You Need To Consider Doing This If Your Shoulder Injury Is Not Improving With Exercise
A shoulder injury can feel like a constant hindrance, limiting your ability to carry out basic tasks or enjoy your favorite activities. Whether it’s caused by overuse, an accident, or repetitive strain, shoulder injuries can lead to persistent pain, stiffness, and restricted movement, leaving you frustrated and feeling as though your body is holding you back.
The emotional impact of a shoulder injury can be just as overwhelming as the physical pain. The anxiety about your recovery, combined with the frustration of not being able to move freely or engage in your daily routine, can weigh heavily on your mind. If exercise hasn’t provided lasting relief from your shoulder injury, it may be time to consider other treatment options that target the root cause and provide long-term solutions.
Exercise: A Common Approach to Treating Shoulder Injury
Exercise is often recommended for individuals with shoulder injuries because it helps strengthen the muscles around the shoulder joint, improves flexibility, and restores function. Targeted exercises can reduce pain, improve posture, and prevent further strain by strengthening the muscles that support the shoulder.
However, while exercise can be beneficial for rehabilitation, it may not always be enough, especially if the injury involves severe ligament damage, rotator cuff tears, or inflammation. For some, the pain persists or worsens despite regular exercise, leaving them frustrated and unsure of how to continue their recovery journey.
Why Getting a Clear Diagnosis Is Crucial
Shoulder injury can be caused by a variety of underlying factors, and knowing the exact cause is essential to finding the most effective treatment. Here are five common causes of shoulder injury:
- Rotator Cuff Tears – A tear in the tendons of the rotator cuff can cause pain, weakness, and limited mobility in the shoulder.
- Shoulder Impingement – The tendons in the shoulder may be pinched between the bones of the shoulder joint, causing pain and inflammation.
- Labral Tears – Tears in the cartilage of the shoulder joint can cause pain, instability, and a reduced range of motion.
- Bursitis – Inflammation of the bursa (a fluid-filled sac) in the shoulder can lead to swelling, pain, and difficulty with movement.
- Fractures – A break in the bones of the shoulder can cause immediate, severe pain and restrict movement.
In addition to these common causes, two less common but potentially serious causes of shoulder injury include:
- Dislocation – A shoulder dislocation can occur when the bones of the shoulder joint are displaced, causing pain and requiring immediate medical intervention.
- Infections – Infection in the shoulder joint can cause severe pain and swelling, requiring prompt treatment.
The Need for Imaging to Get a Precise Diagnosis
It’s important to understand that shoulder injuries cannot always be fully diagnosed based on symptoms alone. Imaging techniques such as X-rays, MRIs, and ultrasounds are necessary to assess the condition of the bones, tendons, muscles, and cartilage in the shoulder. These diagnostic tools provide healthcare providers with a clearer view of the injury, allowing them to create a more effective and targeted treatment plan.
The Pain Relief Clinic: Your Partner in Finding a Clear Diagnosis
At The Pain Relief Clinic, we understand how a shoulder injury can limit your daily activities and affect your quality of life. With over a decade of experience, we specialize in offering non-invasive diagnostic services to uncover the root cause of your pain. If exercise hasn’t provided lasting relief, we can arrange for affordable scans, typically within one working day.
Medisave can often be used to help cover the cost of these scans, making them more accessible for you.
We also assist with insurance claims, including accident insurance, travel insurance, and company insurance, ensuring that you can access the care you need without added financial strain.
Once we have a clear diagnosis, we can provide targeted treatments, solutions, and non-invasive technology to help alleviate your shoulder injury and restore your mobility.
Ready to take control of your shoulder injury? Send us a message today to arrange an appointment and take the first step toward lasting relief from shoulder injury.
What To Expect When I Visit The Pain Relief Clinic
A typical visit will involve our doctor first understanding your medical history, concerns and previous experience with other pain treatments.
For patients who have consulted many people but have yet to receive a clear diagnosis, selecting an affordable imaging scan might be recommended to confirm the cause of your pain..
Some patients have already done scans with other doctors for their pain condition but are still not clearly told what they suffer from.
Dr Terence Tan is happy to offer you a second opinion and recommend how best to manage your condition.
We also see patients who already have a confirmed diagnosis from specialist pain doctors, but are "stuck” because treatment options offered are not practical or acceptable.
We can help by discussing options that you might have potentially never been told of.
A common experience is when a patient has already consulted a specialist doctor for pain management and is told to consider orthopaedic surgery which they find too aggressive.
Or they may have seen doctors for their pain and were prescribed painkillers with potential side effects which made them feel uncomfortable.
Many of our patients have also first tried complementary treatments or acupuncture with traditional Chinese pain doctors.
They look for a second opinion after finding any relief experienced from other treatments to be temporary or requiring repetitive treatments, which add up to time and cost.
Especially in such situations, we emphasize using non-invasive medical technology you likely have not been told about .
This can make a big difference to your results.