Regardless, the corrective plan for shoulder impingement will help your shoulder, no matter the cause. Even if you check out on these tests, if you have shoulder pain, there is a very good chance that shoulder impingement is involved somehow. Shoulder pain during either of these tests would be an indicator that you’ve got some irritation that’s getting further irritated with impingement. If there is pain between 60 and 120 degrees this is a positive test. There is another assessment called a painful arc test.įor this assessment, lift the arm up away from the body, into an overhead position. Then lift the elbow towards the face and check for pain. There are lots of assessments used to determine if someone has impingement syndrome.Ī very simple one for someone to do on their own is to reach across the body and put the hand on the opposite shoulder. Is a hard one to say, so we’ll stick with shoulder impingement. Because by itself, that’s what’s supposed to happen.ĭesk-job-stiffness-with-mild-rotatorcuff-fraying-and-lot-o-push-ups-itis Thus, it’s too simple to say that impingement syndrome is caused by the compression of the tissues inside the shoulder. So the impingement pain may be in response to other shoulder issues, like rotator cuff or labrum tears, that not only increase the degree of impingement but also make the shoulder cranky when it gets pinched. Likewise, even if impingement is normal, if you’ve irritated something in your shoulder, it’s likely to be bothered when it’s compressed. In this example, bending your knee causes pain, but it’s not the cause of your injury. It’s usually through a cocktail of shoulder mechanics, loads, speed, and volume that our shoulder ends up in pain.Īdditionally, if something is irritated, it’s likely to hurt if you poke it.įor example, if you twisted your knee playing soccer, it’s likely to hurt for a few weeks if you bend it. But consider playing tennis, or throwing a ball, weightlifting, or painting a ceiling. If this extra compression happens while sipping a cup of coffee, it’s not likely to flare anything up (unless it’s already irritated). Or if the rotator cuff isn’t doing its job to keep the arm stable in the shoulder socket…Īll of these things will lead to a greater degree of shoulder impingement.

Or if the scapula isn’t moving with the arm correctly, it can position the bony prominence too low… Things like stiff and inflexible shoulders are likely to decrease the subacromial space… If shoulder function is thrown off, even just slightly, it will add extra compression to the tissues in the space. But if it’s normal, then why does it hurt?įirst of all, there’s not much room for error beyond the normal shoulder biomechanics. But we’re now cluing in that “shoulder impingement” is actually supposed to happen, and with all shoulder movement, the tissues naturally glide between the bones of the shoulder.

It was observed as a nasty hook that would grab onto and rough up tissue in the shoulder, to the extent that shaving or cutting the acromion became a common procedure. And Inside this space are muscles, tendons, and sacs of lubricating fluid.įor a long time, we considered the acromion to be the primary culprit of shoulder pain. There is a small gap in the shoulder called the subacromial space. Take a quick review of your shoulder anatomy (which you can dig into this a bit more HERE), for an important structure to point out. There are a lot of words, all describing the same thing! What is Shoulder Impingement? It’s one reason why people get so mixed up about their shoulder pain. Things like rotator cuff tendonitis, biceps tendonitis, bursitis, or other medical ‘itis’ words. There is a common cause of shoulder pain-and there’s a good chance it’s the reason your shoulder hurts.Ī condition called shoulder impingement syndrome.Īnd in the medical world shoulder impingement will sometimes get defined by the pathology of what’s actually hurt.

Crossover symmetry 30 day shoulder fix