Shoulder Pain

Osteopath treatment for shoulder pain can help relieve pain and get the movement back in to your shoulder again which can be significantly reduced with injury.
The human shoulder joint has a wide range of movement, and the stability of the joint has been sacrificed to permit this. Its strength depends on the tone of the short rotator cuff muscles that cross in various directions. Therefore when the shoulder becomes injured it can be one of the most challenging areas of the body to treat.

Common shoulder injuries are:

  • Impingement Syndrome (painful arc syndrome, swimmers arm or bowlers arm) occurs when a small space within the shoulder becomes inflamed making the arm painful to move when reaching up for things and lying on it at night.
  • Frozen Shoulder or its medical name adhesive capsulitis occurs when the soft tissue structures surrounding the shoulder joint become inflamed and stiff. This can create a significant loss of movement in the shoulder joint and can last for up to 18 months.
  • Rotator cuff strains and tears – the rotator cuff is a group of muscles in the shoulder that give it most of its stability. These can be strained or torn at work or in sport which can lead to pain and weakness in the shoulder. The most common rotator cuff muscle to be involved in injury is supraspinatus.

Osteopath treatments for the shoulder involve looking at the whole shoulder region which involves the neck, thoracic wall and scapular-humeral mechanism. By mobilising the shoulder, gently stretching the joint capsule and prescribing the correct rehabilitative exercises osteopathy can be very beneficial to most shoulder injuries.