Pain in Shoulders

Esophageal Cancer

Tags: Cancer, Shoulder Blade
Posted in Shoulder Pain on December 7th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

There is a type of pain that is called referred pain.  In a lot of cases, shoulder pains are actually a referred pain. This simply means that the cause of the pain of a shoulder blade is not necessarily caused by a direct injury inflicted on the shoulder instead the pain could be related to a pain originating from one of the organs in the body. Generally the location of where the pain in the shoulder blade occurs will be able to give a clue to which one of the organs are actually affected. The affected organ would then send out a radiating pain to the shoulder.

For instance, if pain is felt under the left shoulder blade, this could be a signal that there’s a problem with the stomach or other abdominal structures or in the chest. On the other hand, if pain is felt under the right shoulder blade, this may indicate some sort of disorder at the esophagus.

The main symptom of this esophageal cancer is the acute sensation while trying to swallow or when food gets stuck in the throat or chest. As the cancer grows, pain in the throat, back, breastbones and shoulder blades will start to intense.

Esophageal cancer does not usually show early signs and the pain between the shoulder blades is usually one of the later signs of esophageal cancer. What happens here is the pain that is generated from a series of activities such as painful swallowing, vomiting or coughing up blood would allow the pain to travel along the nerves to the shoulder, resulting to a sensation of sharp pains in the back, between the shoulder blades, which may depict the signs of advanced esophageal cancer.

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Gallstones

Tags: Gallstones, Treatments
Posted in Uncategorized on November 9th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

When you neglect to take care of your body, you can be sure to expect problems because your body is a delicate thing that needs care and if you want to remain healthy it is imperative that you give your body the care it needs by taking care of it from the inside and out. It’s not just the external body that needs care, but you also need to take care of the internal part as well. You need to take care of your internal organs as well, such as for example gallbladder or you risk developing conditions such as gallstones.

Gallstones are something which resembles a small, tiny little pebble that will develop in your gallbladder if the liquid in the gallbladder – which is known as bile – hardens until it becomes something which resembles tiny stones. These are the gallbladder stones and god knows they are not something you want developing in your gallbladder.

This is because gallstones can be an unpleasant experience and leave you with pains in your upper abdomen which can be extremely painful and uncomfortable and can last for hours until the stones are out of your system. The pain you experience in your back can be so bad it can also result in you experiencing pain in your shoulders and between your shoulder blades. Not something you want to go through for a few hours that is for sure. You could also experience nausea, vomiting and fever so if you have any of these symptoms, you know you have gallstones.

If you have gallstones, don’t prolong the problem but seek treatment immediately before the situation becomes much worse. Seek out your doctor at once and get the treatment that you need which would depend on how severe your condition is. You would either need surgical or non-surgical treatments but get the treatments as soon as possible and get the gallstones out of your system before they do more harm.

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Tendonitis

Tags: Fibrous Tissues, Shoulder Blade
Posted in Uncategorized on October 10th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

Do you know what the white, fibrous tissues you see that connects your muscles to your bones are called? Those are known as your tendons and when your tendons become inflamed or swollen, they result in what is known as tendonitis.

Tendonitis is not something that is unusual and it is not rare for many people to experience this condition. The reasons or causes for tendonitis could be a result of overusing your tendons because you tend to put pressure on it which may cause it to swell and become inflamed, and it can also occur if you are overweight even because that too will place unnecessary pressure on the tendon which can cause to strain. Tendonitis can also happen if you for example wear shoes which are not appropriate or fit poorly on your feet because it could rub against your foot tendons and cause it to swell.

There are some symptoms that you will experience which will allow you to identify if you have tendonitis or not. Among the symptoms you will experience are tenderness, pain and swelling around the affected area, you will find that your movement is restricted because of the pain and you will not be able to move the affected area as much, the affected area could also be weak from pain. For example if you experience tendonitis in your arms or shoulders for example, you would experience shoulder pains until some treatment is given to it.

Luckily, tendonitis is not something so severe that you need to undergo surgery or anything like that (unless of course it is a very and extremely severe case, but that is rarely needed unless you tear your tendon or something). Seek out your doctor for advice on what you can do to treat the pain and until then, just avoid placing any unnecessary strain or pressure on the affected area and let it rest and recover so it can be back to normal before you know it.

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Arthritis

Tags: Rheumatoid Arthritis
Posted in Shoulder Pain on September 8th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

Do you experience increasing shoulder pains while you do your activities? Have difficulty moving your shoulder fully? Do you hear clicking or snapping sounds whenever you move your shoulders? Or does pain strikes whenever the weather changes? If you have answered yes to either one of these symptoms, then you are at a high risk of having shoulder arthritis.

