Shoulder impingement is a cluster of symptoms with one common pain in the shoulder area or along the arm or shoulder blade. Very often problem with this condition is when an athlete has a lot of overhead activities. But this condition is prevalent in non-athletes.
The shoulder joint has a large range of motion and many structures are in or across the shoulder joint, and sometimes because of that some structures could be pressed and provoke pain.
There are 2 basic types of shoulder impingement:
– Subacromial/external impingement
-Internal impingement
All this is very important for fixing this problem as well as an understanding of shoulder anatomy.
Step 1
Healing starts with a patient history of injury. That can help us to find out the cause of the problem already from the first session.
Step 2
Observation and analysis of body posture is one of the leading causes of shoulder impingement and correction of that is mandatory for healing.
Step 3
We can use different types of tests to find out which structures are damaged. For example, we can use a Painful arc test, Neer test, Hawkins Kennedy Test and Midland test for the shoulder.
Step 4
For treatment protocol, we can use NKT, PDTR, PNF, Mulligan, Maitland protocol, or some other physiotherapy protocols. In some cases, electrotherapy laser can be helpful or shockwave therapy to decrease pain but the movement is in first place always. In some cases, surgery is necessary.
Step 5
Patient should exercise, focusing on muscle strength because it is the only way for absolute healing.
If you don’t know which muscle group you should make stronger, we have an answer. We should exercise all muscle groups because each of them is very important and it will save us from injury.
