Are you experiencing shoulder pain? Is the pain significant enough that it’s negatively affecting your daily routine and life? Whether the pain has come on suddenly due to an injury or it’s chronic and has slowly been building over time, it can severely hamper your ability to work and live your regular enjoyable lifestyle. Pain is something that affects a person both physically and mentally which is why it’s so important to address and find a way to cope with it.
Here we’ll take a look at some of the ways you can cope with shoulder pain and start to get back to a normal life.
Is the Pain Due to an Injury?
There are different types of shoulder pain and sources of the pain. A common one is shoulder pain due to injury. While it doesn’t change the fact that you are in pain, it will change the course of action and even your recovery timeline. For minor injuries, you can likely treat them at home. It’s best to use ice in the initial few days and rest your shoulder. If it hurts to move it, try using a bandage to keep it in place. It’s also recommended that you keep your shoulder elevated – try to keep it above your heart. A minor injury will usually take a few days to a couple of weeks to heal and will be an inconvenience more than anything.
How to Know the Shoulder Injury Isn’t Minor
But how do you know if the shoulder injury is minor? Typically, ‘minor’ means you can still move it – it just hurts. It should also improve within the initial few days. If your pain intensifies and becomes severe, you cannot move your shoulder at all, your hand becomes weak or numb, swelling occurs, or it looks deformed, it’s time to visit your doctor. There’s a good chance you’ll need more than ice and rest.
Book an Appointment with a Physical Therapist
Another course of action may be to book an appointment with a physical therapist. Physical therapists can create a treatment plan that is customised to your needs with the goal of reducing and hopefully eliminating the pain, bringing back a range of motion and building strength. This type of treatment isn’t a quick fix since it can take months even a year or more of therapy.
For physical therapy to be effective you will need to follow the exercises at home, not just during your appointment. This will speed up results and make them more long-lasting. Keep in mind that this may not be a one-off type of issue. Shoulder pain could be something you need to manage for the rest of your life, so knowing specific exercises to use will help to keep the pain at bay.
Anti-Inflammatory Medication and Injections May Be Recommended
There are some anti-inflammatory medications and injections that can also be extremely helpful. Addressing the swelling and bringing it down will reduce the pain and bring back your range of motion. You may be told to use Nonsteroidal drugs (NSAIDs) or a corticosteroid injection. While these injections are considered temporary solutions and wear off relatively fast, for some patients they can eliminate the pain permanently. This means you can move on with life and not worry about shoulder pain.
A cortisone injection is typically used to treat such things as frozen shoulder, tendonitis, degenerative arthritis, inflammatory arthritis, a rotator cuff tear or bursitis.
Is Surgery Necessary?
While you may assume the pain is normal and that it will eventually go away, that’s not always the case. For some people, shoulder pain may require surgery to properly treat it. The first step is often shoulder arthroscopy which is a procedure that allows the surgeon to investigate what’s going on in your shoulder. Not only that, but it can also address a frozen shoulder. During the procedure, small cuts will be made in your skin so a camera can be inserted.
The best way to determine if you need orthopaedic surgery is to book a consultation with an orthopaedic surgeon. Orthopaedic surgery is something the Circle Health Group offers, with shoulder and elbow surgery being high on the list of common procedures. During the consultation, the surgeon can diagnose your specific issue, discuss treatment options and, depending on the problem, you may even need shoulder replacement surgery.
While surgery may seem scary at first, the fact is that if the damage is severe, you probably don’t have any other options. Think about how the surgery can benefit you once you have fully recovered.
When you’re suffering from shoulder pain and it’s affecting all aspects of your life it can be hard to picture life pain-free. The good news is that shoulder pain doesn’t have to be permanent, and at the very least some treatments will help to reduce the amount of pain you’re suffering from.
