Shoulder Pain Symptoms

Shoulder pain is usually due to the following diagnosis mentioned below:
1. Frozen shoulder.
2. Impingement of the shoulder.
3. Rotator cuff injury to the shoulder.
4. Trauma, fall or fractures.
5. Bursitis.

A lot of pain in the shoulder can come from a bad neck. As all of the nerves from the neck go across the shoulder and right up to the fingertips it can lead to a lot of pain and stiffness in the shoulder. Predominantly, most of the neck pain will go down towards the shoulder blade (scapular region) and present stiffness and pain in the shoulder. Quite commonly shoulder and neck pain do co-exist in their own right. It is the job of the person examining you to decide which contribution is significant and how it can be treated.

What causes shoulder pain?
The shoulder is a very mobile joint in the body. It is richly supplied by nerves coming from the neck and has a full and very free active range of motion. Due to insignificantly large movements the shoulder has a very shallow socket and a large ball to form its joint. It is heavily supported by ligaments, muscles and soft tissue bursa around it. This makes the shoulder more prone for the ligaments and tendons to get hurt or injured, sometimes inflamed, leading to significant painful symptoms. Due to the large movement in a shallow socket the shoulder is also more prone to dislocate or subluxate, particularly in sports injuries.

This procedure is a keyhole operation of the shoulder which is performed for symptoms of impingement and difficulty in lifting the arm upwards which is a result of impingement.

The procedure is performed under a general anaesthetic and the patient is positioned in a beech chair position to enable him/her to be positioned comfortably. There are two to three small portals made; one is for the shoulder arthroscope and the other two are to be able to insert the instruments and shavers. The procedure involves looking inside the shoulder joint on the subacromial space which is the main region of the operation. The decompression is usually based at the subacromial bursa and trims the anterior and lateral aspect of the proud acromion which contributes towards the impingement. If the lateral end of clavicle or acromioclavicular joint is arthritic then this will be debrided and excised aswell through the keyhole operation.

This is a successful operation and lasts approximately 30 to 45 minutes. The patient can either be sent home on the same evening or the next morning following a change of dressing.

The procedure has a high success rate. The infection levels are less than 1% and the complications that may occur in this procedure are significant swelling around the shoulder and neck, bruising that can occur which will settle down over a period of a few weeks and neurovascular problems which are extremely rare.

Following the shoulder decompression early active and passive range of motion exercises are performed with the help of the physiotherapist and regular anti-inflammatories are also taken in order to prevent a recurrence of stiffness and an early recovery. The use of ice and cold compressions assist in the early recovery following this procedure.