The First Step in Shoulder Pain Relief | Chiropractor for Shoulder Pain in West Omaha, NE
Hi, I’m Dr. Joel Marley with Family First Chiropractic and I have a question for you. What is the weakest portion on a suit of armor? If you answered the joints, you’re exactly right! Today we’re here to talk about the shoulder joint.
The Complex Shoulder Joint
This unique, super complex joint is only held to the skeleton by one connection, the clavicle. Now, this joint is so unique, it can move in a magnificent 360 degree range of motion; meaning it can externally rotate and it can internally rotate. But where there comes movement, there comes potential for injury, and there can be a lot of causes of shoulder pain. Now, it could be from overuse, let’s say that you’re hanging drywall sheetrock all day, you’re hammering, you’re, you’re physically using it a lot. Or maybe you’re an athlete, we take care of a lot of athletes, specifically a lot of golfers that tend to have a one sided motion. So whether it’s hammering a nail, or whether it’s your golf swing, if you’re overusing the joint, that can cause shoulder problems. But on the other side of overuse is under using the joint. So if it’s not used then you can lose that 360 degree range of motion. This often comes from poor posture, sitting at a desk too long, or improper alignment all together.
Upper Cervical vs Shoulder Pain
In our office we will first start with a full assessment. During our assessment we attempt to determine where is the pain actually located. Because I’ll commonly hear about pain in my shoulder, but that’s not really the shoulder joint. So if it travels anywhere below here, it probably isn’t the shoulder, it could be coming from the cervical spine. The nerve supply to your cervical spine feeds, controls and heals your shoulder. The nerve supply is essential to keep this joint and the musculature attached to your axial skeleton. So if there’s a problem in your neck, there will inherently be a weakness in the shoulder. If the pain radiates, changes pattern or moves below the elbow, typically that’s not a shoulder issue. That’s also a cervical spine issue. So is it under movement, over movement, what kind of repetitive movement have you been doing that could be a potential cause of the pain?
Come see us for all of your shoulder pain relief!
