Shoulder Pain
Shoulder pain ranges from a pulled muscle to a torn rotator cuff, and it often shows up when you reach overhead, throw, paddle, or roll onto it at night. Some people with rotator cuff problems manage with rehab, and your surgeon and therapist decide with you. Heights Physical Therapy treats shoulder pain for people in Gunnison, Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley.
Common causes of shoulder pain
The shoulder moves more than any other joint, which gives it many ways to hurt.
Rotator cuff tendinopathy and tears
The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons that guide the joint. Overuse, a fall or age can irritate or tear it. Swinging a hammer, climbing, skiing falls and repeated overhead work are typical triggers.
Impingement and shoulder bursitis
When the arm bone does not track well as you lift, tendons and the cushioning bursa get pinched and swell. Pain often starts as you raise your arm out to the side.
Frozen shoulder
Also called adhesive capsulitis. The joint tightens and loses motion, and it can follow time in a sling or an injury.
Instability, dislocation and labral tears
A dislocated shoulder, a loose joint or a labral or SLAP tear needs a careful exam and a plan that protects the joint while strength returns.
Shoulder pain at night and when you can't lift your arm
A deep ache that wakes you, weakness lifting the arm, trouble reaching behind your back and broken sleep are common with rotator cuff problems. If you feel like you can't lift your arm overhead without pain or weakness, we check for rotator cuff tendinitis, a tear, shoulder impingement, a frozen shoulder or a labral tear.
Sometimes shoulder pain really starts in the neck. We check both, so see neck pain if your symptoms spread up toward the head or down to the hand.
How physical therapy helps your shoulder
We look at your range of motion, strength, joint mobility and how the shoulder blade and arm work together to find the cause.
- Manual therapy and joint mobilization to restore normal movement and ease tight tissue
- Rotator cuff strengthening to rebuild what the joint depends on
- Scapular stabilization so the shoulder blade supports the arm
- A plan that fits your job, your sport and your sleep, with a home program
When a surgeon may suggest surgery
Some shoulder injuries do need surgery, but not every rotator cuff tear does. A surgeon may suggest it for a complete tear in a young, active person, a shoulder that dislocates repeatedly, or an injury that has not responded to a good course of rehab. If you do need an operation, physical therapy is a key part of recovery before and after. See post-surgical rehab.
If your shoulder gave out on the bike, the slopes or the field, read about sports injury rehab. Shoulder arthritis is on the arthritis page, and the joint below is covered on elbow pain.
See a doctor or go to the ER first if you have
- Shoulder pain with chest pain, shortness of breath or sweating
- A shoulder that is visibly out of place after a fall
- Sudden severe pain with no ability to move the arm
Call us and we will tell you what applies to your insurance, and whether you need anything from your doctor, before your first visit.
Shoulder terms in plain words
What is the difference between a rotator cuff tear and tendinitis?
Rotator cuff tendinitis is an irritated tendon. A tear means part of the tendon has pulled apart. Both cause pain with lifting and at night, and your clinician tests to tell them apart.
Is a dislocated shoulder treated here?
We help with rehab and stability after a dislocation, in line with what your doctor recommends.
Get your arm back overhead
Call Heights Physical Therapy if reaching, lifting or sleeping on your shoulder has become a problem, and we will find a time to examine it. We see people from Gunnison, Crested Butte and across the Gunnison Valley.
We see patients in Gunnison, Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley, Colorado.