If you’re like most people, you perform a number of overhead movements with your arms and shoulder every single day. Whether you’re grabbing something off the top shelf, restocking the pantry or hanging laundry on the clothesline, we regularly lift our hands above our head to perform a variety of tasks. If this motion becomes painful, daily actions can become uncomfortable and difficult, and that’s no way to go through life.
But what’s causing this pain with overhead activities, and more importantly, what are the best ways to treat this discomfort? We explain how Dr. Holloway can get you back to performing overhead motions without pain in today’s blog.
Causes Of Pain With Overhead Motion
There are a few different issues that could be causing this discomfort when performing overhead tasks, but far and away the most common problem is Shoulder Impingement Syndrome, or SIS. As the name implies, shoulder impingement syndrome occurs when soft tissues in the shoulder complex become impingement and compressed. When you lift your arm over your head, a bunch of specific movements in and around your shoulder joint must occur in unison, and if things don’t go smoothly, one or more of the soft tissues in the area can be compressed as the natural space in the area shrinks when performing this action.
In most instances, your pain is being caused by compression of part of your inflamed rotator cuff. Your rotator cuff is a collection of muscles and tendons that help to hold the ball part of your shoulder joint within the socket. Due to acute trauma or repetitive stress, these tissues can inflame and then become impinged as they attempt to pass unimpeded past the acromion during overhead motions. Poor posture or muscular imbalances within the shoulder complex can also lead to inflammation and impingement with overhead motions.
Besides pain with overhead motions, patients dealing with shoulder impingement syndrome may experience any of the following symptoms:
- Swelling
- Tenderness
- Shoulder/Arm weakness
- Range of motion restrictions
- A catching or grinding sensation during certain shoulder movements
If you are dealing with these symptoms, know that effective treatment options may only be one call away. Don’t keep pushing through the discomfort without treatment, as this will typically only lead to worsening symptoms and more difficulty treating the underlying issue.
Treating Pain With Overhead Motion
Treatment really breaks down into two specific phases, which are protection and strength training. Let’s dive deeper into both:
- Protection – You need to provide an ideal environment for healing to take place, so you need to protect the shoulder from aggravating actions. Limit overhead motions or stress on the shoulder joint for an extended period of time. This doesn’t mean that you need to just sit on the couch for two weeks, but you do want to limit stress on the shoulder joint. Stay active and continue pursuing healthy exercise, just steer clear of activities that irritate the rotator cuff. Anti-inflammatory medications and hot/cold therapy can also be quite helpful during this initial stage.
- Strength Training – The second part of treatment focuses on strengthening the shoulder complex to improve the health of the soft tissues that make up the rotator cuff or the structures that support the shoulder joint as a whole. Weeks of physical therapy typically do the trick, but your care team will also want you to gradually reintroduce overhead activities to your daily life so that you don’t overburden the area as it’s working to become stronger. Slowly taking on greater physical challenges while simultaneously working to strengthen and restore flexibility in the rotator cuff can help to alleviate symptoms and prevent a recurrence down the road.
Conservative treatment typically does the trick, but a minimally invasive operation to tighten the damaged rotator cuff tissues may be performed if symptoms persist. Whatever treatment you need, we’re confident that we can provide it to you.
For more information about shoulder pain with overhead motions, or to talk to a specialist about a different shoulder issue you’re dealing with, reach out to Dr. Holloway and his team today at (865) 410-7887.
