The shoulder is one of only 2 ball and socket joints in the body. It is the most mobile joint in the body, enabling us to put our arm and hands in positions to do an incredible range of things. In order to achieve this we need all areas of the shoulder girdle to be working correctly. This includes the ball and socket, the shoulder blade (scapula), and the collar bone (clavicle) in addition to the mid back (thoracic spine). During your assessment a physiotherapist will look to identify what is contributing to your shoulder problem This could be weakness of the shoulder ball and socket muscles (rotator cuff muscles) or the scapula muscles. It could equally be tightness in the shoulder joint or spine. Research suggests there are also lifestyle, medical health and psychological risk factors for developing shoulder pain.
Physiotherapy has been shown to be effective in the management of various shoulder conditions including frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis), rotator cuff related shoulder pain (subacromial pain) and shoulder instability.
Research supports physiotherapy including exercise and manual therapy for the treatment of shoulder subacromial pain (see here). It is suggested that 6 weeks of exercise is more effective than placebo or no treatment at improving pain and function in the short, medium and long term. Furthermore, research in relation to inoperable rotator cuff tears suggest that 12 weeks of strengthening improves pain and function. (see here).
