Does your shoulder feel tight, tense, achy, or downright painful? It might be time to come see a chiropractor. While chiropractic care primarily focuses on the spine and neck, this type of care is also able to examine other joints, diagnose problems with those joints, and perform manipulations on the area if appropriate. And while joint manipulation is not always the right treatment for a painful shoulder or rotator cuff problem, our chiropractor can also help relieve your pain through techniques like therapeutic massage, acupuncture, spinal manipulation, and physical therapy. In short, there are no downsides to seeing a chiropractor for your shoulder pain, and there are plenty of potential benefits. In this blog, we explore how an experienced chiropractor can specifically help relieve shoulder pain.
Denver Integrated Spine Center is your premier multidisciplinary injury recovery and rehabilitation center. Our expert doctors specialize in treating back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, headaches, and injuries resulting from car accidents. We also specialize in treating a range of sports-related injuries and can help you recover faster following a major surgery.
Our multidisciplinary approach incorporates physical therapy, chiropractic care, and massage therapy to speed up your recovery and get you back to living the life you love. Our entire staff is committed to your recovery and we accept most insurance plans. With Denver Integrated Spine Center, your recovery is always our top priority.
Chiropractors Can Diagnose the Cause of Your Shoulder Pain
The shoulder is an especially mobile joint. In some ways, this is great because allows you to move your arm in a full circle and enjoy a wide range of motion. Without that range of motion, many of the daily activities of life—from getting dressed, reaching for something behind you, to simply raising your arms—would become almost impossible. But the mobility of the shoulder joint also means that this part of your body is vulnerable to many different types of injuries.
A few common types of shoulder problems include:
- Rotator cuff tears
- Rotator cuff tendinitis
- Shoulder dislocation and instability
- Ligament injuries
- Bursitis
- Frozen shoulder
- Arthritis
- Cartilage tear
- Impingement
Injuries and chronic conditions like arthritis aren’t the only causes of shoulder pain. If you haven’t been injured recently and you aren’t sure why your shoulder hurts, the pain could be referred to from another part of your body.
For instance, the real problem might be with one of your internal organs and not your shoulder, but your brain may interpret your nerves’ pain signals as coming from your shoulder. Our chiropractor can help you figure out whether you are dealing with referred pain or an actual tissue injury in your shoulder.
How a Chiropractor Can Help Relieve Your Shoulder Pain
When you visit Denver Integrated Spine Center for shoulder pain, our chiropractor will begin the visit by gathering information from you. The more information you can provide about your medical condition, the better, so you may want to jot down a few notes before you go in for your appointment.
During your first chiropractic visit, your chiropractor may ask questions like:
- How long has your shoulder been hurting?
- Can you describe what the pain feels like?
- Can you comfortably move your shoulder?
- Have you been in a car accident recently?
- Does any other part of your body hurt?
Our chiropractor will also perform a physical examination. This may involve looking at your spine for any subluxations (or misalignments), taking X-rays and imaging tests, and asking you to do specific range-of-motion tests.
After performing a thorough evaluation, the chiropractor will have a good idea what your problem is and how to most effectively treat you. Depending on what is causing your shoulder pain, they may perform manual manipulations of your spine and shoulder, use massage therapy to boost your circulation in the damaged area, or start you on a physical therapy regimen.
Chiropractic Care for Shoulder Pain
There are many different chiropractic techniques that can be used to effectively treat shoulder pain. Whether stemming from your rotator cuff tendons, shoulder blade, or any other part of your shoulder joint, your chiropractor will be able to diagnose the source of your pain and then develop a specialized treatment plan designed for you.
Here are a few of the ways that a chiropractor can treat shoulder pain:
- Alignments.
- Graston technique.
- Myofascial release.
- Ultrasound.
- Electronic stimulation.
Benefits of Chiropractic Care
There are many reasons why you should consider a visit to a chiropractor. Not only does chiropractic care help to relieve pain, but there are additional health benefits as well. Since chiropractors treat the source of your injury—not just the symptoms (like pain medication)—they are able to provide holistic health benefits.
Visiting a chiropractor can offer the following health benefits:
- Relieves pain.
- Reduces inflammation.
- Improves circulation throughout the body.
- Improved range of motion.
- Increased muscle strength.
Additionally, chiropractic care enables you to avoid potential issues that may arise from more invasive types of care. Chiropractic care, as a non-invasive approach to care, is often an ideal alternative to surgery or prescription medication. It allows you to avoid potential side effects from prescription medication.
Relief From Shoulder Pain Could Be a Visit to the Chiropractor Away
There’s no reason you should be needlessly suffering in pain each day. If you’re experiencing chronic shoulder pain, neck pain, back pain, headaches, or any other type of musculoskeletal injury, chiropractic care could be the ideal form of treatment.
Denver Integrated Spine Center is your full-service chiropractic office. Proudly serving Colorado and the greater Denver area, our specialists can help patients recover from musculoskeletal injuries, constant headaches, migraines, or neck and shoulder pain.
Don’t hesitate to contact us today to schedule your appointment for an initial consultation. We’re always available to answer your questions and offer expert medical advice to help you live a healthier life. We specialize in personalized care and advanced treatment techniques to help you recover from injury, relieve pain, and get you back to a happy and active lifestyle.