Shoulder Pain Specialist

What causes shoulder pain?

Shoulder pain usually happens in sports injuries, accidents, and joint wear-and-tear. Dr. Fenkell treats all of the most common causes of shoulder pain, including:

Shoulder arthritis

The shoulder is a common site for wear-and-tear arthritis called osteoarthritis. You can also develop a type of osteoarthritis, known as post-traumatic arthritis, following a shoulder injury like a rotator cuff tear.

Rotator cuff tears

You could suffer a tear in tissue within your rotator cuff, which includes the muscles and tendons that secure your shoulder joint.

Shoulder labral tears

A shoulder labral tear occurs in the cartilage rim around the shoulder socket. Two common types of labral tears include superior labral tear from anterior to posterior (SLAP) and Bankart tears (also called Bankart lesions).

SLAP tears

A SLAP tear occurs in the labrum, the cartilage that circles your shoulder socket. This tear involves the top of the labrum, where the biceps tendon connects. This injury features a tear in front and in back of the biceps tendon, and the tendon itself may also be part of the injury. 

Proximal biceps injuries

A proximal biceps injury involves a partial or complete tear in the tendons that connect the biceps muscle to the shoulder. 

Acromioclavicular (AC) joint injuries

An AC joint injury occurs in the spot where your shoulder blade connects to the collarbone. Sprains are the most common AC joint injuries.

Shoulder impingement syndrome

Shoulder impingement syndrome features inflammation within a shoulder bursa (cushioning sac) or rotator cuff tendons. 

Frozen shoulder

Frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis, is stiffening and freezing of the shoulder joint due to shoulder capsule thickening and tightening.

The shoulder is a complex joint, so your pain may also occur for reasons like fractures as well.

How is shoulder pain diagnosed?

A shoulder pain diagnosis involves a full physical exam and a review of your medical history. Shoulder pain may start in either the bones or the soft tissues, so you may need X-rays to check your bones, plus computed tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or ultrasounds to get images of soft tissues. 

What can I expect from shoulder pain treatment?

In general, Dr. Fenkell focuses on nonsurgical treatments first, including physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medication, activity modifications, and shoulder bracing. 

You may need an advanced minimally invasive treatment, such as corticosteroid injections to reduce inflammation or radiofrequency ablation to disable a painful nerve. 

Precision medicine, including platelet-rich plasma injections and other treatments using biological substances, can be a good nonsurgical path to healing for some types of shoulder pain as well. 

With complete rotator cuff tears or other severe damage in and around your shoulder joint, Dr. Fenkell may recommend a minimally invasive surgical procedure. He frequently performs arthroscopic surgery using tiny incisions; this approach provides the fastest path to recovery.

A person who leads a fairly slow-paced life might choose a different treatment than an elite athlete who wants to get back to their sport with full use of their shoulder as soon as possible. 

Blake Fenkell can help you find the best path to pain relief, so book your appointment online, or call the office for help now.