Shoulder pain can make everyday activities surprisingly difficult. Reaching into a cupboard, putting on a jacket, lifting weights or simply sleeping on your side can suddenly become painful.
The shoulder is one of the most mobile joints in the body, which also makes it one of the easiest to overload. At The Third Space, we don’t just look at where the pain is; we look at why it developed.
The shoulder is made up of several joints and many muscles that all need to work together.
Pain may come from the glenohumeral joint, the main ball-and-socket joint that allows you to lift and rotate your arm. It can also come from the AC joint, located at the top of the shoulder where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade. Pain here is often worse when sleeping on that side or reaching across your body.
The muscles around the shoulder, particularly the upper trapezius and the muscles that control the shoulder blade, can also become tight or overloaded and contribute to pain.
Shoulder pain can present in many different ways, including:
The exact location of your pain often provides important clues about which structures may be involved.
Many people are surprised to learn that shoulder pain doesn’t always start in the shoulder.
The nerves that supply the shoulder leave the spinal cord through the neck before travelling down the arm. If a joint in the neck becomes stiff or irritated, it can sometimes refer pain into the shoulder, even when the shoulder itself is relatively healthy. This is why some people experience shoulder pain alongside neck stiffness, headaches or tingling in the arm.
For this reason, we always assess both the shoulder and the neck to understand where your symptoms are coming from.
Shoulder pain often develops gradually.
Repeated overhead movements at work or in sports such as tennis, swimming, CrossFit or weightlifting can overload the shoulder over time. Sleeping on the same shoulder every night may also irritate already sensitive tissues, particularly around the AC joint or rotator cuff.
Sometimes there isn’t one specific injury; it’s simply that the shoulder has been asked to do more than it can comfortably tolerate.
Shoulder osteoarthritis becomes more common as we get older or after previous injuries.
It may cause stiffness, clicking or pain during movement. Interestingly, many people have arthritis on scans without any pain, while others have only mild changes but significant symptoms. This is why a physical examination is often just as important as an X-ray.
A painful shoulder isn’t always just a shoulder problem.
We assess the shoulder itself, the AC joint, the neck and the upper back to understand which structures may be contributing to your symptoms. Gentle chiropractic adjustments aim to improve joint movement, reduce unnecessary muscle tension and help the shoulder move more efficiently.
Whether your pain started after sport, lifting overhead, sleeping awkwardly or has gradually developed over time, a thorough assessment can help identify the cause.
At The Third Space in Amsterdam Oost, we provide personalised chiropractic care to help reduce shoulder pain, improve movement and get you back to doing the things you enjoy.
