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Shoulder Injuries

The muscles in the shoulder are responsible for stabilizing the shoulder joint and helping to move the arm in various directions. The shoulder itself is made up of two joints that connect three bones with muscle, tendons, cartilage, ligaments, and soft tissue, each of which can suffer an injury.

Shoulder injuries are especially common in sports medicine, which is why Ralph Haller, MD discusses labral tears and shoulder injuries seen in baseball players live at the Aquasox game. Watch the video and learn about injuries and shoulder trauma from an orthopedic surgeon.

Common Shoulder Injuries and Conditions

There are many types of shoulder injuries that can develop from shoulder sprains to rotator cuff injuries. Here is a list of some common shoulder injuries:

  • Shoulder Separation: an injury to the AC joint or acromioclavicular joint that most commonly results from falling directly on the shoulder. The injury can range from a mild sprain to a complete disruption.
  • Shoulder Fractures: such as dislocations, but also fractures of the shoulder blade, collarbone, or upper arm bone. Soft-tissue injuries, such as the ligaments, tendons, muscles, or joint capsules being torn, are also included.
  • Shoulder impingement syndrome: also known as “swimmer’s shoulder”, this condition is when the shoulder muscles or tendons rub against the bones too much, making the soft tissues painful and inflamed.
  • Adhesive capsulitis, or frozen shoulder: when the capsule around the shoulder joint becomes thick and stiff, leading to spasms, pain, and extreme stiffness
  • Shoulder bursitis: inflammation of the tiny, fluid-filled sacs (bursa) in the shoulders which make it difficult to move the shoulder joint and can result in muscle irritation
  • Rotator cuff injury: tears in one of the rotator cuff muscles listed above that can also affect tendons.
  • Labral Tears: a shoulder joint tear where the tissue rim surrounding the shoulder socket has torn due to repetition or overuse, or a direct blow (trauma).

Shoulder Injury Treatments and Surgeries

Non-invasive treatments are the first approach to a shoulder injury, if at all possible an orthopedics doctor will avoid surgery, though if the injury is severe enough or conservative treatments fail, shoulder surgery will be recommended. Common non-surgical treatments include:

  • Activity changes: Treatment for conditions like shoulder sprains often need rest, changes in how activities are performed, and physical therapy to improve flexibility and strength in the shoulder.
  • Medication: A doctor may prescribe medication to reduce pain and inflammation, and provide relief while shoulder rests. Some medications may be injections of numbing medicines or steroids.

Surgical treatments are performed by orthopaedic surgeons and common procedures for shoulder injuries include:

  • Shoulder fracture repair: different techniques are used depending on the nature of the fracture, for example, if fracture fragments are displaced then wires, pins, plates or screws will be used to repair the fractures. If the ball portion of the upper arm is broken, split, or crushed, then a shoulder replacement may be needed.
  • Hemiarthroplasty: a joint replacement surgery where only the ball and stem are replaced, but not the natural socket.
  • Shoulder arthroscopy: a type of joint replacement surgery that removes damaged areas of bone and replaces them with metal and plastic implants
  • Rotator cuff surgery: cleaning and reattaching any torn or damaged tendons, can be performed arthroscopically.
  • Torn labrum surgery: the operation can be performed arthroscopically depending on the severity of the tear and involves reattaching the rim of the socket to the labrum.

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