In some cases, severe shoulder injuries require surgery. The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre offers several safe and effective surgical procedures, including shoulder joint replacement surgery for severe injuries and advanced arthritis.
The practice also offers rehabilitation services to ensure a successful recovery after your operation.
To find out which treatment is right for your shoulder injury, call or book an appointment online today at The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre.
