Did you know that chiropractors are licensed to not only treat problems with the neck and back but also other joints in the body? We can treat many thing including muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons, and sometimes nerve issues. One area we see quite a bit is shoulder pain and problems in the shoulder. This could be many different issues including rotator cuff strains, ligaments sprains, impingement, frozen shoulder, etc. The first thing to do when shoulder pain starts is to increase range of motion, ice and avoid re-injury. Often the neck and upper back muscles are tight from restricted neck and upper back motion. Make sure to get checked for neck and upper back dysfunction along with the stretching. Here is a good exercise shown by Dr Scott Owens one our fantastic Roseville Chiropractors. The Codman arm swing is a good first exercise for many people with shoulder pain as it promotes movement in the shoulder. This exercise may not be the best for every shoulder condition so make sure to checked out by one of our chiropractors to make sure this exercise is right for you!
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One common misconception about chiropractors is that we only focus on the spine and not on other parts of the body. While we are experts in back pain, neck pain, sciatica, and headaches we are also knowledgeable about injuries that happen to other areas to the body. Injuries to the shoulder, ankle, and knee are especially common in sports settings. These sports injuries can heal very well with chiropractic adjustments or manipulation, physiotherapy treatments, exercises, and stretches. Lets go over some common sports injuries that chiropractic care can help.
Ankle Sprains - Most ankle sprains are inversion ankle sprains which means the outside of your foot hits the ground causing stress and tears on the lateral or outside ligaments of your ankles. With these type of ankle sprains along with other types of ankle sprains chiropractic care can be very effective. Some common treatments for ankle sprains would be manipulation of the joints of the ankle to help improve mobility, therapeutic ultrasound to damaged ligaments in order to promote healing, and exercises to help strengthen stabilizing muscles of the ankle. Knee Injuries - There are many structures that can be damaged with knee pain. The knee has meniscus, multiple ligaments, and many muscles that help to stabilize the area. With a impact injury on the knee complex, one of these structures might experience a sprain or a tear. The knee is also a common area where arthritis can occur. With knee injuries knee traction can be helpful to help relieve pressure off the meniscus resulting in less pain and relaxing tight muscles. Along with traction, exercises and stretches of the quadriceps, calf, and hamstring muscles can help get rid of pain. Rotator cuff strains - The shoulder is a complex joint offering more mobility due to reliance on the rotator cuff muscles to keep the joints of the shoulder stabilized. Due to the rotator cuff muscles doing most of the stabilization for the joint this puts more pressure on these muscles which can result in strains which can vary from small micro tears to complete tears of the muscles. With milder strains we can help you by focusing on maintaining mobility in the shoulder capsule with adjustments, exercises, and stretches. Therapeutic ultrasound is great in helping to promote healing of the damaged muscles along with electric muscle stimulation. Wrist tendonitis - Overuse of the muscles in your wrist can cause inflammation in your wrist tendons. This can make it difficult to do small tasks while at work or even difficult to return back to playing your sport of choice. With manipulation of the wrists we can help to decrease pain in the wrist and forearm. Along with stretching of the forearm muscles we can help decrease inflammation with therapeutic ultrasound and electric muscle stimulation. We can also do massage to the forearm muscles to help get them to relax which will take pressure off the wrist tendons. There are many more conditions that chiropractic care can help. If you have any questions about if your condition can be treated with chiropractic care please give us a call. We will more than happily answer your questions and make sure you get the care you need. It's no secret that shoulder pain and neck pain are intimately related due to the connecting muscles. If you have not heard of Codman pendulum stretching, it's a great way to get some relief from this type of issue. Be sure to have your neck and upper back checked if you are having shoulder pain, but this exercise can help with relief until you can see a chiropractor. How to Perform the Codman Stretch Below is a video of Dr. Scott Owens demonstrating the Codman pendulum motion. His explanation will help you to understand how it's supposed to be done and how it's supposed to feel as you perform it correctly. We recommend that you Ice, stretch, and protect your shoulder from further injuries, and that you come see us at the Accidents and Sports Injury Clinic in Roseville, CA. We'll get you on the road to recovery and feeling better in no time.
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