Shoulder Pain and the Rotator Cuff Muscles

Have you ever had pain in your shoulder joint that radiates down your arm into your elbow or sometimes even all the way down into your hand? More often that not, this indicates a problem with your rotator cuff muscles. Your rotator cuff is made up of 4 muscles: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis. These muscles keep your shoulder stable by keeping your shoulder securely in its socket and they’re working hard anytime we use our arm.

Every once in a while, we can overload these muscles by doing something repetitive (e.g. painting, cleaning, carrying something for a long time, pushing/pulling). We can also hurt these muscles by causing some sort of direct impact to the joint (e.g. falling on the shoulder directly).

With age, all of us experience some level of wear and tear in the rotator cuff tendons and can experience shoulder pain and weakness as a result. This is often diagnosed by doctors as:

1. Rotator cuff tendonitis

2. Supraspinatus tendonitis

3. Rotator cuff strain

4. Frozen shoulder

5. Shoulder arthritis

These muscles are interesting because when they’re injured, they can refer pain down the whole arm, which makes diagnosis quite tricky. Luckily, this pain almost always resolves with some specific manual therapy techniques and some mobility and strengthening exercises. In rare cases, the tear can be significant enough to warrant surgery but it is almost always recommended to try physiotherapy first.

If you need a professional to assess your shoulder-pain, SV Mobile offers in-home physiotherapy services in Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville, and the GTA.