Shoulder pain is arguably the third most common problem that we see patients for here at Warwick Chiropractic in Lacey. The shoulder is quite a tricky area of the body to deal with as it is made up with a complex array of joints and muscles, so every care is taken to treat and help the patient accordingly. Particularly as often shoulder pain may actually come from another area of the body such as the cervical spine. It’s therefore important for us to assess properly and understand the cause and treat appropriately.
For example, certain patients suffer from something known as subacromial impingement. This is particularly prevalent in swimmers, footballers, pitchers and anyone who uses an overhead action often.
A study was carried out on a couple of patients, one a swimmer and another a quarterback. In this particular study, neither patient identified with having any problems outside their shoulders. The neck and back seemed fine and they had no complaints there.
The interesting point of this study was that both patients had poor posture and tended to round their shoulders and push their heads forwards. Both had shoulder pain but no neck pain. Treatments were applied which would normally have helped their shoulder pain. In both cases it didn’t. Further investigation into the immediate area (the neck) was carried out. The patients were asked to perform a series of exercises that focused on their neck and helping to improve both strength in the neck muscles and more importantly, to improve posture.
The results were that in both cases, their shoulder pain was reduced and that their muscles also strengthened. It was suggested that the poor posture contributed to an irritation of the nerves around C5 and that correcting this imbalance helped improve their pain and function.
From this simple case study, it’s clear why chiropractors, us here at Warwick Chiropractic in Lacey included, look outside the immediate vicinity of pain and look for other root causes of the problem like shoulder pain coming from the cervical spine.
If you are suffering from shoulder pain, please come in and see us. We can help you and will help to get you out of pain sooner rather than later. We are walk in friendly but you can make an appointment if you wish. Check out our other neck pain information as well.
