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Common causes of shoulder pain and stiffness include muscular imbalances and
joint stiffness in and around the shoulder girdle. These all respond very well to Osteopathic treatment. Of the various shoulder diagnoses, perhaps the most common is “Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy”. The Rotator Cuff is made up of all the muscles that attach the arm to the body.
It is so called because the muscles form a cuff around the shoulder joint. The
symptoms of Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy are aching in the shoulder and / or the
top of the arm with a “painful arc”. This is pain experienced on raising the straightened arm out away from the
body just as it comes up towards shoulder height that disappears again
afterwards as the arm is lifted above shoulder height. The underlying reasons
for this condition are widespread muscular imbalance in the rotator cuff due to
a previous overstrain. By the way, when you strain a shoulder muscle it is
better to keep on using the shoulder normally (albeit carefully) as rest tends
to allow the muscles to become more and more out of balance with each other.
Osteopathy can reverse the muscular imbalance returning the shoulder to full
and pain-free action.
Recurrent dislocations of the shoulder lead to long term, deep muscular tension
around the shoulder that starts off as a protective, but in time becomes a
problem in itself restricting shoulder movement and actually reducing the joint’s stability. Osteopathy can reverse this deep muscular tension thereby optimizing shoulder
comfort and stability.
Subluxation of the acromio-clavicular (AC) joint often occurs when falling on
the shoulder or banging into something with the front of the shoulder. It is a
common injury in contact sports such as Rugby.
The AC joint is the one between the outer end of the collar bone and the top of
the shoulder blade (as it comes over the top of the shoulder joint).
Subluxation means the joint moves slightly out of its normal position but not
enough to be called a dislocation. Subluxation occurs because the blow to the
shoulder partially tears the ligaments which hold the collar bone to the top of
the shoulder blade. As far as I am aware only surgery will fully repair the
ligaments and correct the subluxation fully once it has occurred. Surgery is seldom necessary however; as a subluxed AC joint is still a
reasonably good joint providing the patient is not playing contact sports at a
competitive level. However, AC subluxation can cause pain if the surrounding
muscles are finding it difficult to support the joint. When this happens
Osteopathic treatment to the whole shoulder girdle in general and the AC in
particular can remedy the situation. The patient also needs to be advised on
how best
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