Shoulder and Neck Pain Symptoms and Signs

Your body is not a sum of its parts. Everything is intricately connected. When one part is injured and or damaged, other parts of your body can hurt too. There are terms like referred pain that are used to diagnose these issues. Some types of injuries may not seem like they are related to your car wreck, sports injury, or even your daily work and other activities. Fortunately, your experienced and well-trained chiropractor can tell through standard examination procedures for neck pain symptoms and other symptoms.

Likely on your first visit and sometimes even on subsequent visits, thorough or partial examinations are warranted. It is important for your chiropractor to know the exact nature of your problem, why you have pain and discomfort, and just how bad your condition is currently. Neck pain symptoms examinations are a significant tool to get that information.

It is also important for you to give your chiropractor a completed personal and family history. There may be indicators listed you may not know about. You may know your family member suffered from a disease or some other condition and not realize that condition is beginning to show up in your case and could be greatly mitigated by consistent chiropractic care.

Repetitive, even forceful, and/or prolonged use of your hands; recurrent or heavy lifting, pulling, pushing, or carrying heavy items; extended uncomfortable positions; and/or consistent or intermittent vibrations can all contribute to shoulder and other injuries. Your job or working environment that combines these risk factors can greatly increase your risk for all types of musculoskeletal conditions. Your level of potential risk depends a great deal on how long you have been exposed to your current work conditions, what conditions you suffered with in previous jobs, how often in an hour, day, or week you are exposed to recurring conditions, and on your level of exposure.

There are many conditions from accidents and repetitive injuries like neck pain symptoms, that can show up all over your body. Some specific injuries and issues involving shoulders are rotator cuff injuries when your shoulder or A-C separate, conditions related to your whiplash type injury, and tendonitis.

Rotator cuff injuries: The rotator cuff is a group of tendons that support the shoulder. These tendons can be injured during lifting when playing sports with a lot of throwing, or after repetitive use over a long time. This can lead to pain with the motion of the shoulder due to shoulder impingement syndrome and eventually to a chronic loss of range of motion of the shoulder (frozen shoulder).

Shoulder or A-C separation: The collarbone (clavicle) and the shoulder blade (scapula) are connected by ligaments. With trauma to the shoulder, these ligaments can be stretched or torn.

Whiplash injury: Injury to the ligamentous and muscular structures of the neck and shoulder can be caused by sudden acceleration or deceleration, as in a car accident. This can also cause muscle spasms in the neck and shoulder areas.

Tendinitis: The tendons connect the muscles to the bones. With strain, the tendons can become swollen and cause pain. This is also referred to as tendonitis.