Shoulder and Arm Pain

Physical Therapy for Shoulder and Arm Pain in Corning, NY

Shoulder and arm pain are quite common among people of all ages. Your shoulders are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of injuries and degenerative disorders since they are the most mobile joints in your body. It’s also very common that your shoulder discomfort will spread to your arm. Injuries affecting your upper arm will also likely be felt around your shoulder.

If you are suffering from shoulder and arm pain, you can get physical therapy for shoulder and arm pain at Choice Physical Therapy in Corning, NY.

What is Shoulder and Arm Pain?

Shoulder and arm pain includes any kind of pain or discomfort that exists in one or more shoulders and/or in the arms. Typically, the two areas will experience the pain from the same cause. In other words, pain that occurs in the shoulder may radiate to the arm and vice versa. This is why most physical therapists refer to shoulder and arm pain together.

How the shoulder and arm pain feels is often indicative of the cause. So being able to describe the sensation of pain or discomfort is a good step toward diagnosis and treatment of shoulder and arm pain with physical therapy.

Common symptoms of shoulder and arm pain and discomfort include:

• Stiffness
• Limited mobility
• Pain during activity
• Pain during rest
• Burning sensation
• Pain upon application of pressure
• Underlying sensation of ashiness
• Weakness in the arm or shoulder
• Sensation of heaviness
• Localized swelling
• Visible lump or being able to feel a lump
• Popping or clicking sound upon movement

Note that there may be other symptoms, but these are the most commonly reported. Your symptoms may be chronic, acute, subtle or very obvious. Talk to your physical therapist in Corning, NY to learn more about symptoms.

Common Causes of Shoulder and Arm Pain

There are numerous cases of shoulder and arm pain. They may be due to lifestyle behavior, disease, injury or something else.

They include things such as:

• Rotator cuff Issues
• Tendinitis
• Dislocated shoulder
• Bursitis
• Impingement
• Fractured/broken collar bone
• Arm fracture
• Frozen shoulder
• Sprain
• And many more

Physical Therapy Treatment for Shoulder and Arm Pain

At Choice Physical Therapy, your physical therapist will work with you to create a unique treatment plan that’s targeted to your specific shoulder and arm condition and objectives. Many physical therapy techniques have been demonstrated to be quite successful in treating shoulder and arm pain.

Your physical therapy may involve the following:

• Range of motion exercises
• Exercises designed to build muscle
• Massage therapy
• Manual/mobilization therapy
• Pain management
• Heat and cold modalities

Physical therapists are skilled in evaluating movement quality and teaching patients how to perform at their best. Your physical therapist will identify and help to correct any actions that are giving you discomfort so that you may go about your everyday activities pain-free. Often, the skills learned from your physical therapist’s guidance will assist you in ensuring that the gains made during physical therapy endure.

While shoulder and arm pain may give you discomfort, physical therapy will offer you a way back to as much recovery as possible. Shoulder and arm pain have many possible underlying causes, all of which your physical therapist is able to assist with. The sooner you begin physical therapy, the sooner you can get on that road to recover.