Best Orlando Treatment for a
SHOULDER IMPINGEMENT
Are you not able to continue your cherished hobbies or everyday activities because of sharp pain in your shoulder when you move? With our expert doctors’ help, you can get to the root of your symptoms and get back to doing what you love quicker and easier.
Best Orlando Treatment for a
SHOULDER IMPINGEMENT
Are you not able to continue your cherished hobbies or everyday activities because of sharp pain in your shoulder when you move? With our expert doctors’ help, you can get to the root of your symptoms and get back to doing what you love quicker and easier.
Here Is Everything You Need To Know About Shoulder Impingement, What Causes It, and The Best Way to Treat It
Click the tabs below to get direct answers to your questions
What is shoulder impingement?
Shoulder impingement syndrome occurs as the result of chronic and repetitive compression or “impingement” of the
What are common causes of shoulder impingement?
Shoulder impingement syndrome is a condition that develops when the rotator-cuff tendons in the shoulder are overused or injured, causing pain and movement impairments. Shoulder impingement syndrome may also be referred to as “subacromial” impingement syndrome because the tendons, ligaments, and bursa under the “acromion” can become pinched or compressed. The shoulder is made up of 3 bones called the humerus, the scapula, and the clavicle. The acromion is a bony prominence on the top of the scapula, which can be felt
- Repetitive overhead movements, such as golfing, throwing, racquet sports, and swimming, or frequent overhead reaching or lifting.
- Injury, such as a fall, where the shoulder gets compressed.
- Bony abnormalities of the acromion, which narrow the subacromial space.
- Osteoarthritis in the shoulder region.
- Poor rotator cuff and shoulder blade muscle strength, causing the humeral head to move abnormally.
- Thickening of the bursa.
- Thickening of the ligaments in the area.
Tightness of the soft tissue around the shoulder joint called the joint capsule.
Where does it hurt?
In most cases of a shoulder impingement, patients report the classic sign of lateral shoulder pain as a deep ache. Certain movements and positions will reproduce the lateral shoulder pain. A neck injury at C5 and thoracic outlet syndrome can also cause lateral shoulder pain too so these need to be ruled out. Understanding the root cause of your pain is
What are common symptoms of shoulder impingement?
Individuals with shoulder impingement may experience:
- Restriction in shoulder motion with associated weakness in movement patterns, such as reaching overhead, behind the body, or out to the side.
- Pain in the shoulder when moving the arm overhead, out to the side, and beside the body.
- Pain and discomfort when attempting to sleep on the involved side.
- Pain with throwing motions and other dynamic movement patterns.
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To Get A "Insider's Look" At Our Treatment Approach And How We Get Results...
Click Below To Watch Our Exclusive Webinar! It's Simple, Short, And It's Free!
- Learn The Essential First Step...So You Can Get Pain Free Again
- See Why Treatment Needs To Be Individualized, Not Standardized...So You Get Faster Results
- Learn How You Can Save Money...So You Don't Have To Waste $1000's On Unnecessary Treatments
Can shoulder impingement be treated?
Yes, shoulder impingement pain can be treated and with great results. Even better, many times it can be treated conservatively without needing injections, pain medications, or surgeries if you catch it early enough. The key to treatment is to solve the root cause of your pain so you can get the best results and a
Some root causes of shoulder impingement pain can be:
- Forward head posture
- Rounded shoulders with impingement
- Weak mid back and shoulder blade muscles
- Overload to the shoulder joint with active motions
- Tight neck and mid back
- Poor biomechanics causing impingement
- Decreased
mid back rotation - Tight rotator cuff muscles
If you have failed multiple treatment approaches already, your clinician missed the real root cause of your pain and was just chasing the symptoms. The pain or symptom is the effect, not the cause. What do I mean by this? Say your fire alarm goes off in your house. Its purpose is to protect you and make you aware that something is wrong, i.e., that there is a fire in your house. The “alarm” is like your pain (your body’s way of telling
Additionally, there is a common root cause which many clinicians misdiagnose. They treat the shoulder pain with a cookie cutter approach, hoping it will
The first step in treatment is to identify the root cause of your pain. A specific and individualized treatment approach for your type of pain can lead to a successful outcome for you and resolve your symptoms for the long term. This is why you can’t rely on a standard cookie cutter approach; you need a customized and individualized treatment approach specifically for your type of shoulder impingement pain.
What happens if it goes untreated?
