Shoulder Pain, Rotator Cuff, and
Tendinopathy Support in West Perth

Shoulder pain can make even simple movements challenging. Reaching overhead, lifting objects, or sleeping comfortably may become difficult when the shoulder joint is not functioning smoothly.

Conditions affecting the shoulder, such as tendinopathy, bursitis, tendon tears and labral tears are often associated with repetitive strain, posture changes, or muscular imbalance. With this in mind, hands-on therapy, postural improvements and a progressive exercise program may be beneficial.

• But you may be asking if other forms of therapy could be effective?
• Are there other things I could be doing to help my shoulder heal faster?
• What happens when shoulder pain is not resolving?

These are valid questions.

How does a “Functional” Therapist develop protocols for shoulder pain?

The first thing to understand is that there are many different possible ‘pain generators’ for shoulder pain. This could be tendon, bone, joint cartilage, bursa, nerves, muscles, ligaments and even referral from distant structures such as the ribs and spine.

Of course, the skilled therapist will perform a detailed head-to-toe analysis to establish the possible pain generators and other contributing factors. Hands-on therapy, movement progressions and postural work may all yield positive outcomes.

The Functional Therapist also understands that poor metabolic health can contribute to delayed healing and chronic pain.

Let’s be specific on what may contribute to ‘poor metabolic health’ and failure to respond to therapy, relative rest, and exercises.

How might a ‘Functional’ Therapist assess metabolic health?

If you want to heal faster from any given shoulder problem/pain then you can focus on enhancing lifestyle factors that promote healing:

And then use advanced testing such as bloods, stool samples, and DNA to ‘super charge’ your healing protocol.

Did you know that deficiencies in iron, B12, folate, Vitamin D, omega-3s, and other vitamins and minerals can delay and/or prevent healing?

Did you know that chronic systemic inflammation can contribute to shoulder pain? It can also delay or prevent healing.

Did you know that chronic gut issues such as leaky gut, high lipopolysaccharides (LPS), certain bacterial overgrowths, and deficiencies in ‘good’ bacteria can contribute to shoulder symptoms and/or prevent healing?

The ‘Functional’ Practitioner aims to heal the whole person, knowing that this will have a significant positive impact on alleviating shoulder symptoms. Lifestyle factors are always the number one approach. But layering in advanced testing can often be the critical factor between success and failure.

Once again, the skilled therapist will appreciate the need for a comprehensive clinical evaluation of the neuro-musculoskeletal system. And that skilled hands-on therapy, such as acupuncture, dry needling, myofascial work, spinal adjustment, and clearing neural pathways may have immediate significant benefit for the patient.

But supporting these efforts with in-depth knowledge and advanced metabolic protocols ‘super charges’ the healing process.

Clinically Clear ¹ Functionally Clear

Clinically clear refers to the patient being out of pain, having full range of motion (ROM) in the shoulder, full ROM in the entire body, optimal muscle lengths, and adequate posture.

However, most patients want to return to physical activities that may include tennis, golf, weight training, running, Pilates, Yoga and more …

And so, the ‘Functional’ therapist knows they need to progress to a Functional Movement Screen to assess the patient’s ability to move competently through a wide range of skilled movement patterns. This approach may help reduce the likelihood of recurrent shoulder pain or injury.

Shoulder Pain Treatment West Perth, Subiaco WA | (08) 9388 2768