There are the occasional twinges of discomfort or muscle aches – and then there’s shoulder pain that’s so severe, you feel as though your entire upper body is on fire.

Let’s face it: suffering from shoulder pain isn’t just a physical problem.  It’s a lifestyle one: shoulder pain can interfere with the quality of your professional work, your active hobbies and even the level of involvement you can experience with your family and friends.  After all, you’re not about to run after your children on the playground or go out dancing with friends when you’re suffering from debilitating shoulder pain.

Be it sudden or chronic, shoulder pain is often indicative of a serious underlying condition.  Shoulder pain symptoms could range from a shooting pain whenever you move your neck and arms.  It can also be numbness and tingling in the shoulder or same arm, and even all the way down to the fingers.  The shoulder can also be locked up and have very little range of motion (frozen shoulder).  In addition, it can be dislocated or subluxated, which would result in great pain, as well.   Shoulder pain can be caused by a number of injuries and conditions, of which you’ll need the expert advice of an experienced chiropractor to determine.

Shoulder pain can also be caused by a trapped C6 or C7 nerve in the neck.  This trapped nerve can no longer facilitate communication via the brain to the shoulder, which means that the brain can no longer control the muscle movements.  As a result, shoulder pain will often be accompanied by weakness, muscle spasms, tendonitis, bursitis, tears in the rotator cuff muscles and even contribute to an early onset of arthritis.

If your chiropractor diagnoses you with the above conditions, it’s likely that he or she will treat the trapped nerve by adjusting the C6 and C7 upper thoracic, along with the first and second ribs.  This increases the fluid motion of the shoulder girdle, thereby adjusting the shoulder joint and strengthening the muscles altogether.  Continued rehab of the shoulder will generally release the nerve from its trapped position, which eliminates the symptoms described above.

If there is no improvement with two weeks of starting physiotherapy and chiropractic adjustments, your chiropractor will order a nerve conduction test or a needle EMG to discover if there is a nerve injury and exactly where is the nerve injured.  He or she may also order an MRI to diagnose a more severe condition of the shoulder, if shoulder symptoms do not show gradual improvement.

If you want to diagnose and treat your shoulder pain, then visit the Tustin Bodywork Bistro in Tustin, CA, where Dr. Laila Nayab-Murshidi can treat your back, neck and shoulder pain with an assortment of innovative spinal treatments.

For help getting rid of shoulder pain fill out the form in the top right corner, or simply call 888-899-3315.