Shoulder Pain - What Does Your Symptom Mean?

Shoulder pain is a sign pointing to a certain condition. The condition can be a mild one like muscle pain, which can be gotten rid of by self home care measures; or the condition can be a severe one like dislocated shoulder which needs immediate medical attention. If you are experiencing mild pain, then follow some home care measures of resting the affected area and applying ice compress in case you have swelling.

You can also take an over-the-counter painkiller like acetaminophen or ibuprofen, to reduce the pain. However, if you are showing severe pain symptoms or can't figure out the reason of the pain, then it is important that you consult a doctor to get the appropriate treatment.

Common Shoulder Pain Disorders & Their Symptoms

Arthritis
Arthritis is the inflammation of one or more joints, which can cause pain symptoms. If you have inflammation of the shoulder joints, then the symptoms are:

• Shoulder joint pain
• Shoulder joint swelling
• Reduced ability to move the shoulder joint
• Stiffness of the joint, especially in the morning time
• Warmth around the joint
• Redness of the skin around the joint

Sports Injuries
Sometimes during playing sports or during a shoulder exercise, due to poor practices or improper gear people can suffer from sports injuries.

• Mild or intense pain of shoulder
• Shoulder pain with pain of other body areas. For example if you got hit or fell on your shoulder and back then you can experience shoulder and back pain.
• Swelling of the shoulder and other affected area
• Bruising
• Reduced ability to move the arm part
• Weakness

Dislocation
The symptoms of shoulder dislocation depend upon the severity of the dislocation.

• Intense arm and shoulder pain
• A visibly deformed shape which can be seen out of the shoulder
• Inability to move the shoulder joint
• Swelling
• Bruising

Myofascial Pain Syndrome
This condition means muscle pain. It develops due to a muscle injury or due to excessive straining of a particular muscle, ligament or tendon. The symptoms of this condition are:

• Muscle stiffness
• Pain which persists or becomes worse
• Stiffness of joint near the affected muscle
• Deep ache in a muscle
• Difficulty while sleeping due to the pain
• Area of tension in the affected muscle can feel like a knot, and can be sensitive to touch
• If a back and shoulder muscle is sprained it can cause upper back and shoulder pain
• Working in front of a computer for prolonged periods, can cause neck and shoulder pain

Torn Rotator Cuff
The rotator cuff helps to lift and rotate the arm, and provides stability to the ball of the shoulder joint. Here is a list of the symptoms experienced when suffering from this condition:

• Thinning of the muscles about the shoulder
• Pain while lifting the arm
• Crackling sensation while moving the arm in certain positions
• Ache during lowering the arm from a fully raised position
• Weakness while rotating or lifting the arm

Frozen Shoulder
Frozen shoulder is also known as adhesive capsulitis, which occurs if a peons had their arm in a sling for several weeks or if you had surgery in which your arm was immobilized and kept in a certain position for a long time. The frozen shoulder symptoms are categorized into three stages.

• During the painful stage, pain will occur while moving your shoulder as the range-of-motion of your shoulder becomes limited.
• During the frozen stage, pain will diminish, however the shoulder will become stiffer and range-of-motion will decrease notably.
• During the thawing stage, the range-of-motion of the affected shoulder begins to improve.

Take some home care measures to get rid of the shoulder pain, in case you are suffering from common sprain or strains condition. However, if you have a serious condition like dislocated shoulder or torn rotator cuff, then seek medical care. It is also important, that you seek medical care if your symptoms do not get better within 3-4 days use of home care measures.