Pain In The Shoulder? Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Shrug It Off

Do you have debilitating pain in your shoulder but you tend to ignore it? Here are some of the reasons why you should ignore it and take care of the problem.

Not giving a thought to one's shoulder joint that's doing all the tasks it has been assigned and moving around freely is easy. However, the most flexible joint of the body is also most vulnerable to instability and injury. A stiff, aching shoulder joint can make activities like carrying groceries, lifting your child and reaching overhead significantly tough and alter daily living.

The shoulder joint is a complex system of tendons, ligaments and muscles. Inflammation of the tendons (tendinitis), rotator cuff tears, a broken bone (fracture), tight capsule (frozen shoulder) or cartilage degeneration (arthritis) could be a cause of shoulder pain. However, the pain experienced in the shoulder area could also be referred pain, sometimes indicating a medical emergency.

When Should We Seek Emergency Medical Care For Shoulder Pain?

It is important to understand and outline when shoulder pain is a medical emergency. This can be after a significant injury, fall or accident when you experience intense pain, inability to lift the arm or move it, sudden swelling around the shoulder or visible deformity of the area. This could be radiation of pain from the chest, indicative of a heart attack. This will be accompanied by symptoms like the tightness of the chest and difficulty in breathing.

When Should We See A Shoulder Specialist?

Shoulder pain in young patients is usually after a significant injury while playing sports, a fall or a motor vehicle accident. In older patients, it can be a part of the degenerative process and is often shrugged as 'old age' pains. However, it is ideal to consult a shoulder specialist if the pain doesn't subside spontaneously within 4 weeks of onset or 6-8 weeks of physical therapy. That's because certain shoulder problems can worsen progressively without treatment.

Common Causes Of Shoulder Pain

Here are some of the common causes of shoulder pain, including:

1. Rotator cuff tendinitis (inflammation around the tendons) also called a bursitis
2. Rotator cuff tears (tears in the tendons)
3. Broken bone or fractures
4. Shoulder dislocations
5. Frozen shoulder
6. Arthritis of the shoulder joint (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.)
7. Neck problems like prolapsed disc or arthritis can cause radiation of pain to the shoulder.

How Can A Shoulder Specialist Help You?

Since many shoulder diseases have overlapping symptoms, it is important to know the exact cause of pain. A shoulder surgeon does a thorough exam to make an accurate diagnosis and thus, advocate the right treatment. Initially, conservative treatment is tried for most problems and the good news is that it works in many patients.

It involves a combination of rest, activity modification, oral pain medications, physical therapy and exercises. Platelet-rich plasma injections (Regenerative orthopaedics) and Stem cell therapy is a valid non-surgical option to relieve shoulder pain.

If the pain doesn't respond to these therapies, the problem can be fixed by a key-hole minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder. Nowadays, even the most complex shoulder operations can be performed by an all-arthroscopic technique using small incisions which leads to less post-operative pain, shorter hospital stay, fewer risks, faster recovery and early return to normal life.

(The article is contributed by Dr Mohit Kukreja, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai Central)