3. Shoulder

The shoulder is a complex and highly mobile joint. As a result, muscle strains and inflammation of tendons can commonly occur, which results in pain around the shoulder area, especially when engaging the muscle to perform a task. This can occur as a result of an injury but is often due to performing repetitive activities, such as throwing or using tools.

Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) is a common ailment, affecting approximately one in thirty people in their lifetime and resulting in severe pain and difficulty in moving it in most, if not all, directions.  It is particularly common in insulin dependent diabetics (between 10-20% suffer at some point in their lives). Untreated, the pain and restriction of movement frequently lasts more than a year and can also indirectly affect other parts of your body (especially your neck and spine between the shoulder blades), as your body adapts to the pain in the shoulder and its resultant reduced usage. 

In certain cases, pain in the shoulder may be referred from a problem in the neck; this is where osteopathy's holistic and whole-body approach can help to resolve the root cause of pain which may have its origins in another part of the body. 

Back to the Body Map

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