Minor case – If it is a minor case of shoulder impingement, research shows that many acute cases of pain may spontaneously go away in 4-8 weeks. The key to treatment is, what is causing the impingement and can we solve it? Who wants to wait 8 weeks to get pain free? Let’s try to solve the root cause of your pain in 2-3 weeks and address all of the risk factors present (so it never returns!) and get you back to your favorite activities faster! We still recommend that you get it checked out by
Severe case – If it’s more of a severe and chronic case of shoulder impingement, your pain will probably start to worsen and increase because the root cause of the pain is not being treated. Many people turn to pain medication at this time but this only blocks the pain for short term. You may not feel the pain when taking pain medications, but the underlying problem is still there. Many people say after the pain medication is stopped, then usually the pain returns and sometimes it returns even worse. This is when things get worse and the shoulder is more inflamed now. You will start to notice increased shoulder pain, pain when sleeping at night, referred shoulder and arm pain, and a decrease in shoulder range of motion. Even though it’s more chronic now, we can still help. Once the root cause and all risk factors are addressed, then we can start decreasing your pain, regardless of how chronic and severe the pain is. This is the crucial first step. It just may take more time to recover from a chronic case. Usually with chronic and severe cases, the longer you have your pain and injury, the longer it takes to resolve.
What outcome can you expect from treatment?
As we’ve discussed, the first step is to solve the root cause of your shoulder impingement pain. This is the most essential step to plan a treatment specialized for you and your unique type of pain. Your root cause will guide your treatment and dictate what is the best way to treat your pain. This, along with identifying risk factors that may be predisposing you to have your pain and injury, will allow you to start getting pain free again. The next step is to start decreasing pain, modifying activities, and start addressing all of the impairments causing your pain which we discovered during your evaluation. With each session, pain should start to decrease and you should start to regain range of motion with less pain and symptoms. Any radicular and referred pain should resolve fast as well. At this point, we begin light and basic strengthening only if it does not increase pain. Treatment will consist
The next step is to achieve full range of motion, (which should correlate to being pain-free) and now we can start progressive strengthening. Strengthening the muscles is crucial and research shows that this gives you the best long-term outcome! As you start to get stronger and maintain your mobility, your pain will continue to decrease if it is not already gone. Your increased strength will allow you to perform more activities and prevent flare-ups. This usually does take up to 4 weeks. As you clear our goals, then we can start easing you back into sport, golf, running, and whatever your favorite activities are. This is when we start winding down treatments and getting you back into functional strengthening, sport specific training, return to run programs, golfing, and whatever your goals are. In the end, we reassess everything, making sure we achieved all of our goals, your goals, that all risk factors are gone, and finalize your long-term home exercise program. There are many factors which can influence your outcome, but 85-90% of our patients respond well to our treatment approach and achieve a successful outcome when completing their plan of care.
To Get A "Insider's Look" At Our Treatment Approach And How We Get Results...
Click Below To Watch Our Exclusive Webinar! It's Simple, Short, and It's Free!
- Learn The Essential First Step... So You Can Get Pain Free Again
- See Why Treatment Needs To Be Individualized, Not Standardized...So You Get Faster Results!
- Learn How You Can Save Money...So You Don't Have To Waste $1000's On Unnecessary Treatments
To Get A "Insider's Look" At Our Treatment Approach And How We Get Results...
Click Below To Watch Our Exclusive Webinar! It's Simple, Short, And It's Free!
- Learn The Essential First Step...So You Can Get Pain Free Again
- See Why Treatment Needs To Be Individualized, Not Standardized...So You Get Faster Results
- Learn How You Can Save Money...So You Don't Have To Waste $1000's On Unnecessary Treatments
How is it diagnosed?
A physical therapist will perform an evaluation and ask you questions about the pain you are feeling, and other symptoms. Your physical therapist may perform strength and motion tests on your shoulder, ask about your job duties and hobbies, evaluate your posture, and check for any muscle imbalances and weakness that can occur between the shoulder and the scapular muscles
Do you need an X-ray and MRI imaging for shoulder impingement pain?
For most common orthopedic cases, imaging is not needed and the diagnosis can be made with a simple physical therapy evaluation. No need to waste thousands of dollars on unwarranted diagnostic imaging. We also have clinical tests which we can perform to help rule in and rule out pathologies that correlate to MRI findings (which is WAY cheaper than an MRI!). An expensive MRI may just tell us what we already know. Also, often times the positive findings found on x-rays, MRIs, and EMGs may not actually be the root cause of your pain. What does that mean? Many positive findings on an MRI are also found in asymptomatic (pain-free) individuals, so diagnostic imaging may not be able to tell us what is actually causing your pain. For example: many people have a herniated disc in their low back but do not have any low back pain. So if herniated discs can cause no pain, just because someone with low back pain has a herniated disc does not mean that is what’s causing their pain. The key is to find out if your clinical evaluation findings during your evaluation at Pursuit match the MRI findings. If so, then we can decide what is the best way to treat it.
How can a Physical Therapist treat it?
It is important to get proper treatment for shoulder impingement as soon as it occurs. Secondary conditions can result from the impingement of the tissues in the shoulder, including irritation of the bursa and rotator-cuff tendinitis or tears
Manual Therapy. Your physical therapist may use manual techniques, such as gentle joint movements, soft-tissue massage, and shoulder stretches to get your shoulder moving
Range-of-Motion Exercises. You will learn exercises and stretches to help your shoulder and shoulder blade move properly, so you can return to reaching and lifting without pain.
