Wave Goodbye to Your Shoulder Pain!

Shoulder pain can sneak up in many ways—whether it’s reaching for something on a high shelf or struggling to find a comfortable sleeping position.

Sometimes it feels like a dull ache from an injury, and other times it may seem like your shoulder won’t move at all.

There are countless causes of shoulder pain, ranging from a simple muscle strain to the severe discomfort of arthritis and bone-on-bone friction.

No matter the cause, Snyder Physical Therapy is here to provide natural, effective pain relief methods designed to get you back to feeling your best—fast.

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Why Am I Experiencing Shoulder Pain?

Your shoulder is one of the most flexible joints in your body, capable of a wide range of motion. But this complexity also makes it more prone to injury and pain. The shoulder is a “ball-and-socket” joint, where the head of your upper arm bone (the humerus) fits snugly into a cavity in your shoulder blade (the scapula). A thick layer of cartilage cushions the ends of these bones to prevent them from rubbing together.

Additionally, fluid-filled sacs called bursae protect your tendons from friction against the bones. Tendons connect the bones in your shoulder to the muscles of the rotator cuff, which stabilize and move the joint. When any part of this delicate system is disrupted, shoulder pain can occur.

The type and location of your pain often depend on the underlying cause. For example:

  • Impingement pain usually happens when raising your arm and often begins at a specific point during movement.

  • Degenerative shoulder pain may cause constant aching when moving your arm in certain directions.

  • Acute injuries can bring on sudden, intense pain that may make it difficult or impossible to move your shoulder.

Understanding these differences can help guide the right treatment for your shoulder pain.

A Common Injury: Rotator Cuff Tears

The rotator cuff is made up of muscles and tendons that surround and stabilize your shoulder joint. This important structure can become torn or injured, often due to repetitive overhead movements common in sports like tennis or occupations such as carpentry.

If you have a rotator cuff injury—or a “torn shoulder”—you may experience a deep, dull ache in your shoulder, weakness in your arm, difficulty reaching behind your back, and disrupted sleep caused by pain.

At Snyder Physical Therapy in Tower City, PA, we offer natural, non-invasive treatments to relieve your shoulder pain and help heal your rotator cuff injury.

While severe rotator cuff tears sometimes require surgery, many cases respond just as well—if not better—to physical therapy. According to the American Physical Therapy Association, a recent study from Finland found that for nontraumatic rotator cuff tears, physical therapy alone produced results comparable to arthroscopic and open surgical repairs. In a follow-up of 167 patients treated with physical therapy alone, conservative care was recommended as the primary treatment option.

We begin with a thorough physical evaluation and diagnostic testing to confirm your diagnosis. From there, we’ll develop a personalized treatment plan tailored to your specific needs.

What’s causing my shoulder pain?

The complexities of the shoulder joint present many opportunities for pain-causing conditions.

Some of the most common causes of shoulder pain include:

Impingement

Impingement typically occurs because of abnormal movement and tracking of the humeral head as you lift your arm overhead. Pain typically starts when lifting your arm at or above 90 degrees.

Arthritis

The two main forms of arthritis that affect the shoulder are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage in the shoulder joint experiences significant “wear and tear,” typically due to age or excessive overuse. Rheumatoid arthritis occurs when the immune system decides to attack the membranes surrounding the shoulder joint, resulting in pain and inflammation. Both of these result in pain, loss of motion, weakness to the shoulder muscles, and difficulty performing normal, daily tasks.

Tendinitis

Tendinitis occurs when the shoulder joint is excessively overused typically due to the demands of a laborious job, overhead activity, or sport. Furthermore, poor posture is a major contributor, as this alters the normal forces on the tendons, and can set you up for tendon injury. This causes the tendons to undergo ongoing inflammation, resulting in swelling and painful impingement when raising your arm.

Frozen shoulder

Also known as “adhesive capsulitis,” frozen shoulder can occur if your arm has been in a cast or sling for a while, or if you have been bedridden for an extended period of time. It results in a painful loss of motion in the shoulder with a tightening of the shoulder joint that severely limits motion. There are some ethnicities that are more predisposed, and women tend to have more instances than men. Frozen shoulder is more common in women in the 40-60 years of age.

Rotator cuff tear

The rotator cuff is composed of 4 muscles, tendons, and soft tissue that surround the shoulder joint. The job of the rotator cuff is to correctly guide the movement of the shoulder joint. With injury, overuse, poor posture, or even age, the rotator cuff can be partially or completely torn. Depending on the severity and situation, sometimes surgery is needed, but often the correct physical therapy treatments can help reduce pain and restore strength to the rotator cuff to compensate for the partial tear. If surgery is needed, physical therapy is an integral part of the pre and post-surgical rehabilitation for a full recovery.

Find Relief for Your Shoulder Pain Today

Physical therapy offers a natural, comfortable, and effective way to ease shoulder pain—without relying on harmful medications or invasive surgery. At Snyder Physical Therapy, we’ve helped many patients overcome shoulder pain, often seeing improvements after just a few sessions—or sometimes even sooner!

Our expert physical therapists in Tower City, PA, are specialists in movement and use a variety of diagnostic techniques to identify the root cause of your pain. During your evaluation, we’ll assess your range of motion, strength, coordination, medical history, joint mobility, and how your shoulder moves.

Once we understand the source of your pain, we’ll design a personalized treatment plan that combines effective physical therapy techniques. Gentle manual therapy will help restore normal joint movement, relieve soft tissue tightness, and improve circulation. Targeted therapeutic exercises will rebuild strength and retrain the proper muscle activation around your shoulder. We’ll also teach you strategies to maintain your progress and prevent future issues.

Don’t let shoulder pain hold you back any longer. Our Tower City clinics are ready to help you regain your mobility and return to the activities you love. Contact us today to schedule your appointment and start your journey toward lasting pain relief. We proudly serve nearby areas including Williamstown, Dayton, and Elizabethville, PA.