You Don't Have to Live in Pain
Most of the common problems in the shoulder (rotator cuff tendonitis or tear, biceps tendinitis, impingement, labral tears, and posterior impingement) are all due to the same thing: poor movement at the shoulder blades. The shoulders are supposed to be the most mobile joint in the body. But to achieve this mobility it must sacrifice stability. There is very little bony support to the shoulder. The shoulder relies primarily on the rotator cuff muscles to stabilize it. These rotator cuff muscles can easily become over worked due to lack of stability in the shoulder blades. If the shoulder blade muscles did their job to stabilize the shoulder blades, then the rotator cuff muscles would work less and have far less injuries. The biceps is a secondary stabilizer to the shoulder, meaning that if the other muscles (the rotator cuff muscles) are doing their job then the bicep doesn't have to do much. But often times the rotator cuff muscles become so over-worked that the biceps begin to try to stabilize the shoulder and they get injured in the process. It's a similar story for the labrum (a band of tissue deep in the shoulder designed to help stabilize the joint). If the rotator cuff muscles keep the shoulder stable then its very hard to hurt the labrum.
Treating the Root Cause of Your Symptoms
Hopefully you can see the pattern here: weakness of the rotator cuff (often caused by them being over-worked because of lack of shoulder blade stability) is the primary cause of shoulder problems. Simply trying to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles is not the answer because the problem is not that their weak, but that they're over-worked by weakness of the shoulder blade muscles. The solution is to strengthen the shoulder blades muscles. But often times the shoulder blade muscles can't work properly because of two things: 1) the nerves that supply them are being pinched at the neck and this weakens them significantly; and 2) poor posture in the thoracic spine (the mid-back) forces the shoulder blades into a poor position and makes it very difficult for the muscles to function properly. The key is to facilitate the functioning of the nerves in the neck through Central Facilitation and improve the posture and specifically of the Thoracic 'Core'.
Posterior Shoulder Impingement
Posterior Shoulder Impingement is when the back of the shoulder gets pinched when the shoulder is cocked back (as when preparing to throw a baseball, hit a volleyball, or serve a tennis ball). This is a common problem in all overhead athletes and is caused by lack of rotation of the shoulder in the opposite direction. We have powerful techniques to enhance the full motion of the shoulder and return athletes to their prior level of function. We often return athletes to their sport at a higher level than where we found them.
Frozen Shoulder (Adhesive Capsulitis)
Frozen Shoulder is one of the most annoying, nagging problems. In the Frozen Shoulder the capsule surrouding the shoulder joint stiffens and tightens down, locking the shoulder into a very stiff and almost immovable position. People with Frozen Shoulder have difficulty lifting their arms. We use a combination of strengthening and direct mobilization techniques to regain the shoulder motion as quickly as possible. The research is clear abotu Frozen Shoudlers: the faster you regain the motion the faster your overall recovery will be.
You Must Be Actively Involved
The only way you will ever get better is if you are actively involved in your treatment. Although our magic hands can change your body, improve your movement, and reduce your pain, you are the only one who can learn to move better, change the way you treat your body, and keep up with your exercises. We are very successful and get excellent results for our patients, but that is only because our patients know they are more than 50% responsible for their recovery. We are not into failure, and neither should you be!
Get Out of Pain in 5 Weeks
We offer the Shoulder Pain Solution, a 5-week program combining individualized, hands-on treatment from a physical therapist and a specific exercise program designed to resolve your pain. You will learn how to manage your own shoulder so that not only will you have less pain, you will also have the knowledge and skill to prevent it from coming back.
Our goal is to help you learn how to resolve you pain. In 5 weeks, we can teach you how.
Learn more about the Shoulder Pain Solution.
Our goal is to help you learn how to resolve you pain. In 5 weeks, we can teach you how.
Learn more about the Shoulder Pain Solution.
