Top Five Non-Injury Shoulder Pain Causes
Few conditions adversely affect daily life more than chronic shoulder pain. These conditions restrict everything from morning routines to sleeping well at night. Frequently, chronic shoulder pain is also frustrating. Many times, even doctors can do little more than speculate as to the cause.
What is known is that non-injury shoulder pain is always a wear and tear condition. Since most people spend about a third of their time at work, it is rather easy to put two and two together. Should pain almost always has a work-related origin, or it is at least aggravated by a work-related condition.
In either case, a Jackson & New Orleans shoulder & knee injury attorney can normally obtain compensation for these injuries. This compensation usually includes money for both lost wages and medical bills related to the victim’s shoulder pain.
Spine Issues
Frequently, shoulder pain is mysterious because the shoulder is not the issue. Disc and cervical spine issues often cause pain in the shoulders, specifically the shoulder blades.
Falls and wear and tear could cause these injuries. Frequently, fall victims land on their backs. They might not feel much pain at the time. But these falls often jar the cervical spine. That motion irritates nerves, causing pain in the shoulder. At first, the victim might not connect the fall to the shoulder pain. As a result, the injury gets worse.
Disc injuries are usually wear and tear injuries. A hairline or stress fracture in the spine allows the material inside the spinal cord to ooze out and put pressure on a nerve. Usually, that pressure causes back pain. But sometimes, it causes shoulder pain. Once again, the injury usually deteriorates before a doctor determines the problem.
Calcific Tendonitis
Doctors do not know what causes calcium deposits to accumulate around tendons and muscles in the shoulder. But they know it happens. Only an X-ray reveals the damage. Generally, injections and anti-inflammatory medications successfully treat calcific tendonitis. This condition normally affects people over 30.
Frozen Shoulder
The shoulder is essentially a ball and socket joint. Frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis, is inflammation in the ball joint’s lining. At first, these victims experience discomfort. Soon, that discomfort becomes a range of motion limitation and overall stiffness. Exercises, steroids, and numbing agents typically loosen the shoulder joint.
Frozen shoulder is one of the leading causes of non-injury shoulder pain. The aforementioned treatments are usually not permanent. Frequently, this condition occurs again, often in the other shoulder.
Arthritis
This condition is usually genetic, and work activity exacerbates it. Other times, an undiagnosed injury causes arthritis. Usually, the effects are so gradual that the victim never seeks treatment. There is no cure for arthritis, although certain medications, as well as some surgical procedures, can alleviate the symptoms.
Bursitis/Tendonitis/Rotator Cuff Tears
Older people are more susceptible to bursitis and tendonitis. Time alters the shoulder joint. Then, as the tendon degenerates, the bone’s bursa lining becomes irritated. So, a combination of age and repetitive activity often causes these injuries. Manual laborers are especially at risk for tendonitis and bursitis.
A rotator cuff tear usually has the same feeling, but the cause is different. Weak tendons are susceptible to tears. These tears usually cause throbbing pain, as opposed to a dull ache or stiffness.
Count on a Diligent Attorney
Shoulder pain is almost always work-related. For a free consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer in Jackson, contact Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe, PLLC. Home and hospital visits are available.
Resource:
orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases–conditions/shoulder-pain-and-common-shoulder-problems/
