Treating and Preventing Painful Shoulder Injuries

You enjoy your job, and you’re good at what you do, but the repetitive use of your shoulder is starting to make it difficult, even unbearable. You may have injured your rotator cuff, which is a painful and challenging injury to overcome. What treatment and technology are available to help you recover? Keep reading to find out!

Treating Shoulder Injuries

As beneficial as home therapies, such as applying heat and cold compresses to the area, can be superficially, many shoulder injuries require additional, professional help in the recovery process. Rehabilitation as well as chiropractic care can give you more mobility and function without invasive surgeries.

Although many think a chiropractor only works on back and neck injuries, this trained professional also plays an important role in treating other joint injuries. Making sure the shoulder is set correctly makes it easier for the ligaments and muscles to restabilize this versatile, complex joint.

By reestablishing proper alignment in the shoulder, building back up the muscles that support this joint, and using modern technology, your chiropractor can help you regain the use of your shoulder after an injury.

Using Cold Laser Therapy

In addition to traditional chiropractic services, some chiropractors take advantage of what is called cold laser therapy. Unlike lasers that are used to cut through things, cold lasers have low wavelengths of energized light. These wavelengths can penetrate below the skin, and they reactivate and energize cells, encouraging new tissue growth and healing.

This non-invasive treatment involves no pain whatsoever and only takes a few minutes; however, it can make the recovery process go more smoothly and more quickly.

Preventing Shoulder Injuries

By far, the best way to address a shoulder injury is to prevent it from happening in the first place, if possible. Here are just a few ways you can reduce your chances of experiencing a shoulder injury:

• Stay active. Exercising regularly means that you’re constantly building up the muscles in your shoulders and back, reducing the risk of injuring yourself.
• Take frequent breaks from repetitive tasks. If you have a job where you work overhead or use your shoulders a lot, be sure to give yourself a little respite every now and then.
• Be careful on ladders. A fall from a ladder can harm more than just your shoulder, and these accidents are all too common unfortunately.

Ultimately, a shoulder injury doesn’t have to be the end of work you love to do; however, getting over a rotator cuff injury will take working with your chiropractor and entail taking advantage of advanced technology.

About the Author

At Wills Chiropractic, Dr. Chad Wills has served patients in the Naples are and beyond for about 20 years. Among only two chiropractors in Lee and Collier county, he is certified in Chiropractic Biophysics, the most studied protocol. In his practice, he uses a cold laser to accelerate the healing process and help patients recover from injuries. If you are interested in learning more about how he can help you after a rotator cuff injury, contact the office at 239-331-6060 or online here.