Why shoulders hurt and what to do about it

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Shoulder pain can be both harmless and deadly. Don't miss the threatening symptoms.

The shoulder is the most flexible joint in the human body. On the one hand, this is great: we can raise and lower our arms, twirl them in all directions, scratch our backs, throw a ball, hang on a horizontal bar and drag heavy bags. On the other hand, you have to pay for mobility.

The shoulder joint includes a huge number of elements: bones, ligaments, tendons, nerve endings. Any of them can suffer from loading or bad turning. The result is pain, aching or sharp. But it happens that discomfort in the shoulders signals a truly serious internal disease.

When to call an ambulance

Analyze your feelings. Call an ambulance immediately for Shoulder pain if:

• Shoulder pain is accompanied by shortness of breath and / or heaviness, tightness in the chest. These could be symptoms of a heart attack.
• The cause of the pain was an injury, and you observe signs of a fracture - an unnatural position of the shoulder bones, acute pain, severe swelling, inability to raise an arm.
• Your shoulder hurts suddenly and severely, the pain lasts longer than a few minutes, and you are 5-14 weeks pregnant. You may have it ectopic.

Fortunately, this list of threatening situations associated with discomfort in the shoulders, in general, is exhausted. However, the pain may have other causes of Shoulder pain - not so dangerous, but no less unpleasant.

Why shoulders hurt

Here are some common reasons.

1. Sprained ligaments

This problem is familiar to bodybuilders who overexert themselves in strength training. But a non-athlete can also suffer - for example, if you had to carry too heavy bags for a long time or dig up a dozen or two beds at a time. This pain increases when you try to move your shoulder or feel it with your fingers.

2. Inflammation of the tendons (tendonitis)

This situation is also associated with increased physical activity. But not one-time, but regular. With hard work, the tendons rub against the surface of the joint and become inflamed, resulting in chronic aching pain.

3. Defeat of the rotating cuff of the shoulder

A complex term hides simple situations when a person has to perform not quite familiar hand movements for a long time. For example, painting the ceiling. A day or two after such physical activity, acute pain in the shoulders may appear.

4. Arthritis or arthrosis of the shoulder joint

They are two different conditions, but both involve joint inflammation. If the shoulder joints are affected, this is manifested by regular bouts of severe pain, difficulty in raising arms or performing other movements of the upper limbs.

5. Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine

Such pains radiate to the arm and intensify when turning the head.

6. Shoulder injuries

A fracture or dislocation may not always be immediately recognizable. Typical symptoms: such pain appears after a blow or fall on the shoulder and is accompanied by edema, discoloration of the skin, deformation of the joint or bone, and impairment of joint mobility.

7. Myalgia

Myalgia is a common name for muscle pains, including those in the shoulders. It can be caused by dozens of different factors - hypothermia, colds, staying in the same position for too long, excessive physical exertion and even stress. Myalgia of the shoulders can be recognized by the aching pain, which is worse if you try to raise your arms.

8. Problems with internal organs

The shoulder contains many nerve endings associated with various internal organs. Therefore, it often hurts something inside, but gives it to the shoulder. This type of pain is called reflected pain. Usually it is associated with all kinds of heart disorders - from angina pectoris to myocardial infarction, as well as pneumonia, liver pathologies, tumors of the chest organs, internal bleeding, and so on.

What to do if your shoulders hurt

If the pain appears after a particular physical activity, you do not have to worry - most likely, everything is in order with you, and the discomfort will go away by itself in a couple of days. But if the causes of pain are not clear to you, it is better to see a therapist as soon as possible. He will exclude diseases or, if necessary, give you a referral to a specialized specialist.

In either case, you can alleviate the condition with simple home methods:

• Take an ibuprofen or acetaminophen pain reliever.
• Place an ice pack wrapped in a thin cloth or napkin on your shoulder for 15-20 minutes.
• If, in your opinion, the pain is associated with physical strain or myalgia, do not restrict movement. Try simple exercises to strengthen your shoulder muscles to speed up your recovery.