Shoulder Pain

Why am I experiencing shoulder pain?

Shoulder pain can be a right nuisance. It can prevent you from doing what you want to do, whether that be your general daily activities, work, exercise, or sports, which can be highly frustrating.

Shoulder pain can come on gradually, often due to repeated movements of your arm above your head or out to your side, poor sitting postures, laying on your shoulder at night, carrying lots of heavy objects, or repetitive shoulder movements during sport and activity.

Shoulder pain can also come on after a specific incident, such as reaching for something too quickly, lifting a heavy object, or throwing something.

The most common sources of shoulder pain are either a frozen shoulder, rotator cuff tendinopathy, bursitis, muscular strain, impingement, hypermobility, wear and tear of the shoulder joint, a dislocation, or a fracture.

A frozen shoulder is where the joint capsule encasing the shoulder joint decides to spontaneously shrink and tighten up.

A rotator cuff tendinopathy is where the rotator cuff tendons in your shoulder become overloaded, resulting in certain changes to the tendon, including swelling, stiffness, inflammation, micro-tears and a reduced blood supply.

Bursitis is where the bursa, a fluid sac within your shoulder which is supposed to stop friction, becomes inflamed.

A muscular strain happens when a muscle is overstretched. Minor injuries may only overstretch a muscle, while more severe injuries may involve partial or complete tears in the muscle.

Impingement is where the rotator cuff muscles in your shoulder get pinched and compressed in a small gap just above the shoulder joint.

Hypermobility is where your shoulder joint is more flexible than the average population. This added flexibility predisposes you to instability, dislocations, early onset of arthritis and overload to the soft tissues around the shoulder, which are having to work extra hard to keep your shoulder joint in place.

Wear and tear of the shoulder joint is a natural process that happens as you age. There are 4 stages of wear and tear. The first stage is where the cartilage in your shoulder starts to thin. The second stage is where the joint space in the shoulder begins to narrow, and the cartilage begins to break down. The third stage is where the joint space becomes even narrower, and gaps in the cartilage can appear. The final stage is where the joint space is greatly reduced, the loss of cartilage reaches beyond 60%, and large bony spurs form.

A dislocation is where the shoulder joint actually pops out of place.

A fracture is where you break a bone in your shoulder. This can typically affect either your humerus, scapular, or clavicular bone.

Due to the complex structure of the shoulder, shoulder pain can often radiate into the upper arm, present with clicking or locking, and it can even lead to pins and needles, numbness, or weakness, running down your arm.

As I’m sure you’re beginning to realise, there are such a wide range of potential causes for your shoulder pain.

Is there anything that can be done to make my shoulder pain better?

You might have tried resting your shoulder, stretching, hot or cold packs, taking painkillers, or seeing your GP, yet your shoulder pain simply won’t go away.

But rest assured, there is a solution. Physiotherapy is a safe and effective solution for shoulder pain. Our experts have helped countless amounts of people to overcome their shoulder pain and get back to living a pain free lifestyle.

Your therapist will first need to undertake an assessment, to effectively diagnose and help you to understand why you’re experiencing shoulder pain.

Your therapist will then put a comprehensive treatment plan in place to help you to overcome your shoulder pain and fully achieve your goals, supporting you at every step along the way.

This treatment plan will comprise an array of treatments, including expert ergonomic, postural, and sleeping advice, hands on therapy, and exercises to do at home, all tailored towards your specific shoulder pain.

How long is it going to take for my shoulder to get better?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick magical fix for shoulder pain.

A typical recovery journey for shoulder pain will last around 3-6 months.

If you wish to get rid of your shoulder pain for good, there are 8 key stepping stones that make up your recovery journey.

It’s important that each stepping stone is ticked off, to allow you to not only fully recover from your shoulder pain, but to prevent recurrence of your shoulder pain in the future.

For the vast majority of clients who present to us with shoulder pain, we find that it typically takes around 6-8 appointments to tick off all of these stepping stones. Some injuries require a little less, others a little more.

You might only have to tick off a few of the stepping stones, which would lead to a shorter recovery journey, but if you need to tick them all off, this will require a longer recovery journey.

How much will it cost?

Your initial appointment with us will cost £79. Each follow up treatment will cost £59. If you wish to see a Senior Therapist, the appointments will cost £89 and £69 respectively.

How do I start my recovery journey?

To begin recovering from your shoulder pain, give us a call on 02381300260 and ask to book in for a Physiotherapy Initial Appointment.

Alternatively, you can book online, by clicking on the book now button below. On our online booking page, the appointment you need to select is the ‘Physiotherapy – Initial Appointment’.