Shoulder & Hip Conditions
Osteopath in Darwin aiming to give simple solutions to some of the more complex joints.
The shoulder and hip are two of the more complicated joints in the body due to their ball and socket orientation and the fact that multiple muscles play a role in their function. A sound understanding of the way these joints function and importantly how they interact with their surrounding is crucial to obtaining relief. If you have a shoulder issue and your upper back and neck haven’t been properly assessed then you likely haven’t got the full picture, similarly with the hip in relation to the lower back, knee and ankle.
Example case study
· 50-year-old female with right sided shoulder pain, pain is intermittent and associated with certain movements, eg putting on bra or reaching up to a cupboard, the pain is sharp with those movements but can also get an aching sensation, often in bed. The shoulder has been limited for many years as it is her ‘dodgy shoulder’ however the sharp pain has only come on in recent times.
· Upon examination is was found that her right shoulder was rounded forward and sitting lower than the left side. She tested positive for shoulder impingement and negative for any shoulder pathology. It was diagnosed to be a functional issue rather than structural pathology. Upon further discussion she mentioned recently spring cleaning the house which had a lot of windows, we determined that the repetitive tasks caused some of the muscles of the shoulder to tighten up. These tight muscles then affected the shoulder biomechanics and lead to impingement on certain movements.
· Treatment was aiming at reducing the tension in the overworked muscles of the shoulder to bring the shoulder back to a neutral position and improve shoulder biomechanics.
For management, some gentle stretches were given to those muscles affecting shoulder position and function. Once the symptoms reduced, strengthening exercises were given to increase functional capacity for the next spring clean.