Shoulder with its varied range of motion plays a crucial role in performing our day to day activities. Starting from painting to playing basketball and the game which I like the most i.e cricket. While playing cricket both batting and bowling equally involves shoulder muscles to play a key role in the overall performance. The kind of flexibility and agility reported by our shoulder makes the shoulder one of the most unstable joints in the body.
The shoulder is not a single joint but a complex arrangement of bones, ligaments, muscles and tendons and also termed as the shoulder girdle giving strength and range of motion to the arm. Now let’s elaborate a bit more about the shoulder Girdle.
The three Shoulder Joints
In total there are three joints in Shoulder girdle giving strength and range of motion to the arms. The glenohumeral joint includes the ligaments, tendons, and muscles attached to the two bones whereas the acromioclavicular joint includes the ligaments, tendons, and bones where the acromion on the shoulder blade joins at the clavicle also called as collar bone. The third joint is the sternoclavicular joint which forms where the sternum or the breastbone joins the clavicle or collar bone.
Significance of Glenohumeral Joint
Out of all the three Joints the Glenohumeral Joint has many significant role to play as it allows us to move our arm forward, backward and side-to-side. When it comes to rotating the shoulder in inward and outward direction or moving it across the body in front and behind the GH has a key role to play. The GH Glenohumeral joint reports the maximum mobility when compared with any joint in the body and allows the best possible movement in all directions.
The glenohumeral joint provides the maximum mobility when compared with any other joint in the body allowing possible movement in all the directions. Certain structures limit raising the arm straight out behind us to about 60 degrees.
The most commonly reported cause of shoulder pain is rotator cuff muscles which play a key role in the movement of the shoulder. Individuals who are suffering from rotator cuff generally experience intensive pain in the night hours but it’s not so intense that it would not allow the individual to enjoy his usual sleep.
Disorders of shoulders
Frozen Shoulder
Talking about Frozen shoulder a common condition experienced by a big percentage of the population, there is stiffness of joint, constant pain and even discomfort when the pain reaches your back or head. If the stiffness is immense the condition may also lead to fatal condition in many of the cases.
Shoulder arthritis is a rare issue and is marked by deep shoulder pain along with stiffness. This hinders both the active and passive range of motion. The Shoulder arthritis generally occurs when preceded by an injury to the arm, neck or shoulder that occurred year before.
Bicep Tendonitis initiates in the front of the shoulder and slowly the pain travels down over the biceps muscles. In this disorder the pain often gets worse with repetitive lifting or carrying of heavy bags or overhead activities. The individual suffering might also report clicking sound when the shoulder is rotated in an arc and could experience maximum pain during night.
Also Read: Accelerating Recovery post shoulder surgery
When to concern a doctor?
Medical assistance is suggested when you are unable to carry objects or use the arm, injury leading to deformity of the joint, shoulder pain which occurs at night, swelling around the arm or when you have observed infection, skin redness or warmth. When the above symptoms deepens and the injury has gone beyond recovery the end result which a doctor may predict is Arthroscopic shoulder surgery.
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If you or anyone in your family is suffering from Shoulder pain which is re-erupting after every few days, its time you should visit Dr Abhishek Mishra a true artisan when it comes to shoulder pain or surgery treatment.