There are three types of shoulder arthritis: -

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a less common shoulder arthritis. However, it is a chronic, systematic inflammatory disorder that attacks the shoulder joints. Such attacks produce inflammatory synovitis that will affect the articular cartilage and ankylosis of the joints. Simply said, the shoulder joints are affected by the arthritis thus causes the shoulder to ache. Though it may be less common but this could happen to people of any age.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis, also known as the “wear-and-tear” shoulder arthritis, is a group of diseases and mechanical abnormalities that causes a type of degenerative condition that destroys the articular cartilage. Once the disease attacks, the shoulders will begin to experience, stiffness, joint pains and locking of joints. When the disease advances, a slight movement of the shoulder could cause immense pain. This type of shoulder arthritis may be the most common of all but it usually affects people over 50 years of age.

Post-Traumatic Arthritis

Post-traumatic arthritis develops from an injury such as suffering a fracture or dislocation of the shoulder. Bone and soft tissue abnormalities may develop from the original injury and could affect the AC and glenohumeral joints of the shoulder. With this, all shoulder movements could cause shoulder pains. Post-traumatic arthritis is often a form of osteoarthritis and may occur relatively soon after the initial injury or it may even develop years after the injury.

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Heart Attacks

Tags: Heart Attacks
Posted in Shoulder Pain on August 11th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

Shoulder pain is one of the classic signs of impending heart attack. Usually the crushing pain will begin from the chest and will spread to the neck, jaw and may eventually spread on to the left shoulder. In many cases, pain radiating on the shoulders are felt and the pain may be present for up to twelve hours.

The male generally experiences these classic symptoms.  Females on the other hand, frequently reported that pain between the shoulder blades are the more frequent first symptom experienced in having a heart attack.

Nearly 40% of women do not feel any acute pain in the chest while they might just experience some difficulty in breathing. However, more often than not they experience numbness and cramping in the shoulders and back. As the days lead up to a heart attack, spreading of pain from the shoulders to the neck and jaw occurs. Medical professionals have not been able to adequately explain while the female experience a different route of symptoms of impending heart attacks.

After recovering from a heart attack, the patient may be open to risks of being affected by frozen shoulder. Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is a painful condition where the shoulder experiences a severe loss of motion. Due to severe inflammation to the joint capsule, the loose tissue of the joint that allows motion would stick together which in other words causes a freezing effect. This freezing effect would then impose limitations to shoulder and arm movement. A simple action such as moving the arm in a circular motion could be locked from moving pass a semicircle motion.  The shoulder would hurt when shoulder movement reaches the limit of the range of motion and pain could be relatively intense during the night.

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Attack of the Gallbladder

Tags: Gallstones
Posted in Uncategorized on July 8th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

If you’re not entirely sure what your gallbladder is, then most likely you are not aware that you can experience gallbladder attacks as well. If you were to do a quick search for images about the internal human body online, you will find that the small organ that resembles a pear is what is known as your body’s gallbladder. Your gallbladder is located behind your liver and on the right-hand side of your rib cage.

Your gallbladder is what is responsible for storing bile, the very substance which is responsible for breaking down the fats that you eat so that it is easier for your body to use them. Bile is also a powerful antioxidant that will help remove toxins from your liver so you need to ensure that it is in healthy working condition.

You want to avoid an attack of the gallbladder at all costs because not only is the attack a rather painful ordeal (one that not many people are willing to go through more than once), it is also not good for your body in general. We have our vital organs for a reason and everything in our body is important because when one goes wrong, who knows what else can be affected by it.

Some of the symptoms you might experience that will indicate if you are experiencing a gallbladder attack are nausea, queasiness and vomiting along with pains on the right side of your chest. The pain in your chest you will experience from either stones in the bile or if the gallbladder is swollen, and you could experience some shoulder pains as well when you experience the pains in your chest. Seek out your doctor as soon as possible if you experience either one of these symptoms before it gets worse.

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Liver Cancer

Tags: Cancer, Liver
Posted in Uncategorized on June 9th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

The human body is susceptible to all sorts of diseases but none of which are as bad as cancer. Cancer can be contracted on any part of the body and can attack any one of our organs, and one example of this is liver cancer.

The liver, located behind our ribs and on the right hand side of the abdomen, is the largest organ that we have in our body. The liver is important because it keeps our body healthy. So naturally when one of the biggest and important organs in our body contracts cancer that is not a good thing.

Liver cancer can affect anyone, and it can be due to certain factors as well, such as if you have had a family history of liver cancer then that is not good news for you because you might be at risk as well. Liver cancer also tends to affect those who are over the age of 60 more than it does younger people. Most unfortunately for you if you are a man, that means you are twice as likely to contract it.

Liver cancer is hard to determine in the early stages because the symptoms are not easily detected then. Some of the symptoms you can look out for however to determine if you have liver cancer or not are if you experience pains in your abdomen (which will lead to back and shoulder pains), weight loss, loss of appetite or a feeling of fullness, nausea, vomiting, fever and jaundice. If you find you are experiencing either one, two or a few of these symptoms, get to your doctor as soon as possible because you might have liver cancer and not even know it.

