Shoulder Impingement

What is the condition?

Shoulder impingement is condition where your shoulder tendons or bursa gets trapped and compressed when you raise your arms. This condition presents as shoulder pain when lifting your arm up or putting your hand behind your back.

How do get it?

Shoulder impingement is caused by a reduction in the space between your shoulder blade and your collar bone. This reduction of space is often caused by poor shoulder blade control or shoulder posture in the sedentary population. For more active people, repeated overhead activity can cause the impingement to occur too. It can also be caused by trauma.

What problems does it cause?

Aside from the pain mentioned above, shoulder impingement can also present with:

  • Pain when lying on the injured shoulder
  • Pain when reaching across the body (eg. To reach for the seat belt)
  • Muscle weakness when trying to lift
  • Reduced range of motion

What is this treatment

Aside from traditional physiotherapy, at Elevate Physiotherapy, we use the most cutting-edge modalities to treat your condition to get the best outcome. A combination of radiofrequency treatment, shockwave therapy, and manual therapy can help you with you condition.

How Elevate physiotherapy does this treatment?

At Elevate Physiotherapy, we do not just treat every shoulder impingement with the same treatment. We take the time to understand why you developed the condition in the first place and then work with you to come up with a treatment plan according to your treatment goals. understanding why the impingement has occurred in the first place is the most important step to both the short-term resolution and the prevention of recurrent shoulder impingements, which could predispose you to a rotator cuff tear and subsequent rotator cuff surgery.

What is the process of getting this treatment like?

You can visit our clinic and get an assessment of your shoulder if you do not have a referral or diagnosis from a doctor already. The treatment should take about 45 minutes to 1 hour.  You may experience some discomfort during your treatment

Any downtime? What is the aftercare like?

Your therapist will likely recommend to you a home exercise program that you will need to adhere to. This is

especially true if your condition is gradual onset and posture related. During the recovery time, you should avoid activities that cause you pain such as overhead movements.

What result to expect?

Shoulder impingement treatment usually takes 4-6 weeks to see the full results.