Mike’s Medical News

Posted on: 28 February 2022

Shoulder injuries are common and can follow activities such as golf, rugby, tennis and weight lifting. When you experience pain, it may affect your ability to engage in everyday activities. For example, something as simple as reaching a shelf for food or putting on a jumper can become difficult. Because of this, you'll want to heal your injury as quickly as possible. Here are some ways to do so.

Reduce Swelling with Temperature Therapy

One of your body's responses to an injury is inflammation. To an extent, inflammation has a protective mechanism. It can prevent you from further injuring the area, but after a while, it also hampers your recovery. To naturally reduce the inflammation in your shoulder, try hot and cold therapies such as ice packs and heat packs. They'll keep inflammation to a minimum and make it easier for you to engage in recovery-promoting exercises.

Try a Few Days of Rest

While you're combatting the swelling, try dedicating the first few days following your injury to rest. The pain you're experiencing may be due to a tear or strain somewhere around your rotator cuff or one of your shoulder's primary muscles. Taking a little time to rest gives the muscle a chance to knit itself back together. After this stage, you'll need to initiate exercises and movements that push those fibres further through their healing journey.

Engage in Certain Exercises

You can start the active healing process by making a gentle return to your usual activities. However, if you're experiencing pain rather than just discomfort, you should stop and consult with a professional before continuing. To further speed the healing process up, pay a visit to your GP or a physiotherapist. They'll be able to assess your range of movement and identify potential exercises that could make your shoulder better. Depending on the extent of your injury, you may need to attend several physiotherapy sessions before it improves.

Try Shockwave Therapy

If you want to speed the healing process up even more, try shockwave therapy. Shockwave therapy is beneficial for shoulder pain in a couple of ways. If you have persistent shoulder pain, it may be due to calcium deposits around the tendons that support your rotator cuff. As shockwaves can break those deposits down, you may make it easier to use your rotator cuff without discomfort. Shockwave therapy also stimulates the production of new cells and blood flow to the affected area. As a result, the healing process should speed up.

For more information about shoulder injuries or shockwave therapy, contact a physiotherapy centre.