To determine whether or not you have liver cancer, you will need to undergo a few tests with your doctor in order to get the proper assessment. Some of these tests include a physical exam, CT scans, an MRI, blood tests, an ultrasound test, an angiogram and a biopsy. So if you suspect you have liver cancer, get a check-up as soon as possible to minimise your risk.

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Muscle Injury

Tags: Injury, Muscles
Posted in Uncategorized on May 11th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

It does not take a tear in the tendons to define a muscle injury.  Muscle strain or muscle stress is one of the very common muscle injuries that could happen to anyone. Holding any one muscle at a particular position for an extensive time will indeed risk you to having muscle injuries.  A simple act of carrying your backpack to school everyday would be good enough to start the journey of muscle injuries. This continuous act would tire and strain the shoulder muscles.

Even slouching for long periods of time would cause the neck muscles to work harder in order to support the weight of the head. This act narrows down the space where the rotator cuff tendons pass through in the shoulder joint thus straining the muscles between the shoulder blades.

Muscle sprain usually occurs when the muscles are excessively pulled. Usually this occurs when the muscles are torn or damaged. This happens when extreme force is implied to the shoulder joints. Athletes are the common victims of muscle sprains. Baseball, tennis, basketball and weight lifting enthusiasts, just to name a few are those who would have a higher risk in suffering from this type of muscle injury. Repeated actions would cause repeated sprains in the same joint thus causing the joint to be less stable and more prone to future sprains.

A rotator cuff tear is a form of muscle injury. This happens when one or more of the four muscles that form a covering around the humerus are torn. Most tears occurred are due to overused muscles and tendons over a period of years. Rotator cuff tear is a common cause of shoulder pain amongst adults, usually affecting people over the age of forty.

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Rotator Cuff Injury

Tags: Injury, Rheumatoid Arthritis
Posted in Shoulder Pain on April 10th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

The rotator cuff is made up of a group of four muscles that connect the humerus to the shoulder blades.  This connection helps in the movement of arm lifting and rotating of the head. This group plays an important role to the upper body movement however it is frequently easily injured. One of the symptoms to such injury is having pain in the shoulder.

There are 2 types of rotator cuff diseases. These diseases may occur alone or in combination. Bursitis is redness, soreness and swelling of the bursa sacs and tendonitis is an inflammation of a tendon.

Inflammation that is resulted from rheumatoid arthritis may cause both bursitis and tendonitis to occur. A bursitis is most often the victim of an overused shoulder, which affects the joints and related muscles. When a shoulder is overused, irritation to the rotator cuff would lead to inflammation and impingement. Scoliosis might also cause bursitis although it is considered to be an infrequent cause.

When infected by tendonitis, inflammation occurs to the tendon. The sac of fluid, which serves as a cushion to the tendon is then damaged and the rotator cuff would thicken and would cause a squeezing of the rotator cuff. Usually the tendon experiences a sensation of being pinched by the surrounding structures of the shoulder joints. Most often, the tendon is most easily injured due to its position between the bones.

The shoulder would also be inflicted by pain when the rotator cuff tears. This usually happens when an injury is inflicted to one of the tendons. There are many forms of injury to the tendons but one of the common occurrences is having a hole in one of the tendons. This usually happens when the tendons in the rotator cuff are overused or it could be a wear and tear from aging or accidents. Patients of rotator cuffs injuries will have difficulty even in raising their arms above the shoulder.

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Shoulder Blade Pain

Tags: Muscles, Shoulder Blade
Posted in Shoulder Pain on March 12th, 2009 by Andreas Xavier

Aside from your leg muscles, your shoulder blades are probably one of the most common muscle groups which are frequently in use. Because they connect to the arm muscles too, you tend to engage them a lot whenever we do things such as lifting, exercising or even just stretching. The shoulder blades are surrounded by a lot of other tissue muscles as well, and when either on of these muscles gets injured, that is when you start to experience shoulder blade pains.

Shoulder blade pains can affect anyone, regardless of your age because everyone uses their shoulder blade muscles even when they go about doing the everyday things that they do during their daily life. Shoulder blade pains can affect the young, or the old, depending on what you do and what the cause of the shoulder blade pain is, because shoulder blade pains can be caused by a few different factors.

One of the reasons that you might experience shoulder blade pain – and this applies to the more senior citizens- is because when you age, your shoulder blade muscles tend not to be as strong as they use to be. And when you place too much stress on the muscles, it can result in aches and pains experienced because of the tension and pressure placed onto the muscles which is more than it can bear. So senior citizens, be careful about doing anything to strenuous, you don’t want to injure yourself.

Another reason for shoulder blade pains is due to exercise. Whenever we perform any sort of exercise that may be new to our bodies, we tend to experience muscle aches and pains the next day because of the stress the muscle went through, especially if you are new to exercise or a beginner. Shoulder blade pains can also occur if you strain your muscle too much it becomes swollen, inflamed or even torn.

So when you perform any sort of activity or exercise, be careful not to place too much strain on your shoulder blade muscles if you want to stay away from injury.

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