Shoulder or Elbow

Shoulder pain diagnostics

Shoulder is made of several joints that combine with muscles, ligaments, and tendons called the rotator cuff. It is where the collarbone, shoulder blade, and arm bone come together. Of all the joints in the body, the shoulder allows a widest range of motion – your arm can reach up, behind, and across the body, to scratch your back or to throw a perfect pitch.
This great mobility has its price, however. Problems with instability or impingement of the soft tissue or bony structures in your shoulder can result in severe pain in the shoulder, upper arm, and neck. Sometimes the pain can radiate to your elbow and finger too. The pain can come with movement or persist all the time. It may be temporary, or it may continue and require medical diagnosis and treatment.

Symptoms of common shoulder problems include:

  • pain
  • tiffness,
  • swelling,
  • inflammation, and bruising.

These can make carrying out your work or daily tasks difficult or even impossible.

Acute Shoulder Injuries

Injuries can be caused by a shock, wrong movement, falls or blows, repetitive motion over time, bone spurs, or weakness due to age. Various injuries include:

  • Sprains caused by stretched or torn ligaments due to a wrong movement
  • Dislocation of the top of the arm bone from the shoulder socket
  • Torn rotator cuff when one of the major tendons in the shoulder tears and pulls away from the top of the arm bone. A partial tear is when the tendon is damaged, but not completely severed.
  • Fracture or a break or crack in your bone. It can be across your bone or along the length of your bone

Chronic Shoulder Problems

Chronic problems can occur over time if the tendons develop small tears, by doing a certain activity over and over, or from the usual wear and tear that comes with age. Weak muscles and inactivity are some of the main reasons for shoulder pain.

  • Tendinitis as a result of irritated and inflamed rotator cuff tendons
  • Bursitis. Bursitis is when the bursae (small sacks of fluid) in the shoulder become swollen and inflamed
  • Arthritis causing pain, stiffness, and swelling in the shoulder joint. Osteoarthritis is the most common caused by the slick cushion of cartilage wearing away
  • Frozen shoulder causing stiff or sore shoulder and neck muscles. This can be due to wrong posture, for example, when you are hunched over a computer keyboard all day.

Treatment of shoulder pain

During the interview we chart the diagnosis of shoulder problems. From this inventory we select the right tailor-made treatment program.

Who is a candidate for Amsterdam Clinics?

Amsterdam Clinics is a clinic-based, physician-driven, patient-centric treatment program for those with spine and orthopedic pain:

  • Back, neck, shoulder, hip, and knee pain
  • Sudden onset of pain
  • First-time episodes of pain
  • A history of chronic pain and/or decreased function