| Okay, so you've hurt your shoulder but how will you | | | | wear and tear as we age. I damaged my |
| recognise what you have done to it? Firstly your | | | | supraspinatus which is one of the four rotator cuff |
| shoulder is made up of muscles, bones, tendons, | | | | muscles. Unfortunately it is the muscle that runs |
| ligaments and cartilage. If someone had invented the | | | | through a channel on the acromion (part of the |
| shoulder they would be winning awards for the | | | | shoulder blade), so when it got injured and started to |
| design.There are three separate bones involved, The | | | | swell I ended up with a shoulder impingement. The |
| arm, the clavicle or collar bone and the scapula all | | | | result was loss of strength in my arm, pain whenever I |
| feature. Seventeen different muscles plus the cartilage, | | | | tried lifting my arm or moving it behind me. Tucking in |
| tendons and ligaments. | | | | my T-shirt, reaching out for a cup of coffee, lifting |
| Two of the most common injuries to shoulders are a | | | | anything off of a shelf became difficult and as time |
| rotator cuff tear and a frozen shoulder and it is best | | | | went by it just deteriorated. |
| not to mix them up because the treatments are | | | | What was happening was that the swollen, damaged |
| radically different. | | | | tendon was now bunching up whenever I used it and |
| With a frozen shoulder the capsule surrounding the | | | | getting pinched against the bone. The gap that it usually |
| shoulder becomes damaged, resulting in scar tissue | | | | moved through was now too small, so every time I |
| forming. The capsule contracts and any movement of | | | | used my arm with certain movements it was catching |
| the joint causes pain. | | | | on the acromion and getting more worn. So I had to |
| However, if you have damaged your rotator cuff then | | | | rest it and wait for the swelling to calm down. |
| you will only get pain with certain movements. The | | | | It is only when you are forced to rest it that you realise |
| rotator cuff is made up of four muscles that stabilize | | | | just how much you use your shoulder. You can't work |
| the shoulder and help to move the shoulder especially | | | | through this because the pain is is telling you that more |
| any movement above shoulder height. The shoulder | | | | damage is being done, eventually,if you manage to |
| joint is a very shallow ball and socket joint. Without the | | | | overcome the pain, you could end up snapping the |
| rotator cuff to keep the ball in place, we would put our | | | | tendon all together and then there is a whole heap of |
| shoulder out of joint every time that we lifted anything | | | | problems. Depending on how bad the injury is you may |
| or threw anything. The rotator cuff are at risk | | | | be advised to have an operation to release the |
| whenever we are lifting or throwing or working at | | | | trapped muscle to allow it to heal. But Rest, treatment |
| height. | | | | of the inflammation followed by exercises to build up |
| The commonest injuries to this group of muscles are | | | | the rotator cuff muscles may be all you need. |
| caused by repetitive movements, knocks or just plain | | | | |