Diagnosing and treating shoulder pain

Shoulder pain is a common complaint. Often, a pain develops over time so that the patient is unsure where it began. Doctors are likely to recommend painkillers or physical therapy, but even then it can be difficult to stop the pain.

It can develop from injury, overuse or repetitive motion. If the cause is overuse or repetitive motion, the movement that’s causing the pain may not actually hurt the shoulder at the time. For example, typing at a desk with a bad ergonomic setup could cause shoulder pain over time even though your shoulders don’t seem to move much with typing. Physical therapists can often make good educated guesses based on their examination of the shoulder (which muscles are weak and which ones show signs of overuse) and questions they ask about your lifestyle and activities. Medical imaging such as X-rays or MRIs may also be helpful in diagnosing precisely what is wrong with your shoulder.

You may find relief from physical therapy exercises, from advice on improving your posture, from making changes in activities that involve shoulder use, from improved ergonomics, heat or ice, ultrasound (performed by a physical therapist), and from acupuncture or chiropractics.

Women can also suffer from shoulder and back pain due to ill-fitting bras that fail to support the weight of their breasts correctly. It is also possible for large breasts to be so heavy that no bra can help, in which case breast reduction surgery might be recommended, and often will be covered by insurance because it is a legitimate medical problem.