Shoulder Impingement

Shoulder Impingement

Just like the hip our shoulder is one of the most used joints in our body. When you think about how much our shoulders do on an everyday basis just the wear and tear alone, you can see why shoulder injuries are common. The glenohumeral joint is a very complex joint; it has more range of motion than any other joint which is not always a good thing if the joint is not stable. The muscles of this joint are required to stabilize the joint as well a work together to help in raising the arms. Like any other joint if one muscle is weak it can throw off the whole complex and make the joint not work properly also causing other muscles to work harder and possibly over compensate for the lack of the work the hurt muscle is doing. One of the many injuries that can occur in the shoulder joint is called an impingement. A shoulder impingement involves a compression of soft tissues between the head of the humerus and the underside of the acromin process or coracoacromial ligament. An impingement can be caused by two different things but in many different way, the first way is purely structural and the second way is repetitive motions especially those involving motions that are above the head for a long period of time or the same over head motion. Impingements can be anything from just inflammation to bursitis even to tearing the rotator cuff. There a several different types of impingements that can occur and will be discussed throughout this paper, as well as symptoms and ways to prevent getting impingements.

Impingements have three different stages to them just like strains and sprains each stage the impingement get progressively worse. Stage one is most commonly found in younger people, an impingement of this type is known to be more of an acute injury with lots of inflammation, swelling, and hemorrhaging to the effected tissues around the area. Most of the time a stage one shoulder impingement happens right after the person is doing a repeated overhead motion or had their arm out for a long period of time. Most of the time patients do not seek treatment in the beginning stages because the pain is so mild they do not know that they have a slight shoulder impingement. Stage two impingements usually occur in middle age people, this is caused by the rotator cuff muscles becoming weak causing the tendons around to inflame cause tendonitis in the rotator cuff muscles and may even cause thicken of the subacromial bursa. Because this stage mainly occurs in middle aged people this is a progression of an overused shoulder that slowly caused stage two impingement. The lasted is stage three this happens to people over the age of 40, which is caused by wear and tear over the years. Stage three happens why there is a “tear in the supraspinatus and possible in the long head of the biceps tendon.” When the impingement gets to this level there is usually something else that is causing the impingement