Tag Archives: shoulder

When Your Shoulder Goes Snap, Crackle, Pop

Those popping and crackling noises heard when you move your shoulder are normal, most of the time, but should these sounds and sensations be accompanied by pain, swelling and loss of joint function, you may be experiencing degeneration of the acromioclavicular (AC) joint. Smooth surfaces of the cartilage that line the shoulder degrade, and the […]

Knitting Up Your Broken Collarbone

Better known as a broken collarbone, a clavicle fracture is a common injury among people of all ages. Despite its location, the collarbone is not part of the neck, but rather a bone that connects the rib cage and the shoulder blade. A break in the collarbone often occurs in the middle of the bone. […]

Replacing Your Shoulder in Reverse

In conventional shoulder replacement surgery, the surgeon fits a plastic cup into the shoulder socket and attaches a metal ball to the top of the upper arm bone. But for some patients, especially those with muscle damage around the shoulder or large rotator cuff tears who have developed a complex type of shoulder arthritis, conventional […]

Putting Your Rotator Cuff Back Together

Rotator cuff tears, a common injury, send as many as 2 million Americans to their physicians’ offices every year. While many cases can be treated with conservative measures, such as physical therapy, others require rotator cuff repair surgery. One factor affecting surgery outcome is the presence of fat in place of muscle, a condition that […]

Shoulder the Work of a Tuberosity Fracture

At the head of the arm’s humerus bone, where the muscles of the rotator cuff are attached, is a rounded section called the greater tuberosity. A dislocation or a fall on the shoulder can cause the greater tuberosity to fracture, leading to pain when lifting the arm or moving the shoulder, and limiting your range […]

Physical Therapists Offer Low-Cost Solution to Increasing Health Costs

-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- Spinal Manipulation, Exercise and Advice Offer Patients an Effective Alternative for Back Pain Middleburg, Virginia, Feb. 14, 2008 – Health care expenditures for patients with spinal conditions are rising without an associated increase in health status, according to a February, 2008 research report appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. […]

Relieving Dowager’s Hump Through Exercise

Older individuals with osteoporosis often develop spinal kyphosis, resulting in the formation of a pronounced hunchback, sometimes called a “dowager’s hump” (kyphos means “hump” in Greek). Kyphosis occurs because a spinal vertebra, usually at the level of the rib cage, becomes weak and porous. Eventually, something as innocent as a sneeze or cough causes the […]

TENS: A Drug-free Way to Relieve Pain

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) may sound futuristic—even scary—but this method of pain relief is actually a great drug-free way to relieve discomfort from injuries or chronic conditions. When the TENS equipment is used, patches called electrodes are applied to your skin (“transcutaneous” means “through the skin”) and are attached to a small, battery-operated device […]