The most common form of shoulder pain. This is commonly (but not always) caused by tendon pain in one or two of the small specialized stability muscles called the rotator cuff which wrap around your shoulder joint and enable you to lift you arm above your head effectively. It is often caused by doing too much too soon or without enough recovery between intense bouts of activity, but its cause is often less clear and emerging evidence suggests that a lot of the pain can be caused by a pre-warning from your nervous system that not all is as well as it was before in either the shoulder or the rest of the body (a warning shot if you will).

A variant of the previous complaint this is more degenerative in nature and can lead to more weakness than pain. Thankfully the latest and greatest evidence suggests even with a traumatic caused this often improves with a strength based (loading) exercise programme but on occasion if multiple parts are injured severely enough referral to a specialist surgeon for repair can be indicated following an MRI scan which your specialist LWF MSK Physiotherapist will be able to advise you about if indicated.

A mainstay of those over 45 years old but extremely rare in those below that age. The emerging evidence suggest that there is 2 causes of this movement limiting and very painful complaint. The first and main reason is one of pain and severe muscle guarding although we still don’t know exactly why this happens. The second and seldom seen cause is down to a pathological change in the structure of the shoulder capsule, (or bag) that surrounds the main ball and socket joint in the shoulder, and causes it to become stiffer and severely restricts movement in a very different way than the first type. The two different types require very different treatments, the first and most common type is often treated solely through a specific rehabilitation programme but sometimes in addition to pain relief injections if there has been no significant progress in the first 4-6 weeks of the rehab only approach. The second type can only be decided after a failed period of rehabilitation and often requires referral to an Consultant Surgeon specialising in the Shoulder. Ultimately if you have a stiff and painful shoulder a assessment with a specialist LWF MSK Physiotherapy is your first port of call.

Osteoarthritis of the ball and socket joint occasionally occurs with advancing age but is less common than in the large lower limb joints. It is more common in the joint between the shoulder blade and the collar bone commonly known as A/C joint, but can also occur in younger adults who have manual job roles and those that have competed in a lot of throwing or overhead sports. Rehabilitation is often combined with Pain relieving injections in order to fully resolve this complaint and LWF MSK links with some of the best Musculoskeletal Physicians and Specialist Shoulder Consultant Surgeons can open a clear pathway to health and Performance long term for you.

This commonly happens after a fall on an outstretched hand or elbow and can be very sore initially but tends to have very good outcomes if not too severe with a simple rehabilitation programme. In some cases surgery can be indicated but your specialist LWF MSK Physiotherapist will be able to advise you if you need to get your injury further investigated during your initial appointment.

This type of complaint tends to either be traumatic in nature or spontaneous and multifactorial in nature. Rehabilitation with a specialist MSK Physiotherapist is an important part of your pathway to health and performance from any traumatic cause to ensure you are safe before returning to what you do. Following recurrent dislocations there are often sequencing and timing issues in your shoulder, which are essential to address and LWF MSK physiotherapists are trained to assess and resolve these deficits fully. Although for some types of instability to do what you love means in some cases surgery is required and our expert physiotherapists can help you return to be better than ever once your surgeon has given the go ahead for your rehabilitation to begin.