the 3 Biggest mistakes people make managing shoulder injuries...

Without the correct treatment and management of simple shoulder injuries you run the risk of the problem worsening beyond repair.  Your tendons can calcify, essentially turning into bone.  Small muscle tears can slowly become large until eventually your tissues separate completely.  Lack of mobility eventually freezes your shoulder (frozen shoulder is a painful condition that results in approximately 90% loss of movement). Your bursas, small lubricating sacks, can inflame so much they become unresponsive to injections and medications.  Neck pain can set into a chronic pattern, resulting in sometimes severe headaches. 
 
On the contrary, a few simple measures like professional management from someone who knows what they are doing and a clear, simple to implement set of tasks you can do yourself can turn the whole thing around before it permanently impacts your life.  Your tendons will heal themselves given the opportunity. Your body can regulate the inflammatory response and get on with healing tears and bursas.  Your neck pain can be alleviated and headaches avoided.  If you get on top of things early steroid injections and medications that will damage your gut can be avoided completely. 
 
Too often we see people who have gone through a lot of pain that could easily be avoided. Arm yourself with knowledge and avoid these super common mistakes. 

1. Jumping the gun.   Over and over we see people who have started strength rehabilitation exercises before the shoulder is functional.  Why does this matter you ask?  Essentially this is taking a problem and strengthening it.  First and foremost the functional range of motion needs to be addressed.  If you can’t move it you are not ready to strengthen it.  This is step one. In some minor injuries you may be able to stretch the area to regain your range of motion.  However, in 95% percent of cases this step needs some outside help.  If you have an osteopath who is willing to find the cause,  book in and make the initial change,  this is your first point of call. 
2. I’ll just get a jab, that will fix it.  Getting a steroid injection without addressing the cause is kind of like drying dishes in the rain.  These injections when done under ultrasound guidance can actually be very helpful to reduce an inflamed bursa.  However, if your bursa is still being irritated by the poor mechanics of the injured shoulder then the treatment will be temporary.   Some people get a day or 2,  some get a couple of months,  then we are right back at square one. 
3. You’ve got to breathe.  Not addressing the respiratory system in management of the shoulder is wasting every bodies time.  Because of the complexity and extreme mobility of the shoulder it relies heavily on the platform it is sitting on, the rib cage.  So positionally it is important to regain your range of motion, but additionally to that your respiratory system is key in returning blood to your heart and draining areas of inflammation.  This is active in every breath, on average that’s 17000-20000 breaths per day!  Even a small problem here can cause larger problems elsewhere. 

 
Shoulder injuries can be debilitating, or they can be easy.  If you need some help with this, know someone who does, or you have some more personal questions regarding this issue you can DM me and I’d be more than happy to send you some relevant information that can help get you started on treating yourself. If you know you’ll need hands on help feel free to call the office on 07 5482 7214 for an appointment, or   click below to book online. ​

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