When a Simple Task Causes Shoulder Blade Pain
The phrase “Got milk” pops up repeatedly on signs, in TV ads and in magazine advertisements. Yet not everyone who has a carton of milk can enjoy the nutritious beverage that’s inside of that carton. Someone with shoulder blade pain might well find it impossible to pour milk from a carton into a glass.
The lifting of a small milk carton can sometimes give rise to pain in the shoulder. If someone lifts the arm in order to pour milk into a glass, they put their arm at an angle between 60 degrees and 120 degrees. The person who experiences pain when their arm is at such an angle displays one of the symptoms of bursitis.
More than 35 years ago, one adult female in Pennsylvania experienced such shoulder discomfort, whenever she tried to pour milk for her two daughters. Once doctors had linked her painful symptom to a diagnosable condition, they immediately began treatment. If a patient fails to receive the needed treatment for a shoulder injury, then a relatively minor injury could develop into a tear. .
Now the reader should not assume that he or she has bursitis the next time that he or she has some type of shoulder problem. The most common shoulder disorder results from inflammation of what is called the “rotator cuff.” That “cuff” includes the four muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder blade.
A physician refers to any inflammation of the tendons as tendinitis. Tendinitis in the region of the rotator cuff causes a patient to experience shoulder pain. That pain underlines the extent to which the tendons of the cuff are related to the stability of the shoulder. The shoulder depends on the surrounding soft tissue for stability.
The tendons of the cuff connect the upper arm to the collar bone and to the shoulder blade. The entire shoulder is an important medical joint. In addition to bones, muscles and tendons, the shoulder contains ligaments. An inflammation of those ligaments can lead to the development of cuff arthritis.
While bursitis results from an injury to the gliding mechanism in the shoulder, arthritis in the rotator cuff develops following inflammation of the material that normally moves easily over that gliding mechanism. The patient with arthritis in the shoulder has trouble lifting the shoulder. Note that any patient who reports difficulty with lifting a shoulder could display one of the signs of arthritis, or one of the signs of bursitis.
Today’s online medical information can help a patient to assess the possible cause of a medical problem. Such information can help to prevent the occurrence of at least some shoulder injuries. However, when a patient does experience shoulder pain, he or she should schedule an appointment with a physician. A medical professional should diagnose the exact cause of the shoulder disorder.
