Chronic Shoulder Pain Treatment

Your shoulder is in constant motion and crucial for arm and hand movement. It is a ball and socket joint that is one of the most mobile joints in the body. Shoulders get their range of motion from the rotator cuff, which is made up of 4 tendons. If the tendons or bones around the rotator cuff are injured or inflamed, your range of motion becomes limited and painful. Our team at Caliber Pain™ offers acute and chronic shoulder pain treatment at our clinic in Midtown Manhattan.

You can injure your shoulder by performing manual labor, playing sports or even by repetitive movement. Shoulder problems are more common as we grow older, as the soft tissues surrounding the shoulder degenerate with age. In many cases, shoulder pain can be treated with conservative therapies. However, medications or surgery may also be necessary. Some examples of the causes of shoulder pain include:

• Overuse
• Poor posture
• Arthritis
• Torn cartilage
• Torn rotator cuff
• Swollen bursa sacs or tendons
• Bone spurs (bony projections that develop along the edges of bones)
• Pinched nerve in the neck or shoulder
• Frozen shoulder
• Spinal cord injury

Interventional Treatments for Shoulder Pain

Caliber Pain™ uses a multidisciplinary approach for shoulder pain treatment. Initially, conservative therapies will be recommended, including:

• Rest and/or immobilizing (sling)
• Alternating heat and cold
• Physical therapy – guided stretching
• Adequate warm up before activity
• Massage
• Analgesics and NSAIDS
• Anti-convulsants, anti-depressants and counterirritants

If these conservative modalities do not provide adequate relief, interventional therapies may be the next option before any consideration of surgery. Epidural injections of a combination of anesthetics and steroids for immediate pain relief and reduction of inflammation are commonly used for shoulder pain. These can be followed by a regenerative option like stem cells, nerve growth factors or PRP for longer term healing and tissue repair. The regenerative options may be an appropriate first choice if immediate pain relief is not urgent. Other interventional modalities that may be used include:

• Acupuncture
• Nerve blocks
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Ketamine infusion
• Synovial fluid or glucosamine replacement
• Radiofrequency neurolysis

If you have a shoulder injury or suffer from chronic shoulder pain, treatment is available at Caliber Pain™. Contact our facility in NYC to schedule a shoulder evaluation with one of our interventional pain specialists.