The shoulder joint is one of the complex joint in your body that is surrounded by numerous tissues such as ligaments, bursa and many different muscles. Your shoulder is most mobile joint of your whole body, thus it is vulnerable to injuries.
Shoulder pain
Causes like injuries, overuses, joint degeneration or joint dysfunction can lead to inflammation and impingement of surrounding tissues. Impinged and inflamed tissue causes swelling and creates further narrowing of shoulder joint space. Decreased mobility of shoulder due to pain and swelling can overtime cause degeneration of the shoulder joint.
Prevention
Shoulder injuries often can easily be prevented by simple preventative guidelines. These specific guidelines given below need to be specific to the clients needs which should be thoroughly assessed by experienced health practitioners including chiropractors and physiotherapists.
Prevention methods should include following key points:
- Overuse
- Joint instability
- Muscular imbalances
- Joint mobility
- Good posture
Rest and modify the activities
If you are overusing your shoulder, give it a rest! Modify the way you lift, limit range of motion and reduce weights that you lift.
Scapular stabilizing
Best position of scapular is back and rotated down. Having scapular in the right position can prevent the shoulder rolling forward and reduce muscular imbalances. Specific exercises can train the scapular stabilizing muscles to be re-activate again and re-gain strength.
Balanced upper body exercises
Retraining of weak and underactive muscles is important to increase stability of shoulder joint and prevent injuries. Weak rotator cuff muscles can lead to overuse of shoulder joint and muscles. Training the rotator cuff helps to balance muscles of the shoulder to re-position the humeral head into the centre of the joint.
Thoracic and Shoulder mobility exercises
Stiffness in thoracic spine can create restricted mobility in shoulder, forcing your shoulder to work harder for movements that your thoracic spine should be doing. Keeping your thoracic spine and shoulder joint mobile with rehabilitation exercises will help to reduce likelihood of injuries and future degeneration.
Postural correction
Having better posture will assist in re-positioning of shoulder joint, re-activating weak muscles and better mobility of spine. Focus on your good posture by standing/sitting tall, chest out and shoulder back and down and avoid hunching forward at all times
If you are suffering from the shoulder pain and injuries, consider points above and consult with our chiropractor, Harry, at Kingsford Health Space for more thorough assessment, specific exercises and postural correction.
