Winchester Sports Therapy Blog

Shoulder pain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly, there can be many causes of shoulder pain, but a relatively common cause of pain, weakness, and tingling in the shoulder, arm and hand is nerve entrapment.

In the picture you can see some of the nerves of the posterior shoulder, and, once they have left the neck, they have to make their way around muscles and bones, on their way to the tissues they inervate. At any point they can get trapped if muscles become spasmed or stretched, but three definite pinch points are at the suprascapular notch, the spinoglenoid notch, and in the armpit (axilla).

Postural issue
If your shoulders are rounded this can cause muscles to be permantely on stretch, trapping the nerve, and resulting in discomfort, either at the site of entrapment, or elsewhere in the shoulder, arm or hand.

To over come this, it would be important to improve your shoulder posture, which could involve massage to soften muscles, joint mobilisation and stretching to make sure that your shoulder can move back in to place, and strengthening so that you have the strength to keep it there.

As I said at the start of this blog, there are many things that can cause pain in the shoulder, so if you are suffering from a shoulder issue a thorough assessment is crucial to try to understand what is happening. If you have any questions aboiut this topic please email.