If you’re dealing with pain or other bothersome symptoms in your shoulder, you may be wondering who you should consult for care. Your primary care physician may have some answers, but for anything other than a mild issue, odds are they are going to refer you to a specialist. When looking for a specialist, should you trust your nearest orthopedic specialist, or should you visit with someone that solely focuses on the shoulder? Below, we explain why consulting with someone that only specializes in shoulder issues is likely your best option for care.
The Benefits Of Choosing A Shoulder Specialist
General care practitioners and orthopedic specialists are great at what they do, but when you’re dealing with a shoulder injury, it’s wise to connect with a shoulder specialist. The biggest reason why a shoulder-only specialist will be your best resource is because the shoulder is an incredibly complex joint. Think about your shoulder compared to some other joints in your body, like your hip or your knee. Your shoulder is way more mobile than those other joints, but in order to achieve this flexibility, it sacrifices stability. Your shoulder is much less stable than these other joints, which is why you hear about shoulder dislocations far more often than you hear about hip or knee dislocations.
This lack of stability means that addressing the shoulder joint correctly is a very complex process. And while that orthopedic specialist may have performed a fair amount of shoulder surgeries in their career, someone who only operates on the shoulder will have much more experience achieving the desired stability when addressing different issues in the shoulder.
We like to think of the shoulder as a luxury vehicle, like a BMW or Mercedes-Benz. If you’re in need of an oil change, you can probably receive great service from a basic auto shop. If you’re dealing with mild shoulder soreness or decreased flexibility, you can probably get set up with a treatment plan by visiting your primary care physician. But let’s say you run into a major issue with your vehicle. If you need to have the transmission replaced, you’re not just going to go to any body shop for care. You want someone who knows exactly what’s going on with your vehicle and who has corrected this exact issue many times in the past.
You could take your vehicle to a body shop that specializes in imports, because odds are they will have more experience than the repair garage that assists all different makes and models. However, that shop is still working on a number of different types of imports, so their specific depth of knowledge about your vehicle may still be lacking simply because they won’t always be working on your vehicle brand. This is similar to when you visit an orthopedic specialist for your shoulder issue.
If you really want the most experienced mind servicing your vehicle, you take it to a dealer-specific body shop where they only work on one brand of vehicle. They know exactly how to care for your BMW problem because that’s all they see day in and day out. This attention to detail and experience can make all the difference in your physical outcome after treatment. That’s what you’ll get when you visit a shoulder specialist for your shoulder issue.
And while you can always buy a new car to replace your old one, we only get one body, so we need to make the best decisions for our health. You owe it to yourself to have the most experienced professional helping you with your complex shoulder issue, so connect with a shoulder specialist if you need care. To learn more about the benefits of connecting with a shoulder-specific specialist, or to set up an appointment to discuss any symptoms you’re experiencing, reach out to Dr. Holloway and his team today at (865) 410-7887.
