5 Non-Surgical Treatment Options That Can Effectively Treat Shoulder Pain

Having a strong shoulder does not necessarily mean you cannot incur an injury that can lead to pain. Your shoulder is a complex joint, and there must be coordinated movement between your joint and ball and socket to function normally. But when you injure your shoulder, even the simplest movement, like reaching for a mug, may seem stressful. Dr. Kevin McElroy offers successful treatments to help with your shoulder pain.

You may undergo an extensive evaluation to determine the cause before recommending an appropriate treatment. The following discussion will highlight some non-surgical options your doctor can recommend to help treat your shoulder pain.

Rehabilitative Exercises

Your doctor may recommend shoulder exercises to treat the many common causes of shoulder pain. Your rehabilitative exercises will focus on the range of motion that may have been limited by shoulder stiffness. Since many tasks require your shoulder to be flexible and have a good range of motion, your doctor will focus on increasing the limited range of motion.

Also, the exercises will focus on strengthening your shoulder muscles while avoiding stressing your rotator cuff muscles. You will likely have stretching exercises to help loosen your shoulder joint muscles and prevent a frozen shoulder.

Wearing A Brace Or Splint

After a shoulder injury, you must keep your shoulder still and immobilized. Therefore, your doctor may recommend wearing a splint to help your arm heal properly. You will wear a splint temporarily to help reduce swelling, and after the swelling goes down, your doctor may recommend a brace to keep your shoulder in place as it heals. Splints and braces may limit certain motions, but you can remove them during physical therapy.

Ice and Heat Therapy

Immediately after a shoulder injury, the area develops inflammation, swells, and is usually painful. Your doctor can recommend ice therapy for acute shoulder pain and swelling. Using ice can help narrow your blood vessels and keep the swelling down. On the other hand, heat therapy can be useful if you have chronic shoulder pain that no longer has swelling. Using heat on a swelling may increase inflammation and prevent the healing of your injury.

Regenerative Medicine

Your doctor can recommend regenerative medicine if you suffer from chronic shoulder pain. During your treatment, your doctor will harvest your stem cells from the bone marrow and use them to repair damaged shoulder tissue. Since stem cells come from your body, you have no risk of rejection.

Steroid Injections

Your doctor can recommend cortisone injections to reduce inflammation and, therefore, pain resulting from a shoulder injury. During the procedure, your doctor may use an ultrasound to guide the injection to your affected shoulder. Generally, the shoulder injections may not be painful since your doctor will use an ultrasound to get the accurate position for the injection.

Shoulder pain is common due to overusing your shoulder joints, injuries, and diseases like arthritis. Living with the pain is already challenging enough. Therefore, finding relief can help you eliminate the pain. Treatment can include regenerative medicine, a safe treatment option that uses your cells to repair damaged shoulder tissues.

Physical exercises can also restore the range of motion to your shoulders and increase flexibility. You can have a discussion with your doctor about the available treatment options and determine which one suits your cause of shoulder pain.