Shoulder Injury Treatment in Lakeville
If you have a shoulder injury, discover how Family Chiropractic and Wellness may help.
While you may think that athletic activities cause most shoulder injuries, what we often see at our practice is more postural induced shoulder pain. Or chronic poor posture versus pain from a significant injury. Most times when people hurt their shoulder, it’s called a FOOSH (falling on an outstretched hand). Most of the shoulder injuries Dr. Jake sees are the microtrauma ones or small injuries that build up over time that cause shoulder pain.
Assessing the Shoulder Joint
What comes next is assessing how we treat the shoulder joint (the scapula and humerus). There’s something called your scapulohumeral rhythm, which means as you bring your arm out to the side, your humerus or your arm moves first, then your humerus and your shoulder blade (your scapula) moves together at the same rate. Then your shoulder continues to move again. The assessment is working to find out what part of that rhythm isn’t working right.
Dr. Jake often sees patients who express that they have a tingly feeling in their shoulder, or sometimes their arm seems to fall asleep or their whole hand is numb, but there’s definitely something outside of pain happening in their shoulder.
Dr. Jake also sees a lot of rib dysfunction, and estimates he adjusts a dozen ribs a week. In fact, he estimates 8-12% of his adjustments in a given week are on patients who also have rib dysfunction.
Assuming the patient (high schoolers to adults) has good muscle tone and bone tone, Dr. Jake can adjust in one of two ways: “I have the patient lie on their back, they hug themselves, and we hug them,” he said. He lets the patient know that although it won’t hurt too much, it might be a little awkward. There is also a way to adjust the patient without the doctor having to wrap his/her arms around the patient.
“We can also use a drop table to adjust the ribs of my retired patients, or with the Activator instrument, which is ideal for young school-aged kids or our older population,” said Dr. Jake.
I don't have a shoulder injury, so why is my shoulder hurting?
It doesn’t take a traumatic event to cause shoulder pain, but instead it’s the little things that build up or fester along the way.
Because it had an amazing ability to help! “In school, we learned about the brachial plexus and how radicular pain happens. It’s more so anecdotally or practice based knowledge that correlates ribs to shoulder pain,” said Dr. Jake.
There’s almost always relief, but it depends on how long that relief lasts. For some patients, it’s a one and done, and they feel amazing afterward, and others take a handful of adjustments (2-6).
Sometimes, if we’re looking to correct their spine and posture of their neck and shoulders, we’re treating and trying to help manage their pain all the way through their corrective care. You will probably see a response in a few weeks (about 4-6 sessions).
Book an Appointment
Dr. Jake has considerable expertise in addressing shoulder injuries. Contact Family Chiropractic and Wellness today to book an appointment.
