Shoulder pain can be caused by different types of conditions and causes. It may be a minor injury, bad posture or some underlying health issues. The most common conditions that can cause shoulder pain are- frozen shoulder, rotator cuff disorders, shoulder instability, a broken arm, a broken collarbone and acromioclavicular joint disorders etc.

Frozen shoulder

Provisions shoulder is also known by another name adhesive capsulitis. It is a painful persistent stiffness of the shoulder joint and it makes the full range of shoulder movements impossible. This condition happens when thickening, tightening or swelling of the flexible tissue surrounding the shoulder joint happens. As a result of this condition, your upper arm bone or humerus present in the shoulder joint has less space and the result of that is stiff and painful movement. When this happens, you will not be able to perform the everyday tasks including simple things like dressing, driving and sleeping. When this happens, some people cannot even move their shoulder.

Rotator cuff disorders

This is another cause of shoulder pain. The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons surrounding the shoulder joint. Tendons are the link between the muscles and bones. The rotator cuff is important because it keeps the joint in the correct position and allows it to move in a controlled way. Even though there may be different types of rotator cuff disorders, but the common symptoms include pain during activities involving your arm in the above shoulder level position, pain while moving your arm away from your body, pain on the front inside of your shoulder and pain at night.

Shoulder instability

Another reason of shoulder pain can be shoulder instability. The shoulder joint is a ball and socket joint. Here, the ball is the upper arm bone or humerus and the socket is in the shoulder blade. Shoulder instability may occur for different reasons. If the shoulder joint does not move correctly in the socket, then shoulder instability may occur. Slipping or catching feeling in the shoulder may happen because of shoulder instability. A full shoulder dislocation may also happen when the ball comes out of the socket completely. The symptoms of such instability can be different and sometimes vague. There may be tingling; weakness; numbness; shoulder fatigue; a clicking, locking or popping sensation may happen in the arm. In case of people whose shoulder has been dislocated, there will be clear symptoms of the problem which will include severe pain, out of position arm, muscle spasms and limited movements. Shoulder instability may be of different types. It can be traumatic or atraumatic. In case of traumatic shoulder instability, the shoulder is forced out of place by a sudden impact. On the other hand, in case of atraumatic shoulder instability, the shoulder gradually moves out of place over a longer duration.

Workplace health

In some cases shoulder pain can be caused by bad posture. More and more people are using computers in their workplaces and even at home and they are doing the same repetitive task for a long duration of time. There are some other people who were doing repetitive manual work. In such cases, bad posture while working can result in shoulder pain in different people.

Acromioclavicular joint disorders

In case of acromioclavicular joint disorders may happen in the acromioclavicular joint, which is present at the top of your shoulder. Some of these disorders include osteoarthritis, tearing of stretching of the ligaments in the joint, partial or complete dislocation of the joint. The symptoms of this disorder include pain in the joint, limited movement of the joint, pain on the top of the shoulder etc.

References

1. Simple Shoulder Solution
2. Evaluation and management of adult shoulder pain
3. Shoulder pain