Strengthening Exercises. Your physical therapist will determine which strengthening exercises are right for you, depending on your specific condition. Often with shoulder impingement syndrome, the head of the humerus tends to drift forward and upward due to the rotator-cuff muscles becoming weak. Strengthening the rotator-cuff and scapular muscles helps position the head of the humerus bone down and back to ease the impingement. You may also perform resistance training exercises to strengthen your weaker muscles. You will receive a
Patient Education. Learning proper posture is an important part of rehabilitation. For example, when your shoulders roll forward as you lean over a computer, the tendons in the front of the shoulder can become impinged. Your physical therapist will work with you to help improve your
Functional Training. As your symptoms improve, your physical therapist will teach you how to correctly perform a range of functions using proper shoulder mechanics, such as lifting an object onto a shelf or throwing a ball. This training will help you return to pain-free function on the job, at home, and when playing sports.
How long does it take for recovery?
Recovery time for shoulder impingement depends on multiple factors:
- The severity and chronicity of your pain
- Whether your pain is an easy or complex case
- If the root cause of your pain was solved or if it was missed (this is the key to getting a great recovery!)
- How long you have been in pain for and when you need to be pain-free by
- Other therapies and treatments you have tried
- Which medical professional(s) you saw prior to seeing us
- How active you are in trying to resolve your pain
- Which treatment approach is chosen and if it is proven to work for your pain
There are many factors that influence your recovery time and every patient’s recovery time is different. If you do nothing and don’t pursue treatment, it could gradually get better on its own, you could continue to have the same pain persist, or it could continue to get worse. As stated earlier, most acute cases may or may not resolve in 4-8 weeks. If you get expert treatment that solves the root cause of your pain, some cases resolve in 1-3 weeks! Then you can get back to sports, exercise, and your favorite activities without flare-ups and recurrences. Some of our patients are pain-free in 1-3 visits and back to 100% in 2 weeks!
If it is a complex case with chronic pain, your recovery may take longer, but you can still get a good outcome. Some chronic cases can resolve as fast as 2 months but can take as long as 4-6 months. It varies with every patient because every case of shoulder impingement pain is different. Every patient’s recovery varies depending on the factors listed above. After a thorough evaluation here at Pursuit Physical Therapy, you will know your exact timeline of recovery, your prognosis, and when you should reach your goals.
How much does it cost?
The average cost of care for a case of spine pain in the US is $1800-$6600. This high price is due to many factors: the over-inflated cost of healthcare, the over expensive cost of unwarranted imaging (x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs) that is not needed, over-utilization of care (which increases the number of visits needed to be treated, requiring multiple visits to different doctors and physical therapists for the same diagnosis), and getting billed for unnecessary and unproven treatments that you don’t even need. All of these factors increase cost and this is why healthcare is so expensive. We strive to end that unnecessary, expensive cycle. In fact, we are currently publishing our first-year data with the University of Central Florida that shows the cost-effectiveness of our treatment approach.
This year, the average cost of our care was shown to be $814-$1141. Some of our patients get even as low as $315 for the full treatment! So if you have a deductible of $3,000-$10,000 and you have to pay out of pocket for your treatment, we can save you lots of money.
Remember, every case of pain is different and not all shoulder impingement pain is the same. It is hard to predict exactly how much your treatment is going to cost you. But after a thorough evaluation, we can tell you exactly what is causing your pain, how long it is going to take, what the best way to treat it will be, and exactly how much it is going to cost. We have no hidden fees, no co-pays, and no miscellaneous bills that you will be surprised by 3 months after you receive treatment. Your pain, your diagnosis, your goals, and what is best for you dictate your treatment and how much it will cost, and while it varies for every patient, treatment at Pursuit is still much more affordable than standard healthcare.
How long are sessions?
Our evaluations are always one-on-one with one of our board-certified specialists and 60-90 minutes long. We like to perform thorough evaluations so we can solve the root cause of your pain, identify all risk factors, and make sure that we do it right. After the evaluation, you will know your diagnosis, the root cause of why you have your pain and symptoms, your prognosis, an expected timeline of when you should see results, what the best way to treat your pain is, how much it will cost, and your expected recovery outcome. We want you to fully understand everything about your pain and injury. What is best for you and will get you the best outcome is what will dictate your care and treatment. There will be plenty of time for you to ask questions so we can make sure you fully understand why you have your pain and what the best way to treat it will be. After the evaluation is completed, all treatment sessions are 60 minutes going forward and still one-on-one with your physical therapist. You and your physical therapist will design a customized treatment plan that works for you and that will achieve your goals.
How can it be prevented?
Shoulder impingement syndrome can be prevented by:
- Maintaining proper strength in the shoulder and
shoulder-blade muscles. - Regularly stretching the shoulders, neck, and middle-back region.
- Maintaining proper posture and shoulder alignment when performing reaching and throwing motions.
- Avoiding forward-head and rounded-shoulder postures (being hunched over) when spending long periods of time sitting at a desk or computer.
What are next steps?
Getting started is simple. The first step, and the key to getting you
BECOMING PAINFREE IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK
Step 1:
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Step 3:
Call us to schedule your appointment
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