Acute shoulder pain
1, muscle strain
Common injured muscle groups are biceps, triceps, infraspinatus, teres minor, teres major, and pectoralis major.
Signs and symptoms:
- Pain with certain movement, active resistance and passive stretch
- Tender on palpation over injured part
- Clear injury history, either heavy lifting or direct trauma
Treatments:
- In acute phase, RICE
- Gentle soft tissue massage, acupuncture, TENS will decrease pain
- Gentle stretch, AROM will maintain good function
- Later stage, deep tissue massage to relax muscles, stretch, strengthen exercise and co-control exercise.
2, AC joint strain
Fall on top of shoulder or in outstretched arm
Signs and symptoms:
- Pain on front part of shoulder
- Increased pain with arm cross chest
- Tender on palpation over AC joint
Treatment:
- Acute phase: RICE
- Taping to stabilise shoulder
- AROM exercise,
- Later stage, strengthen exercise, shoulder stability exercise.
3, shoulder dislocation
Either from direct trauma or shoulder instability, Hypermobility Syndrome (HMS)
Signs and symptoms:
- Severe pain, normally, dislocate to frontwards and downwards
- Unable to move arm
- Lost shoulder “round” sharp, “square” shoulder
- If combined with muscle injury, ligament, joint capsule injuries, massive swelling can occur.
Treatments:
- Relocate shoulder— either doctor of physiotherapist can help
- Stabilise shoulder, taping, brace or splint
- Dealing with soft tissue injury
- Manage with pain
- Strengthen exercise to stabilise shoulder and prevent further injuries.