What happens when you do something, like throw an object overhand, and then you get injured? In the case of shoulder impingement, repetitive motion can lead to painful inflammation around the tendons.
Shoulder impingement can lead to severe tendon tears or rotator cuff damage if left untreated. Keep reading this article to learn how physical therapists treat shoulder impingement. If you have an impingement of your shoulder, there are various ways that physical therapists can help with treatment.
How to treat shoulder impingement
- Identify the problem — When you have an impingement, your shoulder’s soft tissue gets pinched between two bony structures. This can cause pain and limit mobility in your shoulder, making it challenging to do day-to-day activities such as reaching for things or even sleeping.
- Help regain normal motion — Physical therapists can help you regain normal shoulder movement by first pinpointing and treating any underlying issues in your neck, low back or anywhere else in your body. Once that’s done, you can work on strengthening weak muscles and improving soft tissue mobility.
In thinking about how to treat shoulder impingement issues, modifying activities of daily living to cut strain on your shoulder joint is important. Stretching tight muscles and tendons around your shoulders can help to increase flexibility and limit pain.
- Treat pain — Pain is one of your body’s natural warning signs that you may be in danger. For example, an athlete with shoulder impingement may feel pain in their upper back and shoulder.
Still, if that pain is ignored, it can lead to issues like limited mobility, tendinitis and arthritis. That’s why it’s important to treat pain before it becomes a severe issue, especially for an athlete. When figuring out how to treat shoulder impingement, dealing with pain swiftly is crucial.
- Strengthen your rotator cuff muscles — The rotator cuff is essential to shoulder function, and weakness in these muscles often results in shoulder impingement.
Rotator cuff strengthening can help address pain and maintain the healthy function of your shoulder joint. In fact, often, physical therapists will often start with strengthening exercises before moving on to more complex rehabilitation. Some of these exercises can be done with no equipment. For others, you may need equipment like resistance bands or a workout bench.
Border TS offers effective physical therapy for how to treat shoulder impingement
Are you looking for physical therapy that can help you recover from a shoulder impingement? Border Therapy Services has physical therapists who can treat your shoulder pain. To determine the cause of your shoulder pain, we can perform a free screening. Moreover, our therapists can design a customized physical therapy plan for you that focuses on reducing your pain and preventing it from returning.
Contact us for more information or schedule an appointment with our team if you suffer from shoulder pain.