eShoulder joints fuel our lives as they enable us to stretch, move and lift things without hassle. However, shoulder impingement can stagnate the agility of your shoulders. To know more, consider reading the following article on the same concern.
What Is Shoulder Impingement Syndrome?
A healthy shoulder has the following parts in place working with ease.
First, there is the scapula, which is a triangular bone on the upper back sideways. This structure contains a shallow concave cavity like a saucer that is medically known as the glenoid fossa.
Second, you have your upper arm bone known as the humerus. The top part of the humerus, which is in the shape of a ball, sits inside the glenoid fossa. This is why a shoulder joint is call a ball and socket joint.
This is all about the hard bony parts.
Besides the scapula and humerus, there are soft tissues as well. The soft-tissue structures around a shoulder joint are collectively known as the rotator cuff. This is a group of muscles and tendons.
The shoulder joint also has bursae. The bursa is a fluid-filled bag that is found in joints (including the shoulder joints) to reduce the effects of friction and cushion the adjacent structures.
So, if any tendon from the rotator cuff or bursa gets compress, the movement of the shoulder causes pain. This painful condition in the shoulder is call shoulder impingement syndrome.
Why Does Shoulder Impingement Syndrome Happen (or Causes)?
In the above section, we have explained what the syndrome is.
Now, let’s see exactly why it happens.
The shoulder joint is far more complex in its making than analysed above (looking at each part). Right above the meeting point of your shoulder joint, there is the space technically known as the subacromial space.
In this space, the rotator cuff and bursae are found.
The problem comes when a tendon in the rotator cuff or bursa gets irritate and thus inflamed, giving rise to swelling and reduction in the subacromial space.
Now, as the space is reduce, the inflame tissue gets pinch or compress when you move the shoulder, you feel pain.
Thus, the following are the causes of the impingement syndrome in the shoulder.
Tendonitis: The inflammation of the tendon is known as tendonitis. A tendon can get inflame because of overuse, an external trauma or an internal condition.
Bursitis: The inflammation of a bursa is call bursitis which is mainly cause due to an external trauma, overuse or any internal condition.
Abnormal Bone Growths: Bony growths on the edges of bones are call bone spurs. When such abnormal bone growth occurs in the shoulder joint, it can also reduce the area of the subacromial space, leading to impingement of soft tissue during movements.
General Symptoms of Shoulder Impingement Syndrome
The most prominent symptom of this syndrome is shoulder pain whenever the affected person lifts the arm. Alongside, the same person can also suffer from swelling, redness, tenderness and all other sorts of inflammatory issues.
How Does It Affect Daily Life?
If you are someone who has to engage in overhead sports like swimming and baseball regularly, this syndrome will require you to take a break from such activities for a period of time until the impingement gets cured.
During the recovery, you will have to take care of certain things like giving adequate rest to the affected shoulder, taking pain medications for pain management, activity modification to prevent further damage and complications, observing immobilisation for the concerned shoulder joint to promote healing and maintaining a positive mindset to fight off harmful consequences of excessive and prolonged stress.
If you are not a sports person and have recently been hit by an external trauma like a fall, a road accident, etc., the impingement can cause pain and hence mobility issues in the affected shoulder.
You will have to observe a bout of shoulder inactivity until a normal recovery.
The fastest way to recover no matter what has caused shoulder impingement is to first consult an experienced shoulder specialist in Delhi or nearby.
How Is This Condition Diagnosed?
Like any other joint injury, the condition of shoulder impingement or its cause is also diagnose with the help of an X-ray, MRI or CT scan.
While X-rays can only reveal abnormalities in bones, MRIs and CT Scans help in diagnosing soft-tissue injuries as well.
Treatments for the Syndrome
The usual treatment options for this condition are as follows:
Physical Therapy: A physiotherapist will try to help with the impingement with the help of special exercises, massage, activity modification, and temperature techniques. All of this will be perform to reduce pain and help regain shoulder mobility.
Rest: You will have to relax and give the impinged shoulder enough time to heal itself and get back to normal. Staying away from overhead sports is also part of rest.
Ice Compressions: Ice packs when applied to an injured area help reduce swelling and inflammatory issues. Ice constricts blood vessels and thus blood supply to the injured area gets curtail and the area shows no-to-little inflammatory symptoms.
It happens because the blood supply reduction also means minimising the transport of inflammation-inducing chemicals to the injured area via the bloodstream.
Ice compressions work best when applied right after the soft-tissue injury. Listen to a professional physiotherapist to do it the right way, otherwise, you might end up making the problem even bigger.
Pain Medications: To relieve the intense pain discomfort, a healthcare professional might also introduce painkillers to the treatment. Make sure you don’t overdo painkillers as it has side effects.
Corticosteroids: Injections of corticosteroids can be administer to reduce swelling, pain and inflammation.
Surgery: If the shoulder pain doesn’t get better through conventional methods, your healthcare service provider might have to perform a surgical intervention.
When to consult a doctor
If your shoulder pain doesn’t get better even after enough rest and painkillers, it is time you consult an orthopaedic doctor for the best diagnosis and cure.
