Shoulder Pain

Shoulder Pain Q & A

What causes shoulder pain?

Shoulder pain could be due to a sudden injury on the sports field or an accident on the road – even trips and falls at home can damage your shoulder joint and cause acute pain.

You might have a degenerative condition that’s due to age-related wear-and-tear or an overuse injury from repeating the same arm movements many times.

Some of the shoulder pain conditions the Town Center Orthopaedics team sees often include:

  • Rotator cuff tears
  • Dislocations
  • Shoulder impingement
  • Frozen shoulder
  • Shoulder instability
  • Labral tears
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Bursitis
  • Tendinitis
  • Bone spurs

Shoulder pain might be instant if you break or dislocate the joint or tear the cartilage and soft tissues. Degenerative problems like osteoarthritis tend to develop more slowly, so your shoulder pain gradually increases over time.

Accurately diagnosing the cause of your shoulder pain ensures you receive the most appropriate treatment.

How is shoulder pain diagnosed?

Your provider at Town Center Orthopaedics begins by reviewing your medical and family history and current health. While examining your shoulder, they ask you for details about your pain, how it started, and what makes it worse or better.

Following your exam, you might need diagnostic imaging tests. State-of-the-art X-ray facilities are available onsite for your convenience.

You might also need to undergo a shoulder arthroscopy. This minimally invasive procedure uses a tiny camera on a flexible tube to see inside your shoulder joint. In some cases, your provider can treat the cause of your shoulder pain at the same time.

Once your provider makes a diagnosis, they prepare your personalized treatment program.

How is shoulder pain treated?

Acute shoulder pain from a fracture or dislocation is likely to require an expert setting followed by a period of immobilization with a sling.

Shoulder pain conditions typically benefit from physical therapy at the Town Center Orthopaedics state-of-the-art facilities. Physical therapies could include joint mobilization and manipulation, stretching and strengthening exercises, and instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization.

Resting the joint is important to enable the tissues to heal while anti-inflammatory medications and hot and cold treatments can help reduce pain and inflammation.

Regenerative medicine treatments like platelet-rich plasma (PRP), Clarix® Flo placental tissue, stem cell therapy, and prolotherapy could also help by stimulating tissue repair and healthy cell growth.

What can I do if my shoulder pain isn’t improving?

More serious injuries or shoulder pain that isn’t responding to the most conservative treatments might require joint injections containing steroids. These are powerful anti-inflammatories that could provide longer-term relief from your shoulder pain.

Your provider at Town Center Orthopaedics administers these injections using image guidance technology. If the injections aren’t working, you might need to consider surgery to relieve your shoulder pain.

Find out more or schedule a shoulder pain consultation by calling Town Center Orthopaedics today or book an appointment online.

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