Home > Blog > Physiotherapy > Conditions > Shoulder Pain Physio

Shoulder Pain Physio

Our human shoulder joint is a very, very full ranging flexible joint, and this allows us to move our arms multi-directionally. This of course, is great for work, play, activities, function...but has a big downside: being so flexible and mobile decreases stability which increases the risk to injury.

Most of the time, shoulder issues and problems are usually related to soft tissue damage caused by repetitive injuries or carrying heavy loads/forces on the shoulder.

Shoulder Pain Physiotherapy
Symptoms

Shoulder pains can sometimes be very specific to one spot or location; but one may also experience it over a region/area...and in others it may radiate (travel) up or down the arm.

Some common shoulder conditions

  • Dislocated shoulder

    This is a common condition especially in people who have very lax shoulder joints or people who participate in high impact contact sports (like rugby).

    When it happens, patients will experience a very sharp pain in the injured shoulder, and will almost always need medical intervention (on-field, clinic or hospital) to re-locate the shoulder joint.

  • Shoulder Joint Arthritis

    This condition is really common, as it happens over time with wear and tear. In 2011, there was more than 50 million patients in the United States treated for shoulder arthritis. Symptoms are pain and limited range of motion of the shoulder.

  • Rotator Cuff Injuries Or Rotator Cuff Tears

    The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder joint, keeping the head of your upper arm bone firmly within the shallow socket of the shoulder.

    A rotator cuff injury can cause a dull ache in the shoulder, which often worsens when you try to sleep on the involved side.

Shoulder Pain Physiotherapy
Treatments

Phoenix Rehab specialist senior physiotherapists are experienced and expertly trained to accurately diagnose, assess and treat your shoulder pain with very specific hands-on techniques for your shoulder pains. 

They may also use additional modalities such as ultrasound therapy, graded gradual strengthening, soft tissue management and a stretching program.

They may also use modalities such as:

...collectively they are used to accelerate soft tissue healing/recovery, as well as with pain relief and as pre-cursor to stretching and range-of-motion stretching exercises.

Our senior physiotherapists recommend to quickly treat shoulder pains and problems because:

  • it's not only easier to treat when it's early stage, but
  • preventing it from becoming chronic is also important, because when it's long term, it may cause degenerational changes to the shoulder joint which may lengthen and complicate number of physiotherapy sessions required

Of course, we also treat long term and chronic shoulder injuries effectively in our clinic.

shoulder p.o.l.i.c.e method

The POLICE method is very useful when applied to freshly injured (acute injury) shoulder, and they stand for:

  • Protect the joint/area from additional force and injuries with brace or arm sling
  • Optimally Load by ensuring that one doesn't over-carry/load the shoulder
  • Load Optimally by moving the shoulder (where it's allowed) and not to overload it.
  • Ice the injured shoulder to decrease swelling and pain
  • Compression to decrease swelling and pain
  • Elevate to decrease swelling and pain and help return flow

Shoulder Pain Physiotherapy
Our Expertise

Here in Phoenix Rehab, we have a specially curated and selected team of experienced and passionate expert physiotherapists with years if not decades of experience and knowledge in managing shoulder injuries, shoulder  rehabilitation and return to work/sports post shoulder injury.

We are confident that they will be more than professional able to help you with your shoulder injury and overcome all restrictions and pains related to shoulder problems.

Shoulder Physiotherapy Rehab Process:

  • They will begin with in-depth clinical assessment, history taking, palpation and special exercises and biomechanical testing; all in order to understand the severity of your shoulder pain and to trace the main issues of your shoulder pain.

  • Then they will map out a specific shoulder injury physio program customized to you

  • Then they will execute the shoulder pain physiotherapy interventions, which will include graded stretching and strengthening, ultrasound therapy for soft tissue healing and more.