Pain in our body can have a negative effect on how we go about our day. Whether you slept wrong and woke up with a stiff neck, twisted your ankle chasing after your dog, or are noticing severe shoulder pain – it’s all can wreak havoc on our lives.
While most pain can easily be detected and the culprit to the issue can be found, the same cannot always be said about shoulder pain.
3 Common causes of shoulder pain
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis happens when the cartilage in your shoulder starts to deteriorate. As that happens, you’ll experience deep pain in your shoulder and/or you may notice stiffness. Normal things like reaching behind your back to scratch your neck will often be affected because you’ll lose the ability to perform this simple task.
As with most arthritis, osteoarthritis is something that develops over time and does not appear immediately, and it can start from something simply like physical activity from when you were a child.
Rotator cuff tear
Probably the most common shoulder injury you hear about is one that involves the rotator cuff.
You may notice you’ve damaged your rotator cuff if you’re experiencing pain in the evening as you lie in bed. It may become more and more painful to lay on your side or even on your back where the shoulder hits your mattress.
For severe rotator cuff tears require a lot of ice, rest, and avoiding any physical activity to help heal the tear. You don’t typically need shoulder surgery if you have a rotator cuff injury.
Shoulder tendonitis
Tendonitis happens when the rotator cuff is inflamed and irritated. Typically, this causes pain in the front and back of your shoulder which can also cause your shoulder to become stiff.
For those who work in careers that use their arms over their heads a lot or endure a lot of physical activity like tennis or football, it’s a common condition that happens over time.
