Whether it’s from a sports injury, lifting a heavy object or sitting at your workstation all day, debilitating shoulder pain can arise. It’s something we often encounter at ADIO Health Chiropractic. Shoulder pain often comes from the loss of cervical lordosis or cervical curve.
Our head weighs an average of 10-15 pounds, which is about the weight of a bowling ball. As many people spend hours a day at their desk, the front part of the chest and shoulders can get tight, as can the neck flexors. When the neck curve is lost, the head comes forward and those muscles tighten further.
What happens with your shoulders is that it creates an imbalance in the shoulder joint, causing the shoulders to start to roll forward. Some patients do come in due to trauma to the shoulder, such as a torn labrum or rotator cuff muscle from injuries, sports and accidents. Most of the time, however, probably 80-plus percent of the patients who come into the practice have neck-related shoulder injuries.
Nerve Root Compression
The nerve root that controls the function of the shoulder joint is called the spinal accessory nerve root. There are 12 cranial nerves, and two of those 12 nerves exit the skull. One is the vagus nerve, and the other is the spinal accessory nerve, which exits the spine between the occiput and C1 atlas bone. When you get that forward head posture, your head goes into an extension position in relation to C1.
What happens is a shearing force is placed on that spinal accessory nerve, which can impede the function of that specific shoulder. The role of the nerve root is to transmit all communication from the brain to the shoulders. If that specific nerve root is compressed, irritated, and sheared, you’ll experience problems with range of motion, as well as pain and loss of function in the shoulder joint.
Combining Chiropractic With SoftWave® TRT
To address shoulder pain and injury, Dr. Mike may adjust the occiput or C1—the upper cervical part of the neck. When that happens, you may suddenly start to notice that your shoulders free up and you have less pain, better function and increased range of motion.
SoftWave TRT therapy has also been getting excellent results for patients with shoulder issues. The patented extracorporeal shockwave therapeutic device is used to reach an injured area at the cellular level to stimulate your body’s natural healing process.
The technology increases circulation by an average of 300% to the area. It will decrease inflammation, and recruit resident stem cells and activate them to that area to heal the inflamed tissue. “Through correcting the cervical curve, the TRT therapy and decreasing inflammation, we’re seeing a lot of success with shoulder injuries,” said Dr. Mike.
You don’t have to put up with shoulder pain. Contact us today to schedule an appointment.