Shoulder

UPPER LIMB

Shoulder Fracture

A shoulder fracture is generally caused by a fall, direct blow to the shoulder, contact sport, or a road accident. Your shoulder is a joint bridging your arm to the body. It is constituted of three parts – the humerus or upper arm bone, the scapula or the shoulder blade, and the clavicle or collarbone. The proximal humerus (the upper end of humerus) has a ball-like shape connecting to the scapula’s socket, glenoid. If any of these parts go through disruption, the functionality of the shoulder gets affected.

In a shoulder fracture, the proximal humerus, shoulder blade, and clavicle go through injury restricting movement.

Shoulder Dislocation

A shoulder joint is a ball and socket kind joint that functions with the articulation of the humerus with the shoulder’s glenoid socket. In a dislocated shoulder, the humerus shifts out of the glenoid socket, causing pain, swelling and inflammation. Shoulder dislocation is of two types – Partial dislocation and complete dislocation. In partial dislocation, the upper end of the arm bone lies in the front or anterior side of the shoulder blade. Also called anterior dislocation, it is the most common type of shoulder dislocation.

In complete dislocation, the humerus is totally out of the glenoid socket. It is also called posterior dislocation.

Rotator Cuff Injuries

Rotator cuff injuries/tears are another common shoulder injury you might encounter on different occasions. The rotator cuff is a series of tendons that help to keep the forearm bone attached to the shoulder bone and helps in rotating and lifting the arm. A rotator cuff tear is caused due to injury and degeneration, and results in pain and disability. There are two kinds of rotator cuff tears – acute and degenerative. Acute tear involves falling on your outstretched arm or lifting heavy things with a jerk.

Degenerative tear involves the wearing down of the tendon. Repetitive stress, bine spurs, and lack of blood supply contribute to degenerative tear.

Frozen Shoulder “Stiffness”

Frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis is a condition that causes pain due to the thickening of the shoulder joint capsule. The stiff bands or adhesions that develop over age also leads to stiffness of shoulders. The condition is most prevalent in women and diabetics in between the age of 40-60 years. It occurs in three stages – freezing, frozen and thawing. The freezing stage includes eventual worsening of the pain leads to movement loss for 6-9 weeks.

The frozen stage includes improved pain but continues stiffness for 4-6 months. The thawing stage includes improved shoulder movements in a time of 6 months to 2 years.

Arthritis

Arthritis is a joint disease that causes pain, swelling, and stiffness of bones. Any joint in your body can be affected by arthritis, such as hip, knee, shoulder and spine. When your shoulder gets affected, the inflammation causes stiffness and pain. The shoulder is made of three bones – clavicle, humerus and scapula. The shoulder has two joints – acromioclavicular joint, the one positioned at the point where the clavicle (collarbone) meets the upper end of the shoulder blade (acromion).

The second joint is called the glenohumeral joint, the point where the head of the upper arm bone (humerus) meets the scapula.