Shoulder injuries are one of the most common injuries seen in physiotherapy clinics, doctors offices and the ER. A shoulder injury is any injury to any of the structures in the shoulder joint including bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and cartilage.
Shoulders are easily injured because the shoulder joint has a very wide range of motion which makes it more unstable. Some of the more common shoulder injuries include:
Shoulder Dislocation
A shoulder dislocation is a traumatic injury where the ball (humeral head) of the shoulder is forced out of its socket.
Symptoms include:
- a visibly deformed out of place shoulder
- inability to move the shoulder in any direction
- intense pain
- often pins and needles and numbness in the shoulder and down the arm
- bruising
Rotator Cuff Tears
A rotator cuff tear is a full or partial tear of one or more of the four rotator cuff muscles or tendons which surround the shoulder joint. The cause may be overuse or traumatic.
Symptoms include, but are not limited to the following:
- difficulty and pain reaching up over your head or reaching back behind your back
- a sensation of arm weakness
- pain deep in the shoulder
- shoulder pain that is worst at night
- popping and clicking sounds in your shoulder with movement
AC joint injury
An AC joint injury is an injury to the ligaments which holds the tip of the collar bone (clavicle) to the front of the shoulder blade (acromion). Most often these injuries are traumatic and are caused by:
- a direct fall on the shoulder
- a fall on an outstretched arm
Symptoms include:
- pain on the top of the shoulder
- a visible step deformity if there is a separation
- swelling and bruising may be seen
- some loss of range of motion in the shoulder
Shoulder Fracture
There are three places that you can fracture a bone in the shoulder, the clavicle (collar bone),the proximal humerus (the long bone located in the upper arm) and the scapula (shoulder blade). These fractures typically are caused from:
- falls
- contact sports
- sudden impact
Symptoms include:
- a cracking or snapping sound with the injury followed by extreme pain
- the shoulder becomes bruised and swollen
- increased pain with movement and significant loss of use of the arm
If you have injured your shoulder call the professionals at Durham Orthopedic and Sports Injury Clinic (905-428-7800) to see one of our registered physiotherapists to help develop a specific treatment plan and start your road to recovery today.
