Demaray Chiropractic can fix Shoulder pain!
“Doc, my shoulder is hurting so bad I want to take a gun and shoot it!”
Have you ever had that kind of pain, the pain so deep and severe that you cannot get away from it? This is how Joe came into the clinic. He worked in construction all of his life but the last few months he has been working as a construction supervisor. As you can imagine, Joe was in pretty good shape and was proud of that fact. However, he was not working in the field as much because of his new position. This left his body somewhat de-conditioned. So, when he tried to help his crew lift some things, carrying them under his arm, he experienced pain which grew worse daily. He thought he could tough it out, but the pain just became more intense. He could not sleep on that shoulder, his normal side to sleep on, and so he was getting less and less sleep. He was getting more and more irritated because of the pain. His patience was wearing thin and he was grouchy with his wife and kids. Over the weeks of trying to work through the pain, his boss started asking him questions about his productivity and Joe started worrying about keeping his job, which seemed to make the pain worse. The continual pain and the fact that it was not resolving made the worry turn into worry and depression. Bottom line, he could lose his job.
Joe came to the clinic because he wanted relief from the pain, he wanted his life back, he wanted to be able to sleep and do his job. He wanted to be his regular, fit self.
When he was examined it was found that he had an Acute Shoulder Injury. Many muscles move the shoulder but one of the most injured muscles is the Supraspinatus Muscle. Today we will focus on the Supraspinatus muscle, but throughout the month we will be talking about each muscle of the shoulder and what it does, how it gets injured and what we as your team can do for you, and then what you can do for yourself.
The Supraspinatus Muscle can be located by putting the opposite hand on the top your shoulder. When you do this your finger tips are right over the muscle. This muscle is one of the 4 Rotator Cuff Muscles. You may have heard of the Rotator Cuff muscles because many athletes suffer from injuries of the rotator cuff. There are many muscles that move the shoulder and they each do separate jobs in moving the shoulder, but they all work together. The movement of the shoulder is very complicated and delicate so that we can do big, heavy movement with our shoulders as well as small and intricate movements.
When we are specific in our history taking and in the exam process, then we can be specific in treating the problem.
The top muscle in the above diagram is the Supraspinatus Muscle. The following picture is the pain pattern when Supraspinatus is injured.
This pain pattern might be familiar to you or a family member. This muscle hurts when you lift your arm to comb your hair, or perform an overhand serve when playing tennis, or work on a car motor above your head. It also can hurt when you carry a heavy load under your arm.
Treatment at Demaray Chiropractic is Different
You may not think of your chiropractor first when you think of shoulder pain, but chiropractors work on every joint in the body including shoulder joints. The difference between Demaray Chiropractic and other chiropractors is; we spend time with our patients. Time to listen, time to do a thorough examination, time to explain what we are finding during your exam. Once a patient can understand how their injury happened they can avoid doing it again next time. Because we offer stretching and exercise instruction to aid patients in the healing process, a patient learns how to fix their shoulder and how to strengthen it. They can maintain the normal movement and by keeping it strong they can minimize injury in the future.
Joe received treatment at Demaray Chiropractic and although it took a few weeks to heal, he went back to work quickly. He was faithful in doing the daily exercise which benefited him by insuring a quicker recovery time. He was able to keep his job and be more productive in the workplace. The pain relief also allowed him to get better sleep and spend quality time with his family. He also became the assistant coach in his sons little league, something that he would have never done before because throwing the ball was always so painful and annoying.
We at Demaray Chiropractic are here are here for you, to come along side you during your healing process and help you and your body to achieve and maintain the goals that you have for your best life.
Call us at (707) 